Ms. Marlen Calvo Lobo; Mr. Juan Bonilla Villalobos; Ms. Andrea Avila Alfaro (Programa de Gestión Ambiental y Social del Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes-Costa Rica)
The MOPT Environmental and Social Management Program (PROGAS) celebrated 10 years since its creation in 2021. The implementation of environmental measures for wildlife in National routes of Costa Rica does not have the support of Specific Legislation. Even with this gap, PROGAS was able to implement environmental measures for wildlife on the new road projects. PROGAS requests the creation of the Environmental Guide: Wildlife Friendly Roads as a tool to implement measures for wildlife on roads to reduce the impact. They use this Guide as the basis for creating the terms of reference for new road projects to incorporate a study to recommend environmental measures for wildlife. PROGAS actively participates in the creation of the Wildlife Crossing Sign, specific to Costa Rica. These have been great advances for the country specifically on the subject of new road projects. Regarding the implementation of measures in existing road projects, PROGAS leads the incorporation of measures for fauna in the maintenance works of the existing road network. This is a process that has been activated since 2020 and there are already studies of three national routes to start it up. They have also participated in the development of protocols for the Maintenance of the wildlife crossing infrastructure, new documents for the country. PROGAS has managed to combine the support and work of different governmental and non-governmental organizations to address the road impact on wildlife from a comprehensive perspective. The creation of this program was supported by the IDB for a specific project, but the Government of Costa Rica stated it as a permanent program. The process and work of PROGAS can serve as a guide and can be replicated in the other countries of the Latin American region.
National results:
- Measures implemented on 9 new road projects
- Canopy bridges: 52 built and 23 under construction
-Underpasses: 40 built and 32 under construction
-Monitoring of canopy bridges and underpasses on 3 routes
-First fence for Birds and first Eco duct on the Mesoamerican Region
