Deforestation-free coffee from Costa Rica: from pilot to a national project

For the Costa Rican coffee sector, the European market has historically represented the second most important destination (after the United States) with an exportable volume of more than 35% of the national production. This made the implementation of regulatory requirements in order to avoid a negative impact on this agro-chain an urgent task after the approval (in May 2023), by the European Parliament, of regulation EU1115/2023, which contemplates prohibiting the import of products (including coffee) that do not demonstrate that they are not linked to deforestation activities as of December 2020. With the support of the REDD+ Results-Based Payments Project of UNDP, and ICAFE, a national scaling was generated to facilitate the understanding of the fulfillment of the necessary requirements established through the implementation guidelines. Following is a summary of the results generated through this scaling in all the coffee growing regions of the country and its impact on the sector. With it, Costa Rica has managed to position itself globally at the forefront in the export of deforestation-free products to Europe, making the first export of coffee and strengthening its preparation and leadership prior to the upcoming entry into force of European regulations.