The Beginnings: Costa Rica Eco Tourism, Teddy Roosevelt And The Matterhorn
It began with Teddy Roosevelt and started at the Matterhorn. Today we call it eco tourism and what started as the germ of an idea on a cold, forlorn Swiss mountain now leads thousands of people each year to a tiny gem that Christopher Columbus named “