Costa Rica

A forum took place in the northern region of Costa Rica on September 16-17 to reflect on and analyse the experiences regarding secondary forests and tree plantations developed in that region. Participants in the event included government officials, professional foresters, peasant organizations, forestry companies and environmental organizations. The Northern Region, which is affected by a severe process of deforestation is at the same time the area with more extensive tree monocultures (gmelina, teak, laurel and "terminalia") in the country.

Statistics of year 1997 show that the deforestation rate in Costa Rica reached 16,400 hectares a year while the reforestation rate was by that time of 12,600 hectares a year. These figures could make us think that there is only a slightly negative balance in annual forest cover. Nevertheless it needs to be underscored that “reforestation” is based upon monocultures of exotic species as gmelina, teak and pine, and the regrowth of secondary forests, while primary forests continue to disappear.

Critics to tree plantations mostly refer to eucalyptus or pine monocultures and to their negative environmental and social impacts. Here we present a different case, based on interesting comments whose more relevant fragments we transcribe- we have received related to a recently published book on a teak plantation project in Costa Rica, written by Dr. P. Romeijn:

According to information received from the Costa Rican National Front for the Forest (Frente Nacional por los Bosques) –a coalition of social and environmental NGOs- a peaceful demonstration that took place on February 19 at the crossing of the Puerto Jimenez and Interamericana highways was violently repressed by the rural guard of Osa. The demonstration was organized by the Front together with local communities of Osa to defend the remaining forests of the Pacific region menaced by logging activities.

Considering its high standards in Human Development indicators, Costa Rica is an exceptional country in the Central American region. The country has also assumed a leader’s position in international environmental fora. In January this year, the Government of Costa Rica hosted the Global Workshop on Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation. Nevertheless -as the above article and this one show- not all that glitters . . .

An action alert for the Costa Rican mangroves launched by the WRM International Secretariat on October 13 –following a request from Mangrove Action Project (MAP) -contributed to leave unchanged the text of the national law that protects these rich ecosystems. The Government had proposed the Parliament to introduce some modifications in the law, that would have opened up these protected areas to the shrimp farm expansion.

About 30 transnational corporations are in the process of developing projects for gold exploration and exploitation in Costa Rica. Included in this list of mining companies are the Canadian Placer Dome Inc. and American Barrick Gold, listed among the six largest gold mining corporations in the world.

An international workshop on "Business responsibility for environmental protection in developing countries" took place in Costa Rica on September 22-24 1997. WRM International Coordinator Ricardo Carrere made a presentation on "The environmental and social effects of corporate environmentalism in the Brazilian market pulp industry." The aim of the paper was to compare the "green" discourse of the five main market pulp firms with reality at the local level, including social and environmental impacts of large scale tree plantations and pulp production.