The purchase and sale of 820,000 square meters (82 hectares) of páramo (tundra ecosystem) was signed yesterday, this land will not be preserved as part of the natural patrimony of Costa Ricans.

Two properties of 47 and 35 hectares respectively, both in the sector of Prusia, close to the Irazu Volcano, these contain diverse vegetation with mixed oak forests, isolated trees of Quercus and Salvia, as well as other species such as Gunnera insigis, and several genres of herbs as well as the diversity of fungi.

The total cost of the land was of US$546,621.50 which included the value of the land, legal costs, formalization and the maintenance and administration costs. This is art of the “Proposal to Purchase Lands for the Conservation and Protection of the Zone of Tropical Paramo in the area close to the Irazu National Park”, executed by FUNDECOR with funds donated from the First Debt for Nature Swap USA-CR.

This area was dedicated to the production of milk and it is currently in process of recovery to contribute to the protection of páramo in the country, which currently face serious threats such as illegal hunting, forest fires, vegetation extraction, erosion, landslides, deforestation and climate change.

“This is a big step for conservation, since these zones are being altered to make them into agricultural lands for the farming of potatoes or livestock production, which puts the ecosystems present in the area at risk”, commented Felipe Carazo, Executive Director of FUNDECOR.