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This case study examines Costa Rica's transition from high rates of deforestation to net forest restoration between 1986 and 2005. It highlights how a combination of market shifts, policy changes, and financial incentives—most notably the Pago de Servicios Ambientales (PSA) system—contributed to increasing forest cover from 41 percent in 1986 to 48 percent by 2005.

This report details several research initiatives supported by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) across the Americas. These projects focus on the intersection of environmental science and public policy, addressing nitrogen cycling, tropical dry forest conservation, climate services for agriculture, freshwater ecosystem risks, malaria transmission in the Amazon, water security in arid regions, oceanic carbon sequestration, the impact of highways on zoonotic diseases, and urban hydrological vulnerability.