Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Pacific Coast of Costa Rica at the Four Seasons Resort. @ C.Michael Hogan
International Environmental Issues
Costa Rica is a Central American nation lof four-and-a-half million people ocated between Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. Its eastern coast fronts the Caribbean Sea while its western coast fronts the Pacific Ocean.
Its main environmental issues include:
- deforestation and land use change, largely a result of the clearing of land for cattle ranching and agriculture;
- soil erosion;
- coastal marine pollution;
- fisheries protection;
- solid waste management; and
- air pollution.
It is also susceptible to occasional earthquakes, hurricanes along Atlantic coast; frequent flooding of lowlands at onset of rainy season and landslides; and, active volcanoes.
Four volcanoes, two of them active, rise near the capital of San Jose in the center of the country. One of the volcanoes, Irazu, erupted destructively in 1963-65.
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Although explored by the Spanish early in the 16th century, initial attempts at colonizing Costa Rica proved unsuccessful due to a combination of factors, including: disease from mosquito-infested swamps, brutal heat, resistance by natives, and pirate raids.
It was not until 1563 that a permanent settlement of Cartago was established in the cooler, fertile central highlands. The area remained a colony for some two and a half centuries.
In 1821, Costa Rica became one of several Central American provinces that jointly declared their independence from Spain.
Two years later it joined the United Provinces of Central America, but this federation disintegrated in 1838, at which time Costa Rica proclaimed its sovereignty and independence.
Since the late 19th century, only two brief periods of violence have marred the country's democratic development.
Although it still maintains a large agricultural sector, Costa Rica has expanded its economy to include strong technology and tourism industries.
The standard of living is relatively high. Land ownership is widespread.
Geography
Volcanic mud pools, northern Costa Rica. @ C.Michael Hogan
Location: Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Nicaragua and Panama
Geographic Coordinates: 10 00 N, 84 00 W
Area: 51,100 sq km (50,660 sq km land and 440 sq km water). This includes Isla del Coco 550 km off the Pacific Coast of the main land.
Coastline: 1290 km
Maritime Claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm
Natural Hazards: Occasional earthquakes, hurricanes along Atlantic coast; frequent flooding of lowlands at onset of rainy season and landslides; active volcanoes.
Volcanism: Arenal (elev. 1,670 m), which erupted in 2010, is the most active volcano in Costa Rica. A 1968 eruption destroyed the town of Tabacon. Irazu (elev. 3,432 m), situated just east of San Jose, has the potential to spew ash over the capital city as it did between 1963 and 1965. Other historically active volcanoes include Miravalles, Poas, Rincon de la Vieja, and Turrialba.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake caused at least 20 deaths in Costa Rica on January 8, 2009, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake was centered 30 kilometers north of San Jose (the country’s capital) and just 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) below the surface, a depth shallow enough to ensure strong shaking at the surface. The quake damaged buildings and sent earth tumbling in the mountainous Central American country. Landslides caused the majority of the deaths, said the USGS.
Costa Rica is prone to geologic hazards. Active volcanoes dot the small country, and faults, both active and ancient, weave through the country. The January 8 earthquake was centered near two very active volcanoes, Poás and Irazú. Further evidence of geologic activity lies in the high mountain range, the Cordillera de Talamanca, that runs parallel to the coast.
All of this geologic activity, the January 8 earthquake included, can be attributed to plate tectonics. The Cocos plate, a small portion of Earth’s surface beneath part of the eastern Pacific Ocean, is slipping beneath the portion of Earth’s surface that includes Costa Rica, the Caribbean plate. As the Cocos plate moves under the Caribbean plate at a rate of about 75 millimeters per year, it exerts pressure on the Caribbean plate. That pressure formed the mountains and the volcanoes. To ease the pressure, the earth near the edge of the plate shifts from time to time along weak points or faults. The January 8 earthquake did not occur along any known fault, but was caused by the build up of pressure from the subduction of the Cocos plate under the Caribbean plate, said the USGS. (Source: NASA/Holli Riebeek.)
Terrain: Topography includes coastal plains separated by rugged mountains including over 100 volcanic cones, of which several are major volcanoes.
Climate: Tropical and subtropical; dry season (December to April); rainy season (May to November); cooler in highlands.
Tography of Costa Rica. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Ecology and Biodiversity
Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.1% of the world's landmass, it contains five percent of the world's biodiversity. All of Costa Rica is included in the subtropical and tropical Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot.
