When talking about a country or place with natural scenery as beautiful and diverse as it is in Costa Rica, specifically in the Monteverde region, it’s difficult to do so without eventually needing to bring up how said scenery may react to the presence of humanity. Specifically, there are three terms that everyone tends to bring up that are needed to balance are productivity, sustainability, and conservation. Productivity tends to require expansion, which almost always comes at the cost of conservation. Additionally, it tends to take much more effort to make productivity a sustainable effort. However, without any productivity, there is no money, and thus conservation and sustainability efforts are next to impossible.

In Monteverde, there are certain challenges that make conservation efforts somewhat difficult. Some are shared with the rest of the world, such as global warming changing the environment to a potentially dangerous degree. Others are more or less unique to Monteverde, like the high biodiversity in the region making any environmental change have potentially massive risks.

If I were to have to make a choice between sustainability, conservation, and productivity, I would have to look at the specific needs of the country in question. Specifically, I would need to look at the native wildlife of the region. If there are any endemic or endangered species of plants or animals, or if the area has a particularly high level of biodiversity, then I would prioritize sustainability and conservation. However, if the area doesn’t have these aspects and is having trouble bringing in money, I would prioritize productivity.