An Introduction to Environmental Issues in Costa Rica

Martin L. Cipollini, PhD.

Berry College

Costa Rica Biodiversity: The Things We Like to Talk about

• Only the size of West Virginia, yet harbors*:

• 12,000 species of plants

• 1,239 species of butterflies

• 838 species of birds

• 440 species of reptiles and amphibians

• 232 species of mammals

• And probably 500,000 species of arthropods (insects, spiders, etc.) !

* http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20costarica.htm

Costa Rica Biodiversity: The Things We Like to Talk about

• 20 "life zones“ including beaches and mangroves, lowland rainforests, cloud forests, dry deciduous forests, and paramo.

• Its location just 8 – 11oN of the equator makes seasonality important only via pronounced wet and dry seasons in the Pacific NW.

• Distinct marine and freshwater organisms emanate from both the Pacific and Caribbean shores.

• Its altitude ranges from 0 to 3,819 meters, creating an incredibly varied set of environmental conditions in a small place.

• The narrow isthmus between North and South America promotes a mixing of biotas that evolved in either location.

• The tropics are the evolutionary “source” of many unique organism groups

(e.g., new world monkeys).

Costa Rica Biodiversity

• Conservation programs:• Roughly 18 percent of the country is in national parks and

another 13 percent is in privately owned preserves. More land in some form of protection than in any other country.

• Areas targeted for protection have high biodiversity and possible connections (corridors) to other preserved zones.

• Private conservation is encouraged byforest protection certificates which annually pay landowners about $50 per hectare (2.5 acres).

• Around 2/3 of Costa Rica's remaining rainforests are protected.

Some Other Things We Like to Talk About…

• Happy Planet Index listed the Costa Ricans (affectionately called “Ticos”) as the happiest people on earth!

• Costa Rica has had no army since 1945, thus can use savings on social and other programs.

• Life expectancy is higher and childhood mortality lower than in the U.S. Second only to Canada in life expectancy in the Americas.

• US spends about 10 X more money on health care, yet ranks below Costa Rica in overall health status according to WHO.

• Ranked first in the Americas (#3 in the world) in UN Environmental Performance Index.

• http://www.happyplanetindex.org/news/archive/news-2.html• http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/country-health-profile/costa-rica• http://epi.yale.edu/

Global Environmental Trends: The Things We Don’t Like to Talk About

• a) Population growth• b) Species extinction• c) Deforestation• d) Destruction of wetlands• e) Desertification• f) Soil erosion• g) Soil salinization• h) Farmland conversion

• All of these major environmental trends (except perhaps for “o” and “p”) are problems in Costa Rica, at least in some regions of the country.

• i) Groundwater contamination• j) Groundwater depletion • k) Declining oil supplies• l) Declining mineral supplies• m) Surface water shortages • n) Global climate change• o) Acid deposition• p) Ozone depletion

Some Solutions: The Things We Like to Talk About (Reprised)

• Sustainable forestry/reforestation programs

• Sustainable agriculture programs

• Ecotourism and private reserves

• Green labeling programs: Tourism

• Green labeling programs: Certified Forestry

• Carbon or “ecosystem services” reserves

• Debt for nature swaps

• Valuation of natural biological resources

• In general: “Sustainable” development.

Some Solutions: Sustainable Forestry

• Sustainable forest development programs: an example.

• FUNDECOR* (Foresta Project of the Foundation for the Development of the Central Volcanic Mountain Range) has developed forest management programs for landowners across more than 13,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of forest.

• Sustainable harvesting results in

greater long-term economic gains

for landowners, while reducing the

long-term damage to their forests. * http://www.fundecortechnology.org/fundecor/Inicio.html

Some Solutions: Sustainable Agriculture• Industrial agriculture is still the norm, and uses high amounts of fuel,

chemicals, and water to achieve high yields (rice, sugar cane, coffee, bananas, pineapple, beef).

• Large international corporations historically monopolized Costa Rican agriculture (e.g., United Fruit, Chiquita, Dole).

• Sustainable agriculture* attempts to lower inputs while accepting lower short term yields and lowering the unsustainable side effects of industrial agriculture (pollution, fuel use, water depletion, etc.)

• An example. EARTH University’s La Flor** sustainable agriculture program in the Guanacaste area (mango, citris, sugar cane, cattle).

• * http://agriculture.mitrasites.com/sustainable-agriculture-in-costa-rica.html• ** http://www.earth.ac.cr/ing/info_general_laflor.php

Some Solutions: Ecotourism• Eco-tourism (tourism dependent upon natural areas or

specific species) has become an important source of revenue. • Tourism of any kind has negative impacts on the environment

(habitat loss, water use and pollution, fuel consumption). • A healthy ecotourism industry shows that economic well-

being can be compatible with environmental protection. • Costa Rica’s advantage was its foresight in preserving and

protecting large areas of land for multiple uses. Private land holdings are often too small and disconnected to have a large impact on biodiversity or to provide “ecosystem services” (e.g., protection of clean water).

