Topic
Policy
12 articles
Articles tagged with this topic across every collection on the site.
200 Times the Legal Limit
Ten thousand people in the vegetable highlands have been drinking from cisterns since 2022 because their tap water is poisoned. The government's response: raise the legal limit by up to 800 times.
Same Height, Five Times the Carbon
Costa Rica's forest carbon starts as a tape around a trunk and a number read from a table. The World Bank has paid US$34 million on the result.
The Audit With Addresses
The Contraloría ordered SINAC and the Municipalidad de Osa to inspect three properties in the Paso de la Danta corridor and prosecute if warranted, by September 18. It found the clearing on Google Earth, after the agencies certified they had no records of it.
Room to Cross
Thousands of wild animals die on Costa Rica's roads each year, and the wildlife crossings that could save them work only where they are built right.
The Municipalities That Couldn't Find the Corridor
The Contraloría ordered six municipalities along the Paso de la Danta corridor to build environmental review into their construction permits. Three had told the auditor the corridor does not cross their territory.
What the Auditors Found
The national auditor found 81 percent of forestry permits were missing a mandatory requirement and 90 percent of coastal projects skipped the site visit. The same government had moved to centralize control of the audited agencies.
An Endangered Species
Costa Rica's park rangers call themselves an endangered species. Their agency lost 40 percent of its budget while its territory grew more than 500 percent.
A Blueprint for the Southern Zone
Five investments instead of one airport. A plan that meets every stated goal in Palmar Sur without displacing a single farming family.
An Airport Where the Weeds Are
350 farming families built the Diquís Delta after the banana company left in 1984. The government wants their fincas for an airport SETENA already rejected.
When Paradise Loses the Economic War
Costa Rica's pioneering conservation payments made forests worth more standing than cleared. Land prices changed the math.
Costa Rica's Conservation Programs
US land trusts protect 61 million acres with enforcement endowments, while Costa Rica has similar laws without that institutional infrastructure. Understanding the tradeoffs between government support and bureaucratic burden.
Can a Country Run on Two Economies?
Ticos earn $820/month while facing $1M coastal homes. How foreign wealth is displacing locals inland, fragmenting communities.