Costa Rica News – For a country that claims to be “green”, the government in Costa Rica does not seem to want to put actions behinds its words.
Costa Rica is in a conundrum it is trying to push it’s “green” image through ICT and promote tourism to the country and at the same time try to boost it’s economy by bringing in more infrastructure and more out of it’s 3rd world status. While trying to do each of these things at the same time, they are failing at both.
Due to the high costs of electricity and fuel multinationals are leaving the country instead of coming into Costa Rica.
There are a total of 168 protected wildlife areas in Costa Rica. To get a good idea of the effectiveness of SINAC, the National System of Conservation Areas, the Comptroller General evaluated 128 of them.
It was found that 99% of those areas do not have the resources they need. The majority, 73% have resources, staff and money, to meet 35% of their obligations while the rest have the resources for carrying out 36-65% of their needs.
Some of the conservation areas run without any permanent income. The lack of resources opens these areas up to threats like hunting and logging. How can our country’s biodiversity remain sustainable without resources to protect it?
SINAC received 9.2% more in their annual budget in 2013 but these funds were not transferred equally among conservation areas. There is a lack of criteria to more fairly distribute money and staff.
It is time for Costa Rica to decide in which direction it wants to head for the future no more half-assing on different paths.