• Costa Rica is divided into geographical units called “Conservation Areas”* with programs in each area for economic development, agricultural/forestry development, and environmental protection.

* http://www.sinac.go.cr/principal.php

Some Solutions: Green Labeling

• The tourism board (ICT) issues Certificates of Sustainable Tourism* in response to “green washing” (abusing terms such as “environmental”, “eco-” or “sustainable”)

• Blue Flags designate clean beaches and Green Leaves designate eco-friendly properties.

• The survey favors large businesses, fails to fully credit small, environmentally conscious establishments, and does not give special consideration for those with nature reserves. As a result, many small “eco-lodges” don’t make the list.

• The system nevertheless helps travelers choose larger hotels that are at least attempting to follow ecologically friendly practices.

* http://www.turismo- sostenible.co.cr

Some Solutions: Green Labeling

DEGREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF TIMBER CERTIFICATION

Category Knew about certification

Did not know about certification

Consumers 0 100

Sawmill owners 11 89

Forest owners 17 83

Gov’t officials 85 15

Environmental NGOs 89 11

http://www.ulb.ac.be/assoc/iff/section1/otherlinks/ecovervr2.PDF

Some Solutions: Green Labeling

Willingness to Pay Higher Prices for Certified Forest Products

Category Willing to pay for productor for certification

Not willing to pay for product or for certification

Consumers 90 10

Sawmill owners 86 14

Forest owners 50 50

Gov’t officials* 40 60

Environmental NGOs* 22 78

http://www.ulb.ac.be/assoc/iff/section1/otherlinks/ecovervr2.PDF

* Survey results reflected a distrust of international certification guidelines applied to local situations.

Some Solutions: Carbon Reserves

• In 2005, Costa Rica joined a coalition of developing countries that proposed a "rainforest conservation for emissions" deal at the UN summit on climate change in Montreal.

• The plan calls for wealthy nations to compensate poor nations for rainforest conservation.

• Costa Rica already had a similar program in place which protected rainforest by selling allowances to emit greenhouses gases. Watershed reserves are also common.

• Through programs such as this, Costa Rica is nearing its goal of becoming the first “carbon-neutral” nation, benefitted by the fact that much of its energy needs are met via hydroelectric, geothermal, and wind resources.*

*http://internationalliving.com/2010/07/26-costa-rica-nears-carbon-neutral-goal/

Some Solutions: Debt for Nature Swaps

• Debt for Nature swaps are agreements among governments and environmental NGOs to pay down debts of debtor nations, in exchange for an agreement to use money saved for conservation.

• Example: As part of the U.S. Tropical Forest Conversation Act (US-TFCA), the U.S. is spending $12.6 million to buy back about $26 million of Costa Rica's debt .* Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy are each contributing $1.26 million.

• Over 16 years, Costa Rica must spend the money on forest conservation on the Osa Peninsula (home to Corcovado National Park) and in Tortuguero National Park on the Caribbean.

• Since 1998, US-TFCA has provided about $135 million to 11 countries, including Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador, the Philippines and Bangladesh.

* For related info see: http://www.nature.org/newsfeatures/magazine/forever-costa-rica-1.xml

Some Solutions: Valuation of Biological Resources

• Example: INBIO (National Biodiversity Institute): a non-governmental, non-profit, public interest organization

• Established in 1989 to gather knowledge on the country’s biodiversity and to promote its sustainable use.

• Works under the premise that the best way to conserve biodiversity is to study it, value it, and utilize the opportunities it offers to improve the quality of life of human beings.

• Works in close collaboration with government institutions, universities, the private sector and other public and private organizations.

• Includes the world’s first “Biodiversity Park”- INBIOparque in Santo Domingo de Heredia.

*http://www.inbio.ac.cr/en/default.html

Some Solutions: INBIO• Inventory and Monitoring: Generates data on the diversity of Costa Rica’s

species and ecosystems. Collection includes more than 3 million organisms.

• Conservation: Uses data to help make decisions related to the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity, by both public (e.g. National Conservation Areas) and private sectors.

• Communications and education: Primarily via INBIOparque, shares information about biodiversity with the public, with the aim of creating greater awareness of its value.

• Biodiversity informatics: Develops computer tools to generate, administer, analyze and disseminate data on biodiversity through its “Atta” database.

• Bio-prospecting: Seeks commercial applications for biological resources. Has pioneered agreements to study chemicals, genes, etc., in plants and other organisms for possible pharmaceutical, medical, biotechnological, cosmetic, food and agricultural uses.

A Caveat: What Permits “Sustainable Development”?

• Sustainable development is often described as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future”

• A common model of sustainable development is that of the three-legged stool, with Economics, Environment, and Social Justice comprising the three legs.

• Unless the three “legs” are balanced, the stool topples and falls (is “unsustainable”)

• Problem with this model is that it fails to recognize that a healthy, productive environment is the SOURCE of economic gain and social welfare.*

*See Dawe and Ryan http://www.tropical.umn.edu/TTM/Speakers/Handouts/Three-Legged-Stool.pdf

Sustainable Development: Is this the right model?