The Costa Rican banana industry is intending to go carbon neutral as part of a national joint effort to make the small Central American nation the first to offset all its carbon dioxide emissions by 2021.
President Oscar Arias recently announced that Costa Rica aims to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2021, to coincide with the celebration of the bicentennial of Costa Rican independence. A government action plan has already been approved, and many projects are now underway to reach this target.
The banana industry’s contribution to conservation and reforestation is 6,305 hectares of replanted forests: equivalent to 14.4 per cent of the total acreage under banana production.
This latest step follows the investment of more than $1 million (£508,000) by national banana association Corbana in two new adjoined research facilities studying pesticide reduction. Corbana has also recently established a partnership with researchers in the Netherlands, France, Brazil and Belgium, which aims to reduce banana production pesticide use by half in 10 years.
