Costa Rica is looking to ramp up its trade in forest-based exports, which make up less than 1% of its total exports, with the country’s Ministry of Environment and Energy behind a new National Forest Traceability System, which aims to make exports EUDR and Lacey-Act compliant.
“Costa Rica has made significant progress in forest legality, but the next step is to integrate technology and innovation into the process to ensure traceability from the farm to the primary wood product. This is not just about control, it’s about ensuring transparency, accountability, and competitiveness in the timber trade,” said Franz Tattenbach, Costa Rica’s Minister for Environment and Energy.
According to Cynthia Salas, director of Tecnológico de Costa Rica’s School of Forestry Engineering, global demand for certified (FSC or PEFC) and legal timber is skyrocketing, with traceability the key tool to promote trade: “Costa Rica, recognized for its commitment to environmental sustainability and its strong forestry legal framework, now faces the challenge of strengthening its traceability systems, from the tree on the farm to the log or board that reaches the sawmill or international market.”
These steps involve using tools that enable continuous tracking of timber throughout the production chain, ensuring that its origin is verifiable and that legal, sustainable, and responsible practices are adhered to at every stage: “A national traceability system not only builds confidence in our forest products but also equips responsible producers with the tools to demonstrate that their timber comes from farms that meet all legal and environmental standards,” said Natalia Chacón Cid, Executive Director of the Chamber of Forestry, Timber, and Industry.
Costa Rica is classified as ‘low risk’ under the EUDR.
As it stands, Costa Rica exports more than US$370 million worth of forest and wood products every year, with over 75% of the trade routed to Central American neighbours (including more than US$100 million to Guatemala, US$43.3 million to Nicaragua, and US$42.8 million to Panama). Much of its trade to the United States and Europe is in teak, used in yacht decking and flooring, where Costa Rica—a low-risk country under the European Union’s new country classification system—is filling the shortfall of Burmese teak from global markets.
- To learn more about Costa Rica’s success in reversing deforestation and becoming a global model for reforestation, click here for Earth’s special feature.