Monteverde, Costa Rica. (Photograph by WWF/S.E. Cornelius)
In northern Costa Rica, remnants remain of the Isthmian-Pacific moist forests among cattle pastures, crops and human settlements. Located at elevations below 500m, the Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests cover the Atlantic lowlands. Also in northwestern Costa Rica lies the Central American dry forests ecoregion. Cocos Island is the only island in the eastern Pacific with very moist tropical flora and fauna, and the only Pacific oceanic island off Central America. The Talamancan montane forests ecoregion, located in the mountainous regions of Costa Rica and Panama, is one of Central America’s most intact habitats. Deciduous trees that loose their leaves during the distinct dry season make up the dominant vegetation in the Costa Rican seasonal moist forests, located along Costa Rica's border with Panama.
Mangroves are sparse in the Rio Negro-Rio San Sun mangroves ecoregion, and are primarily found in estuarine lagoons and small patches at river mouths along the Atlantic coastline. The Southern Dry Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion found along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica is unique as it marks the transition from dry to moist forest along this coast. Along Costa Rica's eastern shore are the Mosquitia-Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast mangroves, which are part of a complex of diverse habitats that include humid broadleaf forest, pine forest, coastal wetlands and bamboo forests, as well as coral reefs and some of the most extensive seagrass beds in the world. The Moist Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion runs along the coastline of Central America from near the town of Jaco, Costa Rica to the southwestern corner of the Peninsula de Azuero, Panama. Mangroves are more developed in this ecoregion than those further north due to the higher rate of freshwater inflow that reduces salt accumulation in the mangroves by increasing evapotranspiration.
See:
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Terrestrial ecoregions:
See also: Cocos Island moist forests Coastal-marine and marine ecoregions: |
Ecoregions of Costa Rica. Source: World Wildlife Fund |
Protected Areas
The California sea lion (Zalophus californianus) is a common marine mammal on the Isla del Coco. (Source: National Marine Fisheries Service)
Around 25% of the country's land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentile of protected areas in the world.
Located in northwestern Costa Rica, the Area de Conservación Guanacaste's boundaries start 12 miles out into the Pacific Ocean and extend inland across the Pacific coastal lowlands, over three tall volcanoes and down into the Atlantic coastal lowlands. The total area of the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) (as of 2004) comprises 147,000 hectares (ha), comprising 104,000 terrestrial habitats and 43,000 marine habitats. The dry forest of the Guanacaste region are home to significant numbers of endemic species.
The Isla del Coco Marine and Terrestrial Conservation Area includes the entire Isla del Coco and the marine ecosystems up to a distance of 15 kilometers around the island. Isla del Coco is located 555 km southwest off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, almost to the Galápagos Archipelago.
GovernmentGovernment Type: Democratic republic Capital: San Jose - 1.416 million (2009) Administrative divisions: 7 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia);
Independence Date: 15 September 1821 (from Spain) Legal System: civil law system based on Spanish civil code; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court. Costa Rica accepts compulsory International Court of Justice (ICJ) jurisdiction; and accepts International criminal court (ICCt) jurisdiction. |
Source: Wikimedia Commons |
International Environmental Agreements
Costa Rica is party to international agreements on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands, and Whaling.
People and Society
Population: 4,576,562 (July 2011 est.)
Ethnic groups: white (including mestizo) 94%, black 3%, Amerindian 1%, Chinese 1%, other 1%
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| Mist rising over the rainforest near Gulfito on the Pacific coast near the border of Panama. This region is one of the wettest spots in the world. |
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| Mountainous countryside along the road to the capital of San Jose. |
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| Located in the central part of the country, Arenal Volcano remains active, treating visitors to steady rumbles and displays of fire from its cone. |
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| A monkey in Manuel Antonio National Park. |
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San José, capital city of Costa Rica, fills the valley between two steep mountain ranges. In this image made from data collected by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite, visible, shortwave, and near-infrared wavelengths of light that the sensor observed have been combined to produce a false-color version of the scene in which vegetation is red, urban areas are silvery gray, water is dark blue, and clouds are white. The image was captured on February 8, 2007. San José is in the center of the image. The Rio Torres winds through downtown San José. Cartago, the much smaller colonial capital, sits in the lower right corner, while the city of Alajuela appears across the river, northwest of San José. The cities’ manmade surfaces contrast sharply with the lushly vegetated landscape surrounding the city. Greenhouses are common in the region, and their glass roofs may be the brilliant white spots around the outer edges the cities. The long, straight runway of the Tobias Bolanos International Airport is visible as a dark line southeast of Alajuela. The landscape around the two cities shown here is rugged. Steep mountain peaks cast dark shadows across their leeward slopes. Patches of dark red vegetation on the mountains north of San José may be rainforest. Coffee plantations also cover the slopes of the mountains around the city. February is the dry season in Costa Rica. During the rainy season, from about April to November, clouds usually block the satellite’s view of this tropical location. Source: NASA. |
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 24.6% (male 574,876/female 549,664)
15-64 years: 69.1% (male 1,588,940/female 1,571,573)
65 years and over: 6.4% (male 135,017/female 156,492) (2011 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 1.308% (2011 est.)
