Sustainable Tourism Law

672 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW brand that transcended the old country brand (Without Artificial Ingredients), and creating within the Costa Rica Tourism Institute a department initially called Department of Natural Resources, later changed to Department of Tourism Sustainability, and that nowadays is known as the Department for Certifications and Social Tourism Responsibility. Its focus was to create a brand that generates differentiation for those who obtain it, and a certification process, administered by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, that gradually caught the attention of the hotel companies. Later we introduced the same certification for tour operator agencies and, more recently, for other sectors of the tourism value chain such as car-rental companies, theme parks, gastronomy (restaurants) and marine operators. III. DECISIVE ACTIONS In the 1970s, Costa Rica was losing 1% of its forest cover. Concerted efforts are being made in order to protect forest areas. The National System of Public Protected Areas and the incentives for private reserves are created. In addition, it is decided that Protected Areas should generate resources to help maintain them. Tourism around natural sites begins to develop, and it’s called Ecotourism. It is important to remember that Ecotourism is an activity, differing from Sustainability, which is a model for development. In 1997 we created the Payment for Environmental Services system: of the 5% fuel tax collected by the Government, 3% is transferred to FONAFIFO for the payment of environmental services. This allows FONAFIFO / SINAC to pay private companies or individuals to conserve their forested areas. This finances the restoration, protection and reforestation of private areas. An amount is established for each modality, the company must have an approved Management Plan and sign a contract with SINAC (National System of Conservation Areas). Nowadays we have almost 934,274.60 hectares of private reserves in the hands of more than 12,528 owners. There are two types of reserves: Mixed Reserve where there are private and public lands, and Private Reserve. In the case of Private Reserve, the State helps protect the land. In addition, it is an attraction for the company that owns it.