Costa Rica: environmental and developmental issues and solutions. An analysis of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation practices

Koens et al. (2010) have conducted a research about the value of ecotourism as a development device by concentrating on four different regions which strongly rely on ecotourism, i.e. the regions of Manuel Antonio, of Monteverde, of Tortuguero and the one where ecotourism is administered by the Asociación Comunal para el Manejo Forestal (ASCOMAFOR).
In the Manuel Antonio area, tourism development was the first to start in the 1960s. The others followed, with the ASCOMAFOR beginning its tourist activities only in the late 1990s.

It has been stated that tourism has originated economic and environmental assets for all the four regions.
The economic value conferred by tourism has prevented these areas from further deforestation. More fundamental aid has been given by environmental education, which is present throughout the regions, although with some slight variations.
Manuel Antonio is the area in which the environment is more ancillary to the economic aspect of tourism, and environmental education is quite circumscribed, whereas in Monteverde, both tourists and local people are provided with agreeable environmental education. Another kind of scenario is present in Tortuguero, where environmental education is enough for children and tourists, but not for the adult population. On the other hand, in ASCOMAFOR, raising ecological conscience is part of the tourist experience and environmental education is financed by tourism profits (Koens et al., 2010).

It has been discovered that the development of tourism has had negative ecological impacts in Manuel Antonio and Monteverde, where the construction of tourist and non-tourist facilities as infrastructure and accommodations has determined increased probability of erosion and disturbance of wildlife as well as damage for vegetation. This brings about a major issue for the conservation of these areas, i.e. the loss of biodiversity, which is already in act in Manuel Antonio and is feared to happen in the next future in Monteverde. Moreover, despite the fact that recycling projects are enacted, sewage and garbage are a major problem in both areas. Air pollution adds to the drawbacks of tourism development due to the increased number of cars entering the destination. [...]