KarmaTrekkersNGOsCostaRica3

In this third installment of an on-going series, Dylan Brown looks at the economic benefit of Eco Tourism in Costa Rica
On the website of the Tirimbina Research Center, it states that, “The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) defines ecotourism as follows: responsible travel to nature areas in a manner which preserves the environment and improves the welfare of the local population.” This means that those who carry out and participate in ecotourism activities should follow the following principles:
-Minimize impact
-Encourage environmental/cultural knowledge and respect.
-Provide positive experiences for visitors as well as hosts.
-Provide direct financial benefits for conservation
-Provide economic benefits to the local population
-Support international human rights and labor agreements.
On the website of the Fund for Costa Rica, it states that, “In Costa Rica, the tourism industry is a pillar of the nation’s economy. Tourism generates more foreign exchange for the Costa Rican economy than any other economic activity including coffee, pineapple, and even banana exports. In 2005, tourism generated over $1.5 billion in foreign exchange, and accounted for 8% of Costa Rica’s GDP. Thus, a sustainable way to conserve biodiversity in Costa Rica is for the country’s successful ecotourism industry to help pay for it. The Fund for Costa Rica is working to promote investment by the tourism industry in programs to improve the environment and to conserve biodiversity.”

The article Giants Worth Millions by Alejandro Balaguer demonstrates how profitable ecotourism and conservation can be. Balaguer writes that whale watching businesses exist all over the world these days; about nine million people have gone on whale watching trips, putting more than a billion dollars into the world economy every year. Costa Rica has also taken in millions of dollars from whale watching, proving that conservation can be a good business. Many countries such as Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic have set an example and created “whale sanctuaries,” so now countries can protect a resource and obtain benefits without killing the whales.
Balaguer, in the article, then goes on a whale watching trip with Kim Beddall, who has spent several decades working with whales and is one of the pioneers of the whale watching business. Balaguer states that “As we begin our journey and the boat bobs up and down in the waves, Kim gives us a class in sustainable development.” Kim states that, “Here in Samana, Dominican Republic, no one was observing whales in 1985. Today we might take 45,000 passengers out in a period of 65 days. This has a very significant economic impact on the area. It is a valuable resource because it provides important income for the community in hotels, car rentals, transportation, and food. Clearly, environmentally friendly businesses can bring both direct and indirect benefits. The whales offer a profitable show that could take hundreds of Latin American communities out of poverty.”
Like Beddal, many biologists and operators of tourism businesses believe that one way of keeping other countries from hunting whales is to have regulated and responsible observation in the region. But nature lovers aren’t the only ones who disagree with whale hunting. The Buenos Aires group (made up of thirteen Latin American countries including Costa Rica) sees whale watching tourism as a way of delivering economic development to coastal communities. In their last declaration they urged promotion of this activity throughout the oceans of the region as a way of opposing efforts to bring back commercial whale hunting. “The position of Latin American and Caribbean countries in general has been very positive in terms of conservation and of opposition to whale hunting. The economy is always going to determine what happens, so if you want to protect the whales, the best thing to do is to observe them and give the local communities an economic reason to protect the marine mammal. Whale watching is an economic alternative to whale hunting” Beddall concludes.

KarmaTrekkersNGOsCostaRica2

In this second of an on-going series, Dylan Brown looks at the reality of NGO's & Eco Tourism in Costa Rica
On the website of the Fund for Costa Rica, they have summed up what is the basic problem that these conservation/ecotourism NGOs look to solve. It states that, “The world’s tropical forests are being destroyed at an astounding rate. The basic problem is that a standing, biologically diverse tropical forest creates little to no economic benefits for the private rural landholder. In order to generate income to support a family, it is often necessary to cut the forest to sell the wood or to convert the area to another land use such as cattle ranching or crops.
If the world is to conserve and expand our remaining tropical forests, substantial financial resources are needed in order to protect tropical forests from illegal cutting and to provide income for those rural land owners that protect this important resource. But who should pay to protect the forests? Ultimately, if forests are to be financed sustainably, the “user” of the forest should pay for its protection. In many parts of the world (including Costa Rica), the ecotourism industry is the primary “user” of standing and biologically diverse tropical forests. Without the forests, the sloths, the monkeys, and the toucans, the tourists would probably not be visiting."
So, as we see with these previous statements, the rural landholder must be able to make a livable wage that is sufficient to support a family, while using their land for something that economically benefits them more than cutting the forest and converting it to another land use such as agriculture. Herein lies the challenge for forest conservation in Costa Rica. This is because often the rural landholder can benefit more economically by cutting and converting the land to other uses.
Obviously then, there needs to be a way to finance the rural landholder and his/her family so that he/she can make a decent living wage while leaving the forest on his/her land standing. In Costa Rica, they have figured out that the best way to do this is through ecotourism.

