Among the many definitions of sustainability, the most relevant to Costa Rica is the capacity to improve the quality of human life while living within the earth’s supporting ecosystems. We have decided that certifying and maintaining carbon neutrality for our properties is ideal. We plan to reduce the carbon footprint by converting pasture to secondary growth rainforests. In Costa Rica, the National Standard INTE/DN 03:2016 (Methodology for Quantification and Reporting Greenhouse Gas Removals Resulting from Forestry Activities) defines the process to establish carbon neutrality. This quantitative method determines the annual amount of carbon captured by the trees in the forest. When the process is started, plots, each 15 – 25 meters square are delineated, trees in each plot are tagged and measured. By measuring the trees annually, we will determine the amount of carbon captured.

Sustainability is part of the fabric of PRFRP. The photographs show how in 25 years, secondary rainforest can grow and capture and sequester carbon.

Our sustainability definition requires that all three of the other pillars of PRFRP, increasing biodiversity, enhancing ecosystem services and expanding wildlife corridors are simultaneously realized.

People and nature aren’t mutually exclusive, and nature and humanity have to develop ways to exist together in a way that is sustainable over the long term. We need the benefits of a robust rainforest to survive and thrive and to do so side-by-side. 

The open field is a community football (soccer) field. The boundary of almond trees at the border of the forest, is the edge of a second growth rainforest preserve. Football games are held on the pitch, while macaws, sloths, monkeys and iguanas thrive in the trees overhead. This coexistence is sustainable for the long term with people and wildlife sharing contiguous space.