November 1, 2024 in Life in Costa Rica, Discover Costa Ballena, Discover Costa Ballena, Discover Costa Rica

In a world increasingly defined by artificial environments and fast-paced lifestyles, a growing number of people are rediscovering a way of living that connects them with nature and cultivates a simpler, more meaningful existence. This movement, known as rewilding, isn’t just about conservation or returning land to its natural state; it’s also about humans rewilding—reconnecting with our innate rhythms, instincts, and the natural world around us. Nowhere is this movement more vibrant and accessible than in Costa Rica, where expansive properties with rich biodiversity, untouched landscapes, and supportive communities offer an ideal environment for individuals eager to embrace this new lifestyle.

May 13, 2023 in Discover Costa Rica

To highlight a new short documentary by The Economist magazine called “Climate Change: Can Money Stop Deforestation?” we want to highlight the steps that Costa Rica has taken to combat deforestation and how it has benefitted from environmentally-focused solutions. 

Costa Rica’s forests are some of the more biodiverse in the world. Yet, the story of Costa Rica’s former deforestation was alarming. Up until the late 1980s, Costa Rica was the poster child for deforestation. Farmers were incentivized to cut down forests in order to support the agriculture export industry. People did not understand the value of the land and its resources, which they saw as inexhaustible. Between 1940 and 1987 the proportion of land in Costa Rica plummeted from 75% to 21%. According to the documentary, “Costa Rica’s experience is not unique in this way. Humans have been cutting trees for thousands of years but there has been a rapid acceleration in the last 100 years.” Estimates from the United Nations show that around 10 million hectares of forest are being lost each year. That is the equivalent of 27 football fields every minute. Fewer trees mean less carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere. On top of this, the forest’s destruction adds more emissions, accelerating climate change. Rather than try to stop developing countries from using their resources for economic benefits, these countries are incentivized to protect and restore their forests. Costa Rica has accepted this mission and has become a front-runner in the repopulation of trees and building sustainable industries around reforestation. As a nation, Costa Rica is also able to generate carbon credits to give to donor countries and companies that provide a reward for conserving forests. Using historical deforestation rates to predict how much forest a country is likely to lose in the future, donors pay a sum for each tonne of carbon dioxide reabsorbed by the conserved forest. They in turn receive carbon credits used to offset their emissions elsewhere. Any forest that is conserved is judged against this benchmark.  Costa Rica’s National Forestry Fund (FONAFIFO) was launched in the late 1990s by the Costa Rican government to assist in “the recovery of deforested areas and the necessary technological changes in the use and industrialization of forest resources.”  Landowners in Costa Rica are paid by the government to restore and conserve forests, which has helped to create new and sustainable economic opportunities. Every hectare of forest that is restored or kept intact generates $80 per year from the National Forestry Fund. This fund is paid for by citizens who are benefiting from the services provided by healthy forests like carbon storage, the protection of vital food chains, and clean water. Costa Rica’s Ministry Of Environment came up with the National Forestry Fund and decided to add a tax on water usage and fuel consumption to generate revenue for the payment of environmental services. This made Costa Rica one of the first developing countries to put a tax on carbon. So far, $500,000,000 USD has been invested in the conservation of Costa Rica’s forests from this fund. This has helped forest cover in Costa Rica to grow from 21% in 1987 at the peak of the country’s deforestation to more than 50% today. Along with reforestation came new opportunities for profitable and sustainable industries. Nature-based tourism has become a bigger portion of jobs in rural Costa Rica, representing around 8% of the GDP (10.8% in 2019). In Costa Rica’s past, there was a strong focus on unsustainable agricultural production. Since it began conservation, it has needed to increase food imports as a result of cutting back on agricultural land. However, the country’s GDP has risen an average of 4.2% per year since the peak of deforestation in 1987. Keeping nature going keeps the economy growing. Conservation has naturally spilled over beyond just the forests into biodiversity and environmental conservation. In 2013, the Minister of Environment led a movement to reinforce the idea of interacting with biodiversity in botanical parks in a natural way. The idea was that no animal would be in captivity unless it was being rescued or saved. Costa Rica’s landmass accounts for only 0.03% of the entire planet's surface. However, this tiny nation is home to approximately 5% of the species worldwide and, as a result, is listed among the 20 richest countries in terms of biodiversity per area. It is possible to find more species per square mile in Costa Rica than in larger countries such as Brazil or Colombia. Just on land, Costa Rica is estimated to host half a million species. About 8,500 plants, 220 reptiles, 160 amphibians, 205 mammals, and 850 bird species have been identified here so far. There are more bird species in Costa Rica than in all of the United States and Canada combined. 

