CENTRO AGRONOMICO TROPICAL DE INVESTIGACION Y ENSENANZA CATIE

Their core work

CATIE is a Costa Rica-based tropical research and higher education center specializing in sustainable land management, agroforestry, forest conservation, and natural resource governance across Latin America and the Caribbean. In H2020, they contributed as a third-party partner in MSCA-RISE staff exchange projects focused on building decision support tools for forest policy and ecosystem services under climate change. Their real-world value to European consortia is deep, ground-level expertise in tropical forest dynamics, adaptive management of fire-prone landscapes, and the practical challenges of forest governance in biodiversity-rich developing regions. They serve as a bridge institution connecting European forest research with Central American field realities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (SuFoRun, 2016-2020), CATIE contributed to integrated forest policy modelling at a broad, systemic level — the emphasis was on connecting research outputs to policy frameworks. By their second project (DecisionES, 2021-2026), the focus sharpened considerably toward operational decision support, explicitly incorporating forest fires, adaptive management cycles, and the supply-side of ecosystem services. The trajectory shows a move from forest policy theory toward practical, actionable tools for land managers and planners facing concrete climate pressures.

CATIE is moving toward applied decision support for forest and land managers dealing with fire, climate disruption, and ecosystem service trade-offs — making them a relevant partner for projects needing tropical field validation or Latin American governance perspectives.

How they like to work

CATIE participates exclusively as a third party in MSCA-RISE staff exchange schemes, meaning they host and send researchers rather than leading work packages or holding budget lines directly. This reflects a partnership model built on institutional knowledge exchange rather than independent research delivery. Despite this supporting role, they engage with notably large networks — 19 distinct partners across 9 countries for just two projects — suggesting they are valued connectors to non-European expertise within otherwise European-led consortia.

CATIE has connected with 19 unique partners across 9 countries through just two projects, indicating they slot into large, internationally diverse consortia rather than tight bilateral collaborations. Their geographic network spans Europe and Latin America, which is consistent with their role as a tropical counterpart institution in MSCA-RISE exchanges.

What sets them apart

CATIE is one of very few non-European institutions consistently participating in H2020 forest research, giving them rare value as a tropical reference point in consortia that otherwise represent only temperate or boreal forest contexts. Based in Costa Rica — a global benchmark for forest conservation policy — they bring credibility on biodiversity-rich, climate-vulnerable landscape management that no European partner can replicate. For any consortium working on globally applicable forest decision tools, CATIE offers geographic diversity, field access in the Neotropics, and decades of institutional authority on agroforestry and land governance.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DecisionES
  A 2021-2026 MSCA-RISE project explicitly tackling ecosystem service supply decisions under climate change and fire risk — CATIE's most keyword-rich and thematically focused engagement in H2020.
• SuFoRun
  CATIE's first H2020 involvement, connecting tropical expertise to a European-led effort on integrated forest policy models and decision support tools under global change.