Costa Rican Network of Nature Reserves

Background
The conservation efforts of members of the Costa Rican Network of Nature Reserves represent a cost of opportunity from the non-use of that land. These efforts and their cost deserve to be recognized by Costa Rican society because of the flows of environmental services forests provide, given that their preservation in turn generates social benefits and contributes to the country’s business competitiveness and development.
The Network of Nature Reserves possesses valuable natural capital that has functioned more as a liability than an asset due to the high costs of maintenance and the great financial difficulty in continuing to cover the over the long run. The importance of conservation for national eco-development has only recently been identified.
Along with its social attributes and political and economic stability, Costa Rica’s comparative advantage in relation to other countries also lies in its efforts to protect biodiversity and scenic beauty. Nature is thus indicating the path that will guide the country to development.
While not yet openly recognized from the political and economic standpoint, the current economic crisis that some attribute to the problem of energy (dependence on oil) has more to do with the model itself and its subsidization by the environment and society. Energy abounds everywhere, and information from nature is telling us that the protection of water, the use of the winds, the constant photosynthesis of our forests and plantations, scenic beauty, our shores and seas, our ecosystems and our species, among others, should form the structure and asset that sustains our economy.
In this context, the Network’s economic sacrifices on behalf of conservation can be interpreted as the cost of investing in natural capital so that it can be used sustainably, generating continual flows of income to members, and benefits for Costa Rican society and businesses.

Justification
In most cases, these lands are covered by primary and regenerating forest, and change in soil use is impeded by the Costa Rican legal structure. But just as importantly, Network members have voluntarily opted to strengthen the continual production of ecological flows of social importance. This warrants greater support from the Costa Rican government, NGOs, private enterprise and Costa Rican society in general. At the very least, members of the Costa Rican Network of Nature Reserves and other stakeholders want government institutions to internalize their conservation efforts as an integral factor in decision making about national development, with support so that these are intelligently channeled into dynamic assets with the natural capital liability our members currently possess.

About the organization
The Network of Nature Reserves currently comprises more than 200 members, together owning approximately 140,000 hectares of forest. Its special commissions, made up of prominent individuals carrying out conservation and protection activities of great importance, provide members with support in conflict resolution and problems related to squatters, invasions, poaching and forest fires. Other commissions deal with the mission of preserving genetic banks and water, carbon sequestration and other social benefits derived from private conservation.
In keeping with its mission and the activities the Network carries out, the interest of its commission is to:
. Secure the endorsement of government agencies such as the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (MINAET) and the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), in order to carry out research, training, agro-ecology, sales of environmental services, carbon sequestration and visitation for enjoyment and lodging, among other activities, as a strategy for financial self-sustainability
. Contribute effectively and efficiently to the protection and conservation of the country’s forests at the private level, providing a range of incentives in recognition of the action they carry out on behalf of the environment and Costa Rican society

Structure:

Formally constituted in August, 1996, the Costa Rican Network of Nature Reserves is a non-profit association (NGO) whose mission is to represent and defend the interests of owners of private nature reserves in Costa Rica. Its principal object is the conservation and protection of privately-held forested areas, as well as the pursuit and enjoyment of different incentives enabling its members to achieve this objective. In turn, members largely dedicate their areas to attention to tourists whose primary interest is healthy recreation, rest, observing wildlife, and scenic beauty, as well as visitation by naturalists and researchers from all over the world.
As of August 2009, the network has 210 members located throughout the country, included within five general categories of owners with the right to speak and vote and full enjoyment of different incentives, programs and projects of the Network:
1- NGOS and universities possessing areas for conservation and research
2- Owners of areas dedicated to ecotourism
3- Owners of areas dedicated to adventure tourism
4- Conservationists, or owners who wish to conserve their lands for its natural value
5- Those engaged in agrosilvipastoral processes; small and medium producers who wish to keep a part of their land under conservation and protection as a complement to their productive activities
The Network also offers other forms of membership:
1- Corporate members – Those who provide a special or fixed annual contribution to the Network; they generally produce goods and/or services of special benefit to our forests.
2- Donor members – National or international NGOs or government agencies that have projects or cooperation agreements with the Network
3- Volunteers – Students, professionals and others interested in making a financial contribution or doing volunteer work for the Network organization or reserves.
The Network is registered in the National Registry of Costa Rica under legal identity number 3-002-189852. It has been declared of public utility for State purposes under Decree No. 28378-MINAE and is authorized to receive tax-deductible donations (Oficio AIA-I-309-2008).
At the organizational level, the Network’s maximum authority is the Members Assembly. Its board consists of 8 owner-members and a fiscal, all elected by the General Assembly of Members. The Board also designates various commissions to advise them, most notably the Membership Committee, Technical Committee, Finance Committee and Legal Advisory Committee, among others.

Contact us
at:
info@reservasprivadascr.org
Tel. (506) 2221-0004 and (506) 8854-2136 fax (506) 2245-1552
Our offices are located at 50 meters north of Centro Colón, inside the Ríos Tropicales building, San José, Costa Rica
P.O. Box 926- 2150, Moravia, Costa Rica

Banco Nacional de Costa Rica checking account #100-01-000-199069-6 in the name of Asociación Red Costarricense de Reservas Naturales