Nature Air

The most compelling case to be made on behalf of retaining Las Baulas de Guanacaste Marine National Park in its present status comes from a report initiated by the same government now choosing to ignore its findings. In 2008, at the request of the Arias government, a group of experts was brought together as the Baulas Commission. Its primary mandate was to address the issue of expropriation. The commission was coordinated by Alfio Piva, General Director of InBio, now running as a Vice President with Laura Chinchilla. Dr. Edgar Fernandez provided technical support from the Peace With  Nature initiative.

The “Final Report and Recommendations To Clarify Doubts to the President of the Republic Regarding the Expropriation of Lands in the Las Baulas de Guanacaste Marine National Park” was delivered well in advance of the proposed legislation, Proyecto de Ley 17.383, calling for the downgrading of the park to a wildlife refuge, which is diametrically opposed to the report’s recommendations.

The commission recommended expropriation for the private lands included in the limits of the park from construction “because of their high environmental fragility, and because of the possible negative impact to the Leatherback sea turtle.” The Commission considered that public acquisition by means of the expropriation process represents the best solution. Regarding the price for acquisition of the private land, “This Commission considers it would be significantly reduced if the technical studies already submitted under SETENA’s  aegis are considered, wherein it is established that these lands are not apt for construction.”

Considering what the Commission referred to as the “global importance” of the park as a Leatherback sea turtle nesting area, they recommended adding 75 meters to the already established 125 meter land strip from the high tide line along the beaches. In addition, they supported technical studies on the environmental fragility of the area, to “conserve absolutely the forest wall behind the beach, not allowing for any constructions on it, as well as urgently re-establishing this forest wall wherein the owners have destroyed it.”

They went even further than simply addressing issues within the park, stating “this will not suffice to guarantee the protection of the leatherback turtle and its nesting habitat, if other measures are not adopted to control the development of human activities outside the limits of the Park, including the ocean, by controlling fishing activities, as well as inland, by means of land use planning, in the adjacent lands.”

The report envisioned using this specific process to create a template for Costa Rica’s entire coastline. “Studies regarding environmental fragility and environmental carrying capacity should be the basis for the planning of the use of the land along both coasts of the Costa Rican littorals, as well as for the rest of the country, as established by our juridical legislation.”

We can now add the government initiated Baulas Commission report to the litany of testimony from scientists, conservationists, NGO’s, trade associations, commissions, legal precedents, and international treaties, all emphatically falling on the side of protecting the Leatherback sea turtle and its habitat, Las Baulas Marine National Park.