Tourism Boom Threatens
Costa Rica Eco-Paradise
By John McPhaul
TAMARINDO, Costa Rica
(Reuters) - Pungent
brown sewage spews into
the Pacific ocean. In
the background, cranes
put up hotels and
beachfront apartments.
Once home to monkeys,
turtles and other rare
wildlife, this stretch
of coast in northwest
Costa Rica is developing
so fast that it is
tarnishing the country's
reputation as a
destination for
eco-tourists.
Some 1.4 million people
visit Central America's
richest country every
year, but they no longer
come just for the
national parks that
cover more than a
quarter of its area and
are home to almost 5
percent of the world's
plant and animal
species.
They also want sand,
surf and even real
estate.
The biggest stimulus
came when the airport at
nearby Liberia began
handling international
flights five years ago,
putting the previously
little-known Guanacaste
province within, for
example, three hours of
Miami.
With tropical sunshine,
sandy beaches and surf,
developers saw a chance
to attract everyone from
surfers and honeymooners
to U.S. retirees seeking
a second home,
transforming sleepy
towns with names like
Tamarindo, Quepos,
Playas del Coco and Jaco.
The result is rampant
construction that
environmentalists fear
could balloon into
noisy, sprawling resorts
with cruise ship ports
and golf courses like
those of Cancun, Mexico,
which guzzle water and
pollute the environment.
"These cases of poorly
planned tourist
developments in Costa
Rica could affect the
well-deserved reputation
as a pioneer in
eco-tourism," said
Ronald Sanabria, a Costa
Rican who works for the
Rainforest Alliance, an
international advocate
for sustainability.
Already, Costa Rica has
lost up to half of its
monkey population in the
last 12 years as
developers expand into
their jungle habitat,
according to scientists
at the University of
Costa Rica.
Light pollution from
Tamarindo is making life
harder for leatherback
turtles. The town's
lights disorient the
tiny hatchlings, sending
them toward the
luminescence instead of
out to sea, where they
are safer from
predators.
"These large-scale
tourism projects have
big consequences for the
environment," said
Fabian Pacheco, of the
Costa Rican Federation
for the Conservation of
Nature.
SURF'S UP
The issue is a familiar
one in developing
countries as they weigh
the benefits of tourist
dollars that come with
high-rise hotels against
the loss of greenery
when virgin land is
paved over.
Tourism is Costa Rica's
top foreign exchange
earner. Property
developers point to the
big contribution the
construction sector
makes to the economy,
accounting for 5 percent
of gross domestic
product and growing by
16 percent last year.
The tourist boom has
also created jobs in a
poor region. "It's been
good for the locals.
Most of them are happy
to have good, decent
jobs," said Denise
Shante, 51, a Canadian
property broker who
sells apartments priced
up to $2.5 million.
As Costa Rica attracts
more mainstream tourism,
neighboring Panama is
aggressively promoting
its own eco-tourism
credentials.
The breakneck
development has the
government and even the
tourism industry
worried.
When rains overflowed
septic tanks in
Tamarindo, tons (tonnes)
of raw sewage flowed
into the ocean and the
resort lost its "blue
flag" issued by Costa
Rica's water utility to
indicate healthy ocean
water conditions.
"Costa Rica can no
longer project the pure
image of an eco-tourism
paradise since reality
shows investors are free
to develop more and more
projects without clear
rules," the Costa Rican
Hotel and Resorts
Association warned in a
report in May.
President Oscar Arias,
whose government wants
to cut the country's net
carbon emissions to zero
by 2021, has begun a
crackdown at newer
Pacific resorts, closing
some businesses and
ordering height
restrictions on
buildings near the
beach.
"Tamarindo and Jaco got
out of our hands, but
our scientists are
working on ways of
assuring development
that is compatible with
nature," Arias told
Reuters.
The Costa Rican Chamber
of Construction says
unregulated building is
still going on, and in
Tamarindo the most
prominent feature is its
building sites swarming
with laborers.
The town, world-famous
for its surf, bustles
with surfers and tanned
shoppers who fill its
shops, bars and
restaurants.
Some, like Shawn O'Neil,
28, a surfer from San
Diego, California, say
it is unfair to rope off
pretty beaches for an
elite who can afford
expensive eco-resorts
while shutting out those
who prefer cheaper
all-inclusive hotels.
"People say how built up
Tamarindo is, but it
doesn't seem like much
after San Diego and Los
Angeles."
(Reporting by John
McPhaul; Writing by
Robin Emmott in Mexico
City; Editing by Eddie
Evans)
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