May 11, 2023 in Life in Costa Rica

The first public announcement of Costa Rica ’s future plastics ban first came on World Environment Day on June 5, 2017, at a time when 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics had been manufactured to date around the world — most of which has ended up as litter.  This revolutionary goal has just been echoed by the newly-elected government, led by President Carlos Alvarado, in honor of the one year anniversary of this commitment.

Costa Rica’s proposed ban on single-use plastics comes at a time when plastic is truly choking our global waters.  Every minute on our planet, a garbage truck’s worth of plastic ends up in our oceans. Currently there is a garbage patch bigger than Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean and it even estimated that by 2050, the plastic in the ocean will outnumber the amount of fish.  Even as a so-called global environmental leader, Costa Rica currently produces 400 tonnes of solid waste every day and Ticos discard 1.5 million plastic bottles every day.  

While plastics typically constitute approximately 10% of total discarded waste, they represent a much greater proportion of the debris accumulating on shorelines.  Disposable plastic items are especially worrisome because compared to other forms of trash, they take the longest to biodegrade, for example 450 years for a single bottle and 20 years for thin shopping bag.  

[caption id="attachment_14816" align="aligncenter" width="503"] Image: Environmental Protection Authority, Victoria[/caption]

Single or disposable plastic is a man-made compound used only once and thrown away.  These plastics are used to make everyday “luxury” items like straws, coffee stirrers, plastic bags, water bottles, lids, etc.

In 2018, Costa Rica’s government started making changes towards achieving a national goal to eliminate all single-use plastics by 2021 through a multi-effort strategy that financially incentivizes private and public institutions to stop using single-use plastics.  The main objective is for at least 80 percent of the country’s public agencies, municipalities and businesses replace their disposable plastic packaging with materials that have a lower environmental impact.

The plastics ban initiative is being led by a number of interested constituents: Costa Rica’s Ministries of Health and Environment and Energy (MINAE), the United Nations Development Programme, local governments, civil society, and various private sector groups.  MINAE has announced that it has already ordered all its departments to purchase only products made from renewable, compostable and biodegradable materials.

History of the backlash against plastic

In 2002, Bangladesh became the first country in the world to ban disposable plastic shopping bags after they were found to have choked the drainage system during devastating floods.  Other countries including South Africa, Rwanda, China, Australia and Italy followed suit soon after.  Hawaii was the first U.S. state to ban the bag at checkouts and restaurants and the UK and Canada have implemented fees for plastic bags at grocery stores.

In 2015, a video of marine biologists pulling a plastic straw from the nostril of a sea turtle off the coast of Costa Rica went viral.  The shocking eight-minute video showed the male Olive Ridley turtle bleeding as the scientists struggled to extract the straw. The research team posted their footage online to raise awareness of the harm that plastics cause to marine life.  

This same year, the UN Environment Programme launched #CleanSeas, a major global campaign to stop plastic ending up in our oceans. Ten countries have already joined, including: Belgium, Costa Rica, France, Grenada, Indonesia, Norway, Panama, Saint Lucia, Sierra Leone and Uruguay.

As a global environmental leader, Costa Rica wants to be the first country to achieve a comprehensive national strategy to eliminate single-use plastics by 2021, coinciding with the nation’s goal of becoming carbon neutral - a goal set up in 2007.  

Although some plastics can be recycled, too many plastics are not. According to the Clean Air Council (CAC), only one-quarter of 1% of the more than 7 billion pounds of discarded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is recycled each year in the U.S.

Here are some other facts from the CAC about plastics in the U.S.:

• The average American office worker uses about 500 disposable cups every year.
• During 2009ʼs International Coastal Cleanup, the Ocean Conservancy found that plastic bags were the second-most common kind of waste found, at one out of ten items removed.
• Chlorine production for PVC uses almost as much energy as the annual output of eight medium-sized nuclear power plants each year.
• After Ireland created a 15-cent charge per plastic bag in 2002, bag consumption dropped by 90%. In 2008, the average person in Ireland used 27 plastic bags, while the average person in Britain used 220. The program has raised millions of euros in revenue.
• The state of California spends about 25 million dollars sending plastic bags to landfill each year and another 8.5 million dollars to remove littered bags from streets.
• Every year, Americans use approximately 1 billion shopping bags, creating 300,000 tons of landfill waste.
• Less than 1% of plastic bags are recycled each year. Recycling one ton of plastic bags costs $4,000 USD.
• The city of San Francisco determined that it costs 17 cents for them to handle each discarded bag.