Birth Rate: 16.54 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Death Rate: 4.33 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)
Net Migration Rate: 0.87 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 77.72 years (2011 est.)
Total Fertility Rate: 1.93 children born/woman (2011 est.)
Languages: Spanish (official), English
Literacy: 94.9%
Urbanization: 64% of total population (2010) growing at an annual rate of change of 2.1% (2010-15 est.)
Economy
Prior to the global economic crisis, Costa Rica enjoyed stable economic growth. The economy contracted 1.3% in 2009, but resumed growth at about 4% per year in 2010-11.
While the traditional agricultural exports of bananas, coffee, sugar, and beef are still the backbone of commodity export trade, a variety of industrial and specialized agricultural products have broadened export trade in recent years.
High value added goods and services, including microchips, have further bolstered exports.
Tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange, as Costa Rica's impressive biodiversity makes it a key destination for ecotourism.
Foreign investors remain attracted by the country's political stability and relatively high education levels, as well as the fiscal incentives offered in the free-trade zones; and Costa Rica has attracted one of the highest levels of foreign direct investment per capita in Latin America. H
owever, many business impediments, such as high levels of bureaucracy, difficulty of enforcing contracts, and weak investor protection, remain.
Poverty has remained around 15-20% for nearly 20 years, and the strong social safety net that had been put into place by the government has eroded due to increased financial constraints on government expenditures.
Unlike the rest of Central America, Costa Rica is not highly dependent on remittances as they only represent about 2% of GDP.
Immigration from Nicaragua has increasingly become a concern for the government. The estimated 300,000-500,000 Nicaraguans in Costa Rica legally and illegally are an important source of - mostly unskilled - labor, but also place heavy demands on the social welfare system.
The US-Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) entered into force on 1 January 2009, after significant delays within the Costa Rican legislature. CAFTA-DR will likely lead to increased foreign direct investment in key sectors of the economy, including the insurance and telecommunications sectors recently opened to private investors.
President Chinchilla is likely to push for fiscal reform in the coming year, seeking to boost revenue, possibly through revised tax legislation, to fund an increase in security services and education.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Purchasing Power Parity): $54.47 billion (2011 est.)
GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $40 billion (2011 est.)
GDP- Per capita (PPP): $11,500 (2011 est.)
GDP- Composition by sector:
agriculture: 6.4%
industry: 22.1%
services: 71.5% (2011 est.)
Industries: Microprocessors, food processing, medical equipment, textiles and clothing, construction materials, fertilizer, plastic products
Natural Resources: Hydropower, sulfur, limestone, diatomite
Currency: Costa Rican colones (CRC)
Energy
In November 1999, U.S.-based Harken Energy began a seismic exploration program in Costa Rica in the Caribbean Sea. Despite promising results, the company has been unable to acquire the approval of the Costa Rican government to commence drilling operations due to opposition from environmental and indigenous activists. The former Pacheco administration (2002-2006) had expressed its opposition to any oil activities in the country.
See Energy profile of Central America.
Further Reading
- Earthquake Hazards Program. (2009, January 8). Magnitude 6.1 – Costa Rica. United States Geological Survey. Accessed January 16, 2009.
- G.W.Frankie, Alfonso Mata, S.Bradleigh Vinson. 2004. Biodiversity conservation in Costa Rica: learning the lessons in a seasonal dry forest. University of California Press, 341 pages
- Martha Honey. 1999. Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise?. Island Press. First edition, Washington, DC
- Energy profile of Central America from the Energy Information Administration
Citation
Central Intelligence Agency, World Wildlife Fund, National Aeronautics and Space Administra (Lead Author);C Michael Hogan (Contributing Author);CIA World Factbook (Content Source);Peter Saundry (Topic Editor) "Costa Rica". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth May 13, 2009; Last revised Date February 7, 2012; Retrieved February 9, 2012 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Costa_Rica>
The Authors
The Central Intelligence Agency was created in 1947 with the signing of the National Security Act by President Harry S. Truman. The act also created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) to serve as head of the United States intelligence community; act as the principal adviser to the President for intelligence matters related to the national security; and serve as head of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 amended the National Securit ... (Full Bio)
Known worldwide by its panda logo, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) leads international efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats. Now in its fifth decade, WWF works in more than 100 countries around the globe to conserve the diversity of life on Earth. With nearly 1.2 million members in the U.S. and another 4 million worldwide, WWF is the world's largest privately financed conservation organization. WWF directs its conservation efforts toward three global goals: 1) saving endangered ... (Full Bio)
President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1958, partially in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite. NASA grew out of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, which had been researching flight technology for more than 40 years. Today, NASA conducts its work in four principle organizations, called mission directorates: Aeronautics: pioneering and proving new flight technologies that improve our ab ... (Full Bio)
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