KarmaTrekkersNGOsCostaRica

I have conducted an  independent study regarding all or most of the non-profit/non-governmental conservation and ecotourism organizations (NGOs (non-governmental organizations)) in the country of Costa Rica.  The reasons for my conducting this independent study is to deepen understanding of how these organizations operate, so that this understanding can be applied  to other parts of the world where these conservation initiatives are much needed.  The reason for choosing the country of Costa Rica for this study is because this country seems to be leading all of the world’s countries in these kinds of NGO conservation through eco-tourism initiatives.
Fifteen of these conservation/ecotourism NGOs in Costa Rica were located.  They are: The Organization For Tropical Studies, Tirimbina Research Center, Tropical Science Center, Monteverde Conservation League, Costa Rica Conservation Foundation, ATEC (The Talamancan Association of Ecotourism and Conservation), Ecopreservation Society, ANAI (Talamanca Environmental Association), The Fund For Costa Rica, Caribbean Conservation Corporation, FUNDECOR (Fundacion para el Desarollo de la Cordillera Volcanica Central), ADELA, The Buenos Aires Group and Cedarena.  Each has its individual purpose and business model, but all are fundamentally the same, non-profit, non-governmental conservation and eco-tourism organizations.  The most transparent of these thirteen organizations is the Organization for Tropical Studies, with a thorough annual report on their website.
The Organization for Tropical Studies owns and operates three different biological field stations in three different regions of Costa Rica: La Selva is located in the Caribbean lowlands of Northern Costa Rica and is comprised of 1,600 hectares of Premontane Wet Forest Habitat; Las Cruces is located along a spur of the Filos Cruces pacific coastal range in Coto Brus county in southern Costa Rica and is comprised of 300 hectares of Premontane Wet Forest Habitat; and Palo Verde is located within the Palo Verde National Park on the Pacific slopes of the Guanacaste province in Northwestern Costa Rica, and is composed of 19,000 hectares of Tropical Dry Forest and wetland Habitat.  Tirimbina Research Center is located in the Sarapaqui canton of the Heredia province in Northern Costa Rica and is comprised of 345 hectares of Premontane Wet Forest habitat.
The Tropical Science Center is located in San Jose, but owns and administers the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve which is located on the Pacific slopes of Northwestern Costa Rica and is comprised of 10,500 hectares of Tropical Cloud Forest habitat.   The Monteverde Conservation League is located in the same region as the previous, but administers to the adjacent land that is called The Children’s Eternal Rainforest which is comprised of 554 hectares of Tropical Cloud Forest Habitat.  The Costa Rica Conservation Foundation is also located in the Monteverde region, but is located in the lowland area of the region that is considered Tropical Rain Shadow Forest habitat. ATEC has offices in Puerto Viejo but most of its work is located in the city of Limon in the Talamanca canton of Costa Rica.  ANAI is also located and does its work in the Talamanca canton and is mostly concerned with “biomonitoring” and education of the region.
The Ecopreservation Society is a younger organization with offices in the cities of San Jose and Quepos, and looks to do most of its initial work in the Manuel Antonio National Park region in the central west coast of Costa Rica.  The Fund for Costa Rica is located and also works within the Manuel Antonio National Park on the central west coast of Costa Rica. The Caribbean Conservation Corporation is an international organization that has its headquarters in Gainesville, FL US and is involved with the protection and conservation of sea turtles and their habitat worldwide, but does most of their work in Costa Rica in the small village of Tortuguero, near the Port of Limon on the Caribbean coast.  ADELA is located in the city of Limon on the Caribbean coast and works to inform and educate the Caribbean community about the risks that the oil industry poses to the Caribbean and Costa Rica. FUNDECOR is located in the Central Volcanic Mountain Range and is composed of approximately 40,000 hectares in this region.  The Buenos Aires Group is a consortium of conservation and ecotourism NGOs throughout Latin America including Costa Rica, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and mostly concerning the conservation and ecotourism of marine mammals. Cedarena has offices in San Jose, but was the organization with the least public information to research, therefore I am lacking in information on this organization.