Like so many of the planet’s greatest accomplishments, it began with an observation, so simple one wonders why nobody saw it earlier and so powerful it is still changing the world. It started with a extraordinary man on a intriguing and beautiful mountain called the Matterhorn. The world’s first eco tourist was Theodore Roosevelt and what we call “eco tourism” today leads thousands of people a year to a little gem named by Christopher Columbus five centuries ago: Costa Rica, the “rich coast.”
Two decades before he was destined to become known as one of America’s finest presidents, Roosevelt traveled to Switzerland. He was one of the planet’s greatest adventurers who loved nature. So it was that he was determined to conquer the famous Mount Matterhorn. When he did so, however, he ended up being chagrined by what he encountered on the mountain or perhaps, more accurately, the things he did not.
The mountain was nearly lifeless. Where once there had been many, there were no bears, wolves, goats, mountain sheep, or other wilderness creatures. Only ghosts of the past richness. But only memories.
Though “eco tourism” did not enter the language lexicon for practically 100 more years, Teddy Roosevelt was the earth’s earliest ecotourist and, I should mention, the man responsible for modern ecotourism.
Roosevelt recognized that unless vast tracts of land were preserved, relentless exploitation would ultimately lead to disaster. So, upon becoming President, he did something no one before him had considered. He set aside an extraordinary 230 million as wilderness and parks over massive objections from vested interests, gold miners, timber companies, and robber barons.
Roosevelt’s vivid vision led to an extraordinary discovery: men and women would gladly spend money to visit the outdoors. Sustained use of land through eco tourism brought with it important economic consequences, maybe much more valuable than exploitation in many cases—in America.
But, America’s experience was one thing. It was rich and developed. Costa Rica was, seemingly, very different. Here was a place that in 1519 its Spanish Governor called “the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in all Americas.” Four and a half centuries later, now independent and free, most of its forests had been cut or burned to make pastures and farmland. Big American business dominated its primary product, bananas, and the country was almost completely dependent upon the export of bananas, coffee, and other agricultural products for its economic life. United Fruit Company controlled the banana market and its relations with Costa Rica were often stormy, sometimes icy. Then, in the early 1970s, prices for coffee collapsed during a glut of the product on the world market. The country’s future looked bleak.
Now, nothing in the world is preordained and from the economic crisis arose Costa Rica ecotourism. Challenge inevitably brings with it opportunity and, in a seemingly unlikely alliance, conservationists and business interests argued that sustainable development needed to be given a chance rather than simply continuing to exploit the country’s rapidly declining resources. The government joined forces with conservationists and businesses and embarked on an ambitious experiment, ultimately preserving nearly 25% of the country for parks and preserves over the following years.
By any measure, and in the span of just three decades (about as long as The Simpsons have been on television!), the results have been stunning. While many countries were slashing, cutting, and burning their forests, Costa Rica chose to reforest. Today, there are 20% more forests than only 25 years ago. Jaguars, peccaries, and other wildlife are returning to places where they haven’t been seen for more than a generation. The country has enthusiastically embraced sustained development, refusing to allow off shore drilling for oil and building renewable power plants. Impressively 99% of its electrical power now comes from hydro-electric plants—and it is beginning to install wind turbines as well. Columbia and Yale researchers now categorize it within in the top five of all environmentally sensitive countries on the globe.
From “the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in Americas” it has vaulted into the top position on the Happiest Place in the World Index. The Spanish Governor was dead wrong. Columbus was prescient when he named this place “the rich coast” or “Costa Rica”. And, somewhere in the heavens, Theodore Roosevelt is smiling in delight.
To close, we need to revisit the Swiss Matterhorn, the place behind Roosevelt’s vision that parks and preserves were essential to saving wildlife and Costa Rica’s bold extension of that idea leading to today’s incredibly successful Costa Rica eco tourism. Consider the irony here. Costa Rica is often called the “Switzerland” of the tropics but it learned from Swiss failures. Ironically, Switzerland has learned nothing. Costa Rica’s mountains are today filled with life and eco tourism helps fuel its economy. One of every twenty species of plants and animals on earth are found there. Meanwhile, the magnificent Matterhorn remains silent because its life was exploited and destroyed, not cherished and preserved.
About the author: Vic Krumm lives in tropical, gorgeous Costa Rica. Visit his acclaimed website about Costa Rica Vacationsand if you like big adventure on the high seas look at Costa Rica Humpback Whales
