One
of the most well-known facts about Costa Rica is the elimination of its military
army in 1948. The long-term, positive impact this decision has had in the
nation’s development is a collection of benefits that we are still discovering
and learning about as we move forward. You may be thinking: what does
demilitarization have to do with biodiversity?
For
64 years, several generations of Costa Ricans have been born under a State that
has a very high regard for human life. Having no military implies that under no
circumstance, a political conflict will become violent through the use of
weapons. It also implies that no aggressor, no invader, no trespasser that
attempts to violate the country’s territorial integrity or sovereignty will
ever be repealed using institutional, violent means.
This
decision has shaped the mindset, culture and professional choices of millions
of people throughout the last few decades. Most importantly, it has built in
many of us the awareness and sensitivity to appreciate life in all its forms,
since we have not been taught or raised to end, destroy or offend the lives of other
humans.
The
conditions of peace that Costa Rica has offered since 1948 have allowed many
people to develop expertise in science, arts and humanities, a possibility that
is unfortunately difficult in nations that endure long, violent conflicts.
Since the 1950s, Costa Rican professionals specialized in fields that offered
optimal learning conditions in the country’s natural environment. Today it is a
very pleasant part of our history that renewable energies were developed since
1955 as an opportunity to generate electricity from the abundant sources of
hydropower along several of the country’s rivers, lakes and waterfalls.
One
of the results of these peaceful conditions for human development has been a
growing bioliteracy over generations. I would define bioliteracy as the
understanding of ecological processes and the richness that derives from them.
In a country with outstanding natural characteristics, one is very frequently
faced with amazing natural beauty and wealth, making it easier to develop
empathy and appreciation for birds and snakes, trees and flowers, whales and
dolphins that visit and live in Costa Rica.
This
bioliteracy has facilitated the adoption of the mentality “know-save-use”
regarding biodiversity. First, it is important to know the natural wealth in a
country’s surrounding ecosystems. As you hear a bird sing or appreciate a
colorful tree blossom or experience the might of a whale in open ocean, it is
easy to feel a connection with other life forms. Then, making political and
economic efforts to preserve ecosystems and save species is more likely, as
there is high awareness of such unique high concentration of living organisms
in a fairly small territory like Costa Rica. As a result, the use of natural
resources for human development and economic growth will happen in observance
of other living beings.
This
poses an interesting dilemma that needs to be decided by every generation’s
leaders: should progress cost us our natural environment? In 1979, leaders
chose to stop deforestation, preserve remaining forests and recover the ones
that had been lost. A few people made an invaluable contribution to Costa
Rica’s biodiversity by implementing an innovative policy that offered economic
incentives for conservation. Today, we talk about Payment for Environmental
Services, and it is said to be a policy innovation made in Costa Rica. This has
recovered nearly half a million hectares of forests, transferring to property
owners some US$200 million (JP¥16,000,000,000) in the course of three decades
of public, private and international efforts.
In
times when humanity’s consumption of renewable and nonrenewable natural
resources provokes an ecological footprint that far exceeds the planet’s
ability to naturally recover and replenish them, Costa Rica has become the
focus of international attention as a result of the country’s economic success
while simultaneously reforesting and improving ecosystemic performance. In the
last 30 years, Costa Rican GDP has tripled and forest coverage has doubled.
This, more than a case of sustainable development, is a case of regenerative
development. Instead of setting the goal of not harming nature, Costa Rica has
accomplished the goal of enriching nature while improving socioeconomic
conditions for its people.
Innovation
and entrepreneurship have become important components of this process. In 1989,
a group of local and foreign visionary experts followed Dr. Rodrigo Gámez’s
initiative to create the Biodiversity Institute, a non-governmental,
not-for-profit institution that has been declared of public interest by the
government, due to its enormous contribution to environmental conservation,
scientific discoveries, bioliteracy and ecosystemic recovery. A few weeks ago,
at the COP 11 that took place at Hyderabad, India, Dr. Gámez was awarded the
AEON Foundation Midori Prize of Biodiversity, a well-deserved recognition for
his efforts to improve the quality of all forms of life on Earth.
For
nearly 25 years, the Costa Rican tourist industry has become instrumental in
the promotion of ecological tourism, offering abundant business opportunities
that have triggered private innovation in the form of ecological activities
such as canopy or tree rappelling, surfing and river rafting, as well as tours
for bird-watching, whale-watching and turtle-watching.
Public
innovation has also played a significant role in the process of improving
facilities and conditions for tourists to enjoy nature intensely. In 1996, a
public program called Ecological Blue Flag was introduced to promote a healthy
competition between tourist destinations, nature reserves and national parks,
hotels and government institutions, to comply with sustainability requirements
in order to obtain a blue flag that is to be displayed publicly. Every year, each
entity must renew its “blue flag” status, raising national and international
awareness about these efforts, which attract tourists by the hundreds of
thousands.
In
1999, Costa Rica received one million foreign tourists for the first time. Ten
years later, it reached two million, despite terrorist attacks in New York or
the global economic recession.
Today,
the country’s aspiration is to become a global leader in green growth,
promoting regenerative development through ecological tourism, commercial use
of biodiversity for biotechnology and attracting more modern technologies for
renewable energy generation. With this strategy in place, a strong relationship
with a country like Japan could create shared value for mutual benefit, and
also for the benefit of people from other countries and even for other forms of
life.
I
hope I have managed to explain the relationship between demilitarization and
biodiversity, and explain why Costa Rica means “rich coast” in Spanish, and why
it is recognized as the country that has made Peace with Nature.
