Nature Air

The last time we heard from Leland Baxter Neal, environmental journalist for the Tico Times, it dealt with a controversy in the Osa Peninsula, pitting environment against development. We are extremely pleased to feature some personal comments from Leland regarding the near term challenges to Costa Rica’s environment, followed by an article from Tico Times in which he addresses the tests that lay ahead for the government in this New Year

 Leland Baxter Neal

As a reporter, I am constantly talking to people who work with environmental issues, be they park guards, NGO coordinators, activists, academics and researchers or government officials. Lately, I have been struck by how nearly everyone I talk to is unhappy with the way Oscar Arias and his administration have handled environmental issues. The cases of the Las Crucitas gold mine and the Sardinal water pipeline are central to these complaints. In both cases, many in the environmental movement see the government willing to make enormous environmental sacrifices in order to accomodate foreigners with deep pockets. I believe the next year, and perhaps the next couple months, could be very telling.

President Arias recently said he was “tired” of all the opposition to his plans. Meanwhile, I see the environmental movement more revved up than ever. Costa Rica’s highest court, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, has been consistently coming down in favor of environmental protection. Arias and his environment minister Roberto Dobles are even the subject of a criminal investigation stemming from a presidential decree authorizing the logging of almost 200 hectares of forest for the Crucitas mine. The forest contains endangered mountain almond trees, and is prime habitat for the critically endangered great green macaw.

The question is, will Arias continue to go against the current by pushing these projects and giving coastal development a free rein, or will he start to temper his plans and push for real regulations on development? [...]