What indigenous startups in Costa Rica can teach the world about the future of eco-tourism

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Costa Rica wrote the playbook on Eco-Tourism. Its Indigenous Startups Are Reinventing it.

Paulino Nájera Rivera grew up surrounded by the majestic forests of southern Costa Rica, where fresh fruit from the wilderness was a daily staple. The forest trails were Paulino’s stomping grounds; his earliest experiences in nature were illuminated by the elders of his community.

In his teens, Paulino witnessed an environmental crisis strike his native Térraba.

Rampant deforestation and the use of chemicals in agriculture polluted the only water source the community had, triggering a crisis that threatened biodiversity and his community alike. The Térraba community of Costa Rica believe in an ancestral connection with nature, valuing their land, rivers and forests as sacred to their cultural identity.

Paulino decided not to stand idly by. In the 1980s, he and his siblings planted over 37,000 native trees, dreaming of one day seeing them grow.

“Back then, the trend was to plant exotic species for commercial purposes. But we chose a different path: preserving nature,” said Paulino. “It was very challenging at first, searching for seeds of nearly extinct species. With the help of community elders, we learned what to plant and how to care for the forest,” he remembers.

As the forests grew, so did Paulino's idea of sharing this experience with others. Today, those he leads on nature walks through the revitalized landscape can hardly believe the photos that bear witness to the destruction. On their walks with Paulino, visitors not only explore the rainforest trails but also discover the deep bond the Térraba community share with their land, along with the stories and culture the land has nurtured.

“The forest can generate the resources we need to keep it protected and safe,” says Paulino. “That’s how the walks began, bringing people interested in exploring and learning about the area. That’s when the idea of eco-cultural tourism emerged,” says Paulino. “Rincón Ecológico Cultural was born from a dream — a vision nobody supported at first. But we wanted to showcase what we had: our culture. We wanted people to know about us,” he says.

Paulino is one of 77 Indigenous entrepreneurs in Costa Rica whose businesses have benefited from investment and training through a pioneering Indigenous startup incubator called RAÍCES.

With support from UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative and the Costa Rican government, the RAÍCES programme is designed to promote and strengthen business ideas in the sustainable tourism sector, led by Indigenous Peoples in their territories.

This programme aims to provide entrepreneurs with access to funding, diversify their markets, expand their customer base, and offer new services, giving them the opportunity to promote their culture while contributing to the development of their communities.

Through three editions, Raíces has mobilized over US$1.7 million supporting 35 business ventures. Notably, 67% of Raíces' ventures are led by women, by design, reflecting a strong commitment to gender equality in sustainable development. The entrepreneurs have remarkable stories to tell, and their experience holds important lessons for Indigenous business startups everywhere.

From Forest Wisdom to Global Lessons

Supporting nature-positive businesses in Indigenous territories matters more than ever before.The global biodiversity crisis is at a tipping point, with one million species at risk of extinction and ecosystems declining at an unprecedented rate. According to a 2021 study, Indigenous Peoples manage or have tenure rights over approximately 36% of the world's intact forest landscapes. These forests are critical for biodiversity, carbon storage, and climate regulation.

"Indigenous Peoples and local communities are not just stakeholders in biodiversity — they are its frontline defenders," said Midori Paxton, UNDP's Nature Hub Director. "Their traditional knowledge, stewardship of ecosystems, and rights-based approaches are essential if the world is to meet the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Without them, the path to a nature-positive future is incomplete."

"Investing in Indigenous- and community-led enterprises isn’t just a matter of equity — it’s smart economics," said Midori.

"These businesses are rooted in sustainable practices, deeply aligned with local ecosystems, and offer scalable models for a nature-positive economy. Supporting them means backing nature-based solutions that work for people, planet, and prosperity," she added.

Putting Nature on the Balance Sheet

Costa Rica is a global pioneer in nature tourism. International tourism rakes in a hefty US$4.3 billion annually for the Central American nation, and hundreds of local communities directly benefit from the tourism boom.

