Costa Rica aims to reduce CO2 emissions caused by international flights

Climate-conscious travelers Initiative

San Jose, November 1 (EFE) .- Costa Rica in 2011 aims to reduce by at least 20% carbon emissions caused by flights into the country, said the president of the National Chamber of Ecotourism (CANAECO) Glenn Jampol, within the framework of the Conference P3 (Planet, People, Peace).

The initiative, which is named “climate-conscious travelers, will begin operations in early 2011 and will last for at least 10 years, which seeks to” mitigate the huge carbon footprint left in the environment for our flights international “Jampol said.

To carry out the plan, will CANAECO collaboration with the National Forestry Financing Fund (Fonafifo), to carry out reforestation and forest plantations in exchange for a voluntary payment.

This voluntary payment is carried out by those “hotels and environmentally conscious companies operating in Costa Rica”, and that about 90% of emissions that are carried out by the arrival of tourists is the flight home, Jampol said.

The chamber will also promote as part of the conference P3, a plan of economic incentives for the development of tourism projects.

This conference brings together from now until Wednesday to 25 experts and 200 participants from countries in the Americas, Africa and Europe to exchange experiences and discuss the development of ecotourism and sustainable tourism.

Tourism in Costa Rica is an industry that annually moves about 2,000 million dollars and generates more than half a million direct and indirect jobs in a country where the population is 4.5 million people.

In addition, nearly two million tourists annually visit this Central American country, home to 4.5% of the biodiversity of the planet in about 51,000 hectares of forest. EFE

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