The problem of plastics in the ocean was initially thought to be aesthetic, but this thinking has morphed into other realizations. We now know that plastics cause the choking and entanglement of wildlife, and that plastics transport persistent organic pollutants, as well as non-indigenous species to new locations and the distribution of algae associated with red tides.

What will Costa Ricans do without plastics?

Many forward-thinking individuals are investing in the production of new bio-degradable and water-soluble plastics to serve the growing demand for alternatives to single-use plastics.  Products made of renewable materials such as plant starches are becoming a more available, and we’re also seeing a return to reusable, non-plastic containers.

Below are some popular examples of alternatives to single-use plastics:

• An edible water bottle is being promoted in the U.K. through a crowdfunding campaign with the hope of replacing millions of plastic bottles thrown away every year. More than £500,000 has been raised so far.
• An Indonesian entrepreneur has created a material with plastic-like qualities to be manufactured not from petroleum products but from the remains of the cassava plant.
• An eco-friendly process can create bags using 12 ingredients — potatoes, tapioca, corn, natural starch, vegetable oil, banana, and flower oil. Natural ingredients are liquefied and taken through a six-step process. Even the paints used to print on the bags are all natural and organic.
• Chitosan, an organic compound found in the shells of crustaceans like shrimp, crabs, and other shellfish products, can become a human-made polymer.
• A six-pack beer ring is made from brewing byproducts and results in a composite that marine life can eat as it melts in seawater.
• An explosion of interest in polymers is taking place so that single-use items could be made from renewable resources and biodegrade easily and harmlessly.
• Glass, which is made from sand, is a renewable resource that doesn’t contain chemicals that can leach into food or the human body. It’s easily recycled or repurposed for storing leftovers.
• Costa Rican college students have already discovered a plastic alternative made from bananas that looks to be 5 times stronger than plastic and will disintegrate in just 18 months.

Costa Rica’s larger social justice mission

In association with the United Nations Development Programme, the country’s Sustainable Development Goals outline how it is the responsibility of all sectors and people to ensure a balance between the social, economic, and environmental realms. Marginalized people must be incorporated into the process, so that challenges, such as the management of solid waste and its impacts on people, can be overcome by a broad range of constituents. The upcoming plastics ban must find a way for impoverished persons to have daily alternatives to single-use plastics, too, if the initiative is to be for the good of all. 

Local officials point out in their statement that Costa Rica’s impressive environmental record still has room for improvement.  Although the country has been an example to the world by reversing deforestation and doubling its forest cover from 26 percent in 1984 to more than 52 percent this year, today one fifth of the 4,000 tonnes of solid waste produced daily is not collected and ends up as part of the Costa Rican landscape, also polluting rivers and beaches.

According to Edgar Gutiérrez, former Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica:  

“Being a country free of single use plastics is our mantra and our mission. It’s not going to be easy, and the government can’t do it alone. To promote these changes, we need all sectors—public and private—to commit to actions to replace single-use plastic through five strategic actions: municipal incentives, policies and institutional guidelines for suppliers; replacement of single-use plastic products; research and development—and investment in strategic initiatives. We also need the leadership and participation of all: women, men, boys and girls." 

Jaco is the first Costa Rican city to push a major no-plastic initiative

#SinPajillaPorFavor is a campaign that calls on restaurants and other businesses to unite to reduce single-use plastics.  The Jaco campaign is directed by the Central Pacific Chamber of Tourism and Sustainable Commerce (CATUCOSO) in order to improve the image of the Central Pacific beach and raise awareness among residents about environmental issues. More than 60 hotels, restaurant and commerce business leaders have joined the effort.

“Some of the partners are using boxes instead of plastic bags in their stores, including the Ferretería del Pacífico. In the case that plastic can’t be eliminated, various businesses are using oxo-biodegradable bags in order to give their clients a more eco-friendly option,” said Maria José Arguedas, treasurer for CATUCOSO.  

It’s time that we work together to solve a major problem that is entirely man-made because it reasons to assume that it is up to us to reverse the mess that we are creating.