The National Forestry Financing Fund (FONAFIFO) was legally constituted in 1996. In 1997, FONAFIFO launched the Environmental Services Payments Program (ESP) to benefit small and medium-sized landowners whose included forests or are suitable for forestry activities, with the aim of promoting the conservation and recovery of the country's forest cover.

FONAFIFO's general objective is to finance small and medium-sized producers, through loans or other mechanisms, to promote the management of forests, both intervened and natural forests, in order to encourage forest plantation and reforestation processes, the establishment of forest nurseries and agroforestry systems, the rehabilitation of deforested areas, and also to benefit from technological advances in the use and industrialization of forest resources. FONAFIFO also mobilizes funds to pay for the environmental services provided by forests, forest plantations and other activities to strengthen the development of the natural resources sector.