Straddling the isthmus between the North and South American continents, the country sits among the top 20 biodiversity hotspots in the world. The country is also a runaway success story in reversing global trends of biodiversity loss and deforestation through groundbreaking legal and policy reforms.

Costa Rica's economic policies started recognizing the value of forests in the mid-1990s, triggered by a stark rise in deforestation that shrank forest cover from roughly 75 % in the 1940s to about 21 % by 1987.

Today, over a quarter of the country’s territory is designated as national parks and protected areas, and activities like wildlife watching, adventure tourism (zip-lining, rafting), and agro-tourism promote conservation.

The country has remained ahead of the curve in recognizing the real economic value of forests —not just in carbon storage, but in biodiversity, water, and livelihoods. That wasn’t just conservation; it was a nature-positive economic strategy that delivered growth, stability, and global leadership in sustainability.

In 2025, Costa Rica's approval of a Future Flows Securitization Bill demonstrates how it continues to be world-leading in translating biodiversity into measurable economic value.

In 2019, the Costa Rica government decided to develop a ‘biodiversity finance plan’ with UNDP-BIOFIN support, in order to ensure it was directing adequate funding towards its natural heritage – the mainstay of its tourism-reliant economy.

This was seen as an investment rather than spending. After all, nature underpins over half of the world’s GDP—an estimated $58 trillion—through ecosystem services such as clean water, fertile soils, and pollination.

The tourism incubator Raíces (the Spanish word for ‘Roots’) emerged in 2020 out of the need to support eco-tourism opportunities among the country’s Indigenous communities prioritized in the National Biodiversity Strategy and Biodiversity Finance Plan.

For entrepreneurs from these communities, starting a business poses challenges the traditional banking system is not designed to respond to.

Mainstream banks and financial institutions often have a long list of requirements that borrowers have to meet to qualify for a loan. Prior experience in managing funds, title deeds for land, digital literacy and other similar requirements are common.

The team designing the programme realized they needed finance solutions tailored to the realities of their Indigenous entrepreneurs and to co-create the programme with them. They also submitted the Program to the Development Bank System and secured domestic funding for the incubating program. The underlying business models required them to go back to the drawing board.

“Raíces is the result of a long process of listening to and understanding the priorities of indigenous peoples, creating new funding opportunities that support their own vision of development, in balance with Mother Nature,” said Natalia Meza, the National Coordinator for BIOFIN in Costa Rica.

“Raíces exemplifies how innovative business models can be nurtured in harmony with indigenous cosmovision,” said Natalia.

“In short, we wanted these individuals to start businesses they believed in, rather than adopt business ideas that didn't fit in well with their worldview,” said Natalia.

Women Leading Change

For Indigenous women, the challenges in starting a business were even greater. They often bear a double burden: domestic responsibilities and family care, coupled with the need to generate income.

In Costa Rica, over 50% of rural women work in informal employment, according to a 2022 study by the School of Economics at the National University of Costa Rica. For Indigenous women, the situation is even more complex: fewer than a fifth are formally employed, and 70% of girls will never attend school.

These statistics highlight the deep inequalities limiting women’s employment potential, making small businesses the only viable option for women seeking financial empowerment and looking to provide for their families.

The Raíces design crafted incentives and business models that accounted for these gender inequalities and addressed the barriers to entry into entrepreneurship.

For Elides Rivera Navas, an entrepreneur of Jardín del Idön in in the Térraba Indigenous Territory, working outside the community meant time away from her young children. It wasn’t just a matter of physical distance but also of disconnecting from her culture and traditions.

“Raíces allowed me to start a business that I could run without leaving my territory - and enabled me to find the investment and training I needed, to run it well,” says Elides Rivera Navas.

For Johanna Lázaro Morales, entrepreneur of Caushas Farm in the Boruca Indigenous Territory, the drive to launch her business came from the need to generate income to support her family, care for her children, and assist her aging parents with their health challenges.

