In a day of exploration through the Cloud Forest Reserve, including some run-ins with snakes and spiders, and a lecture from Nacho at the Monteverde Institute, I now understand how monumental and essential it is to keep Monteverde green. With around 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity and 750 known endemic tree species just in Monteverde alone (compared to 250 endemic tree species in the US), their ecosystem is an incredibly precious one. At the heart of Monteverde’s current sustainability initiatives are the malpractices and environmental damage that occurred in the decades past. Around 1940, Costa Rica had about 75% forest coverage, whereas in 1987 the forest coverage was 21%. The realization of the actual damage shocked a lot of Tic@s, planting the seed for conservation and preservation of Costa Rica’s ecosystems.
On the contrary, Costa Rica is still number one in the world in use of agrochemicals per hectare in the entire world. This fact presents an interesting dilemma: how do you balance the interests of a growing economy’s productivity, the sustainability of current practices for future growth, and the conservation of land for permanent savior? Well, the answer is very complicated. The shift in mindsets from land seen as a resource to land seen as a responsibility was the first step to finding this balance. Scientists, conservationists, and local farmers were assigned to find how to keep growing Monteverde’s businesses while considering the coming generations and maintaining the current ecosystem they were a part of. Although the interests seem competing, conservation and sustainability align directly with productivity in the long run.
It is understood that sustainable practices are often more expensive. Conservation efforts also take much time and sometimes can challenge current productive methods. However, if the environment is taken care of, over time it becomes obvious that these expensive campaigns create a more productive present, allowing there to be an abundance of natural resources and, in Monteverde’s case, opening regions to new income like tourism.
Costa Rica, as a whole, faces a challenge that mirrors Monteverde’s most obvious difficulty: balancing tourism with environmental protection. However, Monteverde also experiences many challenges unique to its region, even when compared to neighboring Costa Rican zones and boroughs. As I have previously mentioned, Monteverde is home to an incredibly unique portion of the world’s biodiversity, making sustainability and conservation even more important to protect all its distinctive wildlife. If I had to prioritize one pillar of sustainability, conservation, or productivity, I would choose conservation, mainly due to a story that really struck me over the past two days, which was how the golden toad was discovered in 1964, existing only in Monteverde, but was declared extinct in 2008. This species was unique, limited solely to the Monteverde region, and if more conservation efforts were enacted, it may have had a better chance of survival. This example must be considered for all endemic species in Monteverde and other parts of Costa Rica. Conservation can save unique life in the present, where sustainability might be too future-focused, and productivity is too ignorant of the current life forms. Ultimately, conservation would serve Monteverde and Costa Rica best in solving current and threatening issues while preparing for the future.
