Goldberg, Doran

Professor Encinias

CAS 115

11/28/2023

P3 Ruff Draft

Costa Rica’s Impressive Sustainability

Coming into the twenty-first century, talks of climate change, global warming, and how we can

reverse or negate their effects seem to be commonplace for most. In a world where so much of

our lives depend on energy and resources how do we figure out how to do it sustainably. One

country seems to have it all figured out. Costa Rica is the leader in sustainability and

environmental awareness in the Central American Region. Costa Rica is a small Central

American country bordered on two sides by water on its East and West Side. To the North, it

shares a border with Nicaragua and to the South, it shares a border with Panama. More than half

of Costa Rica is covered by beautiful and lush tropical rainforests due to it getting approximately

one hundred inches of rain per year. The other parts consist of beaches, volcanoes and wildlife.

In the 1950’s when meat prices rose globally, Costa Ricans began cutting down forests to make

room for cattle ranching. A lot of land was cleared for commercial farming to create plantations

and cattle ranches. Pasture land expanded significantly and it generated revenue for Costa Rica.

In addition to cattle ranching, agricultural practices also contributed to the problem. This was

also driven by outside influences and large foreign corporations. In the 1970’s and 1980’s Costa

Rica experienced large population growth and economic development resulting in massive
deforestation. Tropical rainforests were cleared for new settlements and modern infrastructure.

At this point there was very little focus on the environmental impact of these actions because it

was financially driven and it was a necessity because of the growth. People needed the farmland

because they needed the cattle to produce meat. At the time, feeding the population took a

greater priority than the sustainability of their actions. Moreover, as a developing country, there

was little education about how harming the environment could impact lives.

Up until this point there was little acknowledgement of the environmental impact of the harmful

deforestation practices. In the 1990’s there was a change in course by Costa Ricans. However,

before change was evident, there was varying opinions on whether Costa Rica could make

sustainable change. In 1994, the Los Angeles times reported that some experts claimed “ Costa

Rica will lose all its unprotected forests by 2000 as a result of agricultural

expansion, population growth and overbuilding.”In response to the massive

deforestation of the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Costa Rican government implemented large scale

policies to improve its environment. The plan was revolutionary, in that it did not just slow the

deforestation, but it focused on reversing the environmental impact by implementing programs

of reforestation.

The Costan Rican government introduced the first of its kind environmental sustainability

program within the Latin American region. The program was called the PES program (Payments

for Environmental Services Program) The United Nations describes this as not just any

environmental program, but as a, “financial mechanism that promotes forest ecosystem

monetary incentives to landowners to replant trees. This program pooled millions of dollars to

financially incentivize farmers and landowners to practice eco friendly farming techniques.

Landowners could sign on to one of three different types of contracts. Wiley describes the three

contracts respectively as, “forest conservation, reforestation, and sustainable forest management”

each one with different requirements of the landowner. The first of these contracts, the forest

conservation contract, required landowners to protect pre existing forests for five years without

changing land coverage. The second contract, the reforestation contract, had landowners not just

protect land but actually bound them to planting new trees. This contract lasted fifteen years.

Lastly, the forest management contract paid landowners who were able to make a sustainable

logging plan with their land. This contract also had a duration of fifteen years. A sustainable

logging plan included how many trees they cut, how many trees to plant, and how to use the

land. This program was successful because it did not just try to slow or stop deforestation but it

actually incentivized reforestation and it worked. The results were very positive leading the

Society for Conservation Biology to describe it as, “ a major advance in the global

institutionalization of ecosystem investments' ' because of how revolutionary the program was in

relation to not just surrounding countries, but countries around the world.

Costa Rica maintains the PES program as a means to continue its sustainability efforts and has

implemented even more systems and policies in place to reach its goal of carbon neutrality by

2050. Currently, more than sixty five percent of Costa Rica’s energy comes from hydro electric

power while wind and geothermal energy make up another thirty percent. According to The

Borgen Project, “More than 99 percent of the energy in Costa Rica was generated from
renewable sources in 2019” In 2019 Costa Rica passed legislation to ban single use plastics in

an attempt to lower overall waste and decrease their carbon footprint. On top of all these policies,

nearly thirty percent of the land in Costa Rica is protected as either a National Park wildlife

refuge area, or nature reserve. Even with all these policies in place, Costa Rica did see a rise in

greenhouse gas emissions in the last decade presumably due to an increase in cars and

industrialization. That being said, Costa Rica is committed to the widespread use of electric cars

in addition to train and shuttle networks to get people to work in San Jose, the nation's capital, in

an effort to reduce carbon emissions.

