By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The United States and Costa Rica will formalize an agreement today in which this country will get abut $12 million for forest conservation.

The payment will be in the form of debt relief authorized under the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act.

The act, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development, was enacted in 1998 to offer eligible developing countries options to relieve certain official debt owed the U.S. government while at the same time generating funds in local currency to support tropical forest conservation activities.

Most of the program grants have had a private dimension, and the one with Costa Rica is no different, Some $2.5 million is coming from private sources, incliuding Conservation International.

Costa Rica has yet to announce how and where it will apply the debt forgiveness.