Environmental Impact Assessment Law (Costa Rica)

"Article 92 of [Costa Rica's] Biodiversity Law 7788 (1998), states than ‘at the discretion of the Technical Office of the Commission, an environmental impact assessment of proposed projects shall be requested when it considers that they could affect biodiversity’. According to the consultation group, an EIA is required for every development project and mitigation and compensation measures are included within the EIA process. SETENA oversees this process although it is the responsibility of individual consultants to determine what compensation or mitigation measures are needed. This was considered to be a key point by consultees, who felt that this can lead to inconsistent or insufficient measures being proposed. ...the most common form of compensation for impacts from project development is through community payments." (source: UNDP/PWC, 2010) Compensation under EIA not like for like, and consultees of the UNDP/PWC report indicated that compensation sometimes is not completed.