Land ownership in Costa Rica does not include water rights,
which belong to the State. Most rural communities gain
access to water, be it from springs or wells, through legal
concessions for their water on private properties. Many
communities form legally constituted associations to
administer, manage and service their water supply, often
with no outside assistance. Many of these associations
do not own the properties where the springs are located, nor
the corresponding watersheds or groundwater recharge areas,
which may be pastures or agricultural land.
Nectandra Institute’s Eco-Loan Fund (ELF) makes zero
interest loans to the water management associations in the
San Carlos River basin for watershed land acquisition. Loan
principal must be paid in full. In lieu of paying monetary
interest, borrowers are required to “pay ecological
interest” by restoring, protecting and monitoring the
environmental services on the properties they have
purchased.
Eco-loans recipients are generally graduates of the
Institute’s CUENCAS workshops. Interested borrowers
submit loan proposals to be evaluated through an objectively
scored, but borrower-friendly, competitive process. Loan
approval is based on the applicant community's water need as
well as the capacity and ability to meet both the financial
and ecological terms of the loan. For the duration of the
loan, Nectandra Institute partners with borrowers to
formulate watershed restoration and ecosystem management
plans for the property. We monitor progress; we also provide
information and networking opportunities, as well as
technical and practical assistance. For their part,
borrowers commit communal resources to meet their obligations.
ELF is our attempt to reverse the unidirectional conversion
of natural wealth to financial and industrial wealth. It
serves to focus attention on the need for capital investment
in the natural systems that are the foundation for all
economic prosperity and quality of life.
ELF is currently supported by private donations and the
blue moon foundation.
Groundwater recharge area as cow pasture
Groundwater recharge area being used as intensively
cultivated farmland, purchased and to be restored by
the Tapezco Water Management Association with an eco-loan
Video: Agua...Más Que Un Tubo (part 1)
Video: Agua...Más Que Un Tubo (part 2)
In order to view the videos to the left, you may need to install a later version of Adobe Flash Player.
Restoration
We emphasize the restoration of deteriorated watersheds back
to natural forest in the shortest time feasible. The
Institute’s staff biologist conducts field surveys to
provide the baseline information for this work. After loan
approval, we partner with loan recipients in order to prepare
detailed plans for forest restoration on the acquired land;
the plans are based on botanical data compiled from
anecdotal information from longtime residents, from
governmental agencies, and any published scientific research
information. Reforestation is the linchpin of the ELF program
to restore cloud forests. Through ELF, entire communities of
water users commit to regenerating healthy forests, thereby
securing a clean water supply for themselves and future
generations.
Community youths assisting Nectandra biologist Manrique Esquivel (left)
during briefing prior to the planting session
Individual, group, family teamwork spanning three generations, all
contributed
Tagging, measuring, locating the seedlings by GPS,
recordkeeping are all part of the “ecological
interest” paid on eco-loans by the communities
Seedling of Pouteria reticulata, one of many
native species used to restore
Community volunteers after planting several hundred
trees in the property purchased by the Angeles
Norte/Alto Villegas Water Management Association
with an eco-loan