"Women are entrepreneurs out of the need for change, and that need turned into an opportunity to improve our businesses. RAÍCES has been an ally for us, enabling us to dream big and teaching us skills on how to run our businesses better," said Johanna Lázaro Morales.

Her venture not only provides income, but also contributes to community well-being, demonstrating that women’s active participation in economic activities is a transformative force driving development in indigenous territories.

"Not long ago, I thought I couldn’t do it—because I’m a woman, because I’m a mother, because I come from an Indigenous territory. But Raíces has been my ally, it’s a dream come true. Even though I was already offering tourism services, even though I had the experience of welcoming people and sharing my culture, now I can do it in a better way—with higher quality and a clearer vision,” Johanna shares.

Andrey Zúñiga Torres, a young man from the Guanacaste community in Ujarrás, has always felt a deep connection to the land and his Bribri-Cabécar heritage. This bond inspired him to create something that would allow others to experience the same connection. Thus, KuyekECoVida was born — a venture that highlights the cultural and natural richness of his territory through ecotourism.

This initiative not only invites visitors to discover the beauty of the environment, but also aims to boost the local economy and ensure that traditions are preserved for future generations.

“I decided to start a business to have a positive impact in my community, both economically and culturally, knowing that ecotourism was a way to do it, while preserving and transmitting our traditions to future generations," Andrey said.

Global Economics needs a Makeover. Here's why.

"Nature has historically been invisible in balance sheets, financial reports, development theory, business plans, insurance policies, supply chain risks, and business models" observes UNDP in its Nature Pledge - a flagship effort to support 140 countries in protecting nature and pivoting to nature-positive economic policies.

In 2020, the World Economic Forum published a comprehensive study of the global economy to reveal that "over half of the world’s GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. Pollination, water quality and disease control are three examples of the services an ecosystem can provide." "As nature loses its capacity to provide such services, these industries could be significantly disrupted," the WEF-PwC Report warns.

The world faces a US$700bn shortfall in biodiversity financing.

"Financing for nature isn’t just about protecting ecosystems — it’s about investing in models that help economies and communities thrive together," said Onno van den Heuvel, Head of Nature Finance at UNDP, and one of the visionaries behind BIOFIN's success.

BIOFIN is currently working in over 130 countries developing or implementing Biodiversity Finance Plans similar to the one that led to the creation of RAICES in Costa Rica. In 40 countries, BIOFIN has catalyzed over US$1.6bn in revenues for nature, harnessing finance solutions that run from the humble crowdfunding to complex fiscal instruments such as Green Bonds.

This transformative impact is matched by the simplicity of BIOFIN's mission: leveraging global aid contributions as seed capital to support nature-positive policies and businesses, that go on to generate a sustainable revenue stream for nature conservation - a concept popularly known as Finance-For-Finance.

"This is what true development looks like," says Onno, "where economic progress is measured not just in GDP growth, but in healthy landscapes, empowered communities, and cultural resilience. Indigenous-led nature-based enterprises offer a blueprint for inclusive growth that respects both people and planet," he says.

BIOFIN's impact shows how investment in conservation increases the resilience of societies and economies, generates positive economic returns, and creates income multipliers. Studies have revealed that each dollar invested in restoration activities is estimated to return between $7 to $30 in economic benefits.

In Terraba, Paulino and his community are happy that students and young people make up the bulk of visitors to the once decimated forests they've restored. "Today, more than 100 people can attend environmental awareness talks and activities at the same time, coming from over 30 countries around the world, mainly from Europe," he says, beaming with pride.

“Raíces is a reconnection with ourselves, a reconnection that had been severed. Today, we are reclaiming our heritage again, and we strive for the new generations to take ownership of our culture,” says Paulino.

Credits: This story was written and produced by Mahtab Haider (UNDP-BIOFIN Global Communications Lead) with reporting from Costa Rica by Diana Garro (UNDP-BIOFIN Costa Rica). Photos by UNDP-BIOFIN Costa Rica, mixed media graphics by Mahtab Haider.

Disclaimer: The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on the maps in this story do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations, UNDP or partner countries.