Costa Rica is ranked number one in the region for its sustainability and clean energy use. Costa

Rica is however a very small country with just one sixtieth the population of the United States. It

simply is not big enough to have any real dramatic change on the global climate crisis however,

its policies can and do serve as an inspiration and model for other countries across the world.

Costa Rica shows the rest of the world that it really is possible to have a nation that truly cares

for and protects the environment and that its methods can be replicated in other industrialized

nations that historically are not as environmentally sustainable. While its neighbor to the South,

Panama, does pretty well, it is not quite on the caliber as Costa Rica. Their neighbors to the

North, Nicaragua,however seem to be less productive. Nicaragua faces issues with pollution as

well as clean water management. This affects the rivers which damages entire ecosystems. With

a strong neighbor like Costa Rica, hopefully these countries can learn from them and implement

legislation of their own to help the planet.

due to its extraordinary performance and progressive policies. It also has to do with a severe lack

of competition from surrounding countries. Robert A Dull with Science Direct said El Salvador

is, “the most severely deforested country in the continental Americas” and that only six percent

of the current land is primary and secondary forests. Honduras is also a poor performer in regard

to sustainability. The Global Forest Watch calculated Honduras’s carbon emission to be 639

Megatons of carbon emissions between the years 2001 and 2022.

Costa Rica received the 2019 Champions of the Earth award. This is the highest award a country

can receive in relation to environmental progress. With all of Costa Rica’s drastic improvement,

it has seen a significant rise in ecotourism, tourism directed towards exotic and often endangered

ecosystems in order to experience nature and observe wildlife, and is now the most visited

country in Central America. Costa Rica put out its plan for 2030 to continue as a , “multi stake

stakeholder approach” according to the Green Business Bureau. It plans to continue marching

along on this strong path to ensure sustainability for future generations to come. Because the

government’s plan uses a multistakeholder approach, education is vital to get the citizens on

board. In addition to public programs, Costa Rica has also put lots of effort and resources

towards scientific research on sustainability and a diverse, carbon free society with a focus on

inclusivity and human rights to add onto its eco friendly outlook.

Costa Rica is definitely at the forefront of sustainability on the world stage. It’s not without

challenges as well. The country is becoming more industrialized as time goes on however, as a

result of the world's recognition of Costa Rica’s sustainability success, ecotourism in Costa Rica
is rapidly on the rise and continues to drive Costa Rica’s commitment towards environmental

protection and carbon neutrality. Today Costa Rica’s forests cover about fifty percent of the

country, there are 28 national parks, and deforestation has been all but utterly annihilated. Truly

Costa Rica is doing the right thing when it comes to the natural resources and environment.
Works Cited:

Azofeifa, Arturo S, et al. “Costa Rica’s Payment for Environmental Services Program:

Intention, Implementation, and Impact.” Shibboleth Authentication Request, JSTOR, Oct.

2007, www-jstor-org.libproxy.csun.edu/stable/pdf/4620940.

Dull, Robert A, et al. “Unpacking El Salvador’s Ecological Predicament: Theoretical

Templates and ‘Long-View’ Ecologies.” Global Environmental Change, Pergamon, 2 May

2008, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959378008000186?via%3Dihub.

Green Business Bureau. “Costa Rica Sustainability: How Costa Rica Became a

Sustainability Pioneer in Latin America.” Green Business Bureau, 28 Oct. 2022,

greenbusinessbureau.com/green-practices/costa-rica-sustainability/#:~:text=One%20key%

20goal%20is%20for,Building%20resiliency.

Randall, Laura. “Deforestation, Population Growth Peril Costa Rica’s ’Pure Life’ : Central

America: The Country Loses Some Sections of Its Rain Forests as Fast as It Saves Others.

Developers and Land-Poor Farmers Clash with Environmentalists and the ‘Ecotourism’

Industry.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan. 1994,

www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-02-mn-7631-story.html.
“The Society for Conservation Biology.” Costa Rica’s Payment for Environmental Services

Program: Intention, Implementation, and Impact, Society of Conservation Biology, 27 July

2007, conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00852.x.

Vizzuality. “Honduras Deforestation Rates & Statistics: GFW.” Forest Monitoring, Land

Use & Deforestation Trends, Global Forest Watch,

www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/HND/?location=WyJjb3VudHJ5IiwiSE5E

Il0%3D. Accessed 24 Nov. 2023.

Young, Emily. “10 Facts about Renewable Energy in Costa Rica.” The Borgen Project,

Kim Thelwell https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/logo.jpg, 25 Jan. 2020,

borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-renewable-energy-in-costa-rica/#:~:text=Most%20of%20

Costa%20Rica%27s%20energy%20comes%20from%20renewable%20sources.&text=The

%20majority%20of%20this%20energy,percent%20is%20from%20backup%20plants.