Deforestation-Free Coffee from Costa Rica: An observatory for the world

The Costa Rica Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is developing an agenda for sustainable development that supports the goal of achieving a green, fair and inclusive Costa Rica, congruent with its own history, as well as the goal of complying with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UNDP implements, since 2021, the REDD+ Results-Based Payments Project which, in a visionary way, identified an opportunity (consistent with the National REDD+ Strategy and with the innovative spirit of Café de Costa Rica), to export deforestation-free coffee under the new European Union standards, which also became the first global experience. This is how the aspiration of many producers who, in silence and over many years, have associated their coffee production units with agroforestry systems, with protection of biodiversity, soil, water resources and other ecosystemic benefits, turned into a reality.