If you were to ask me what award the United Nations bestowed upon Costa Rica, I would guess they won the “greatest banana growers” award or the “top 5 best coffee tastes in the world” medal. I would not guess that Costa Rica was the recipient of the “Champions of the Earth” award and has been dubbed by a UN article to be a “Living Eden”. And it’s not like Costa Rica is a golden trash bag either. Costa Rica started implementing real and effective change decades ago. Today, Costa Rica has 99.5% renewable and clean energy, and reforestation efforts have increased forests from being 20% of Costa Rica’s land to being 52% of Costa Rica’s land.
Many may think to themselves, “why does this matter? Costa Rica is just a small country, and this small progress will mean nothing.” Former President Carlos Alvarado Quesada counters this by saying, “You could say that Costa Rica is so small, no matter what they do, it won’t have an impact on global emissions. But what is done in Costa Rica proves that it is possible”. In other words, it matters because shows the rest of the world that change is conceivable. Opponents of sustainable development often think that sustainability comes at a severe cost to growth and an increase in unemployment. But for the outlook of the previous Costa Rican administration, Costa Rica “is going to decarbonize the economy because it makes economic and social sense”.
However, some Costa Ricans do not agree with the previous administration, namely the current administration, headed by President Rodrigo Chaves Robles. According to Américaeconomía, President Rodrigo Chaves Robles desires to allow extraction of gas, oil, and mining resources. He also believes that “the fight against global warming is not a priority”.
As with any democracy, one administration cannot mark what a country is like. I am very excited to see Costa Rica and meet people who consider combating global warming to be a very high priority mission.
