Ecotourism is the fastestgrowing sector of economic development in the world, and Costa Rica aims to reap huge advantages from that situation.
More than one million ecotourists visit Costa Rica every year, temporarily boosting the population of that nation by about one third. At present, Costa Rica takes in more revenue from ecotourism than from the export of all its products combined.
"Ecotourism is big business," reported the Talamancan Ecotourism and Conservation Association. "In winter, our hotel rooms are at 100-per-cent capacity. But, is is a constant struggle to protect natural environments so ecotourists will have something to see when they get here."
In 1952, Costa Rica launched the first conservation initiative in Latin America. It has emphasized the raining of wildlife managers at the National University. About 30 per cent of the nation is protected, either in national forest or wildlife preserve.
A new study by INCAE Business School confirms that, unlike general tourists, whose spending does not often benefit rural residents, 5060 per cent of ecotourism revenue ends up in local economies. That is whycashpoor Costa Rica wants to attract more ecotourists.
To that end, more than 500 natural history guides have been trained to show off the nations 850 bird species, 209 mammals and 13,000 plants.
But, Costa Rica is in many ways mired in conflict between past and future.
Agro-export organizations oppose conservation measures that aim to improve the landscape to entice ecotourists. Use of pesticides is rampant, even though 20 per cent of them only make produce look better. There are five times more crop pests in Costa Rica than in North America, and agriculturalists argue that pesticides are a must to control them, even though pesticides cause huge wildlife losses through poisoning.
To make matters worse, Costa Ricas waste disposal is a nightmare. Raw sewage is usually dumped in the nearest wastercourse, just anywhere it can flow away.
The Costa Rican federal and local governments are so poor, largely due to a lack of any organized taxation system, that enforcement of all conservation laws is in the hands of local communities.
They, too, lack financial capability to enforce conservation laws. Even though Costa Rica has had a national conservation strategy since 1984, it has not spawned any workable programs.
"The laws are tough, but nobody really pays much attention to them," said a conservationist based at San Jose.
"Sure we have national parks and wildlife reserves, but nobody really enforces environmental laws there, or anywhere else," said a spokesman for the Fondacion Neotropica.
Wildtrapping of birds is a case in point. It is unlawful, but almost everybody does it. Costa Rica has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world, and fully one-half are wild birds, poached from wild nests. About 50 per cent of Costa Ricans admit that they have owned a wild parrot at some point in their lives.
There are almost 200,000 pet parrots in Costa Rica, all belonging to species that are threatened or endangered.
Almost 30,000 birds are caught in the wild each year.
"It is a long-standing tradition to catch birds and keep them as pets," said one San Jose resident. "It is just one example of how we take away from the wild some of those things that bring ecotourists here, and that is very foolish.
