Costa Rica is a gorgeous country with a huge ecosystem. An ecosystem that is very gentle and home to hundreds of different species of wildlife. Along with this the ecosystem provides farmers with nutrient rich soil. Perfect for crops! The ecosystem also so happens to be a huge draw for tourists. This is why sustainability is so important. As a whole, the ecosystem serves Costa Rica with an awesome triple threat in farming, tourism and a thriving environment. Although, what happens when these conflict. Well today we learned just that!

Firstly, all of these three things are amazing for Costa Rica, but are very hard to coexist. This is the reason why many Costa Ricans have to decide what they believe is the most important for them. A good example of this is a Costa Rican may change their old lifestyle of farming to suit more tourism, bringing in more money for their family. This isn’t to say this is wrong, but rather all a matter of perspective. For the Tica’s, conservation doesn’t always align with their best interests. This is why natural parks and reserves exist. They serve to act as a protector of these lands because not everyone will protect there’s. As a result, with part of the country being reserved, that leaves less farm land for the farmers. All three of them, despite all contributing something, have competing interests and in most cases it’s land. We all know Costa Rica is a small country, so it’s obvious that not everything can all fit. In all, competition for land is where a lot of these problems stem from. 

Continuing on, monte verde does have some unique issues in comparison to the rest of Costa Rica. The most prominent is how climate change is slowly destroying the cloud forest. Climate change is causing the jungle to heat up and have more sunny days than it’s supposed to. Because of this, weather patterns in the areas are changing and causing many animals to lose their homes. What’s worse is that some of these animals can only live in the cloud forest, meaning if the forest goes they go with it. Even though the cloud forest issue is unique to monte verde, the effects of climate change effects the rest of Costa Rica too. A lot of crops and native flowers will die in future years because of it. If these problems aren’t handled soon much worse can happen in the future! That’s why if I had to focus on one of the three (conservation, farming, and tourism) I’d easily pick conservation. The reason for this is quite simple. The environment is not just for the Tica’s or even for the rest of the world, but rather for future generations. Conservation will create a better tomorrow, and that’s what I hope to aim for. Yes, you might miss out on some tourist cash or food, but those are replaceable. Things like the cloud forest aren’t. That’s why we must have conservation for the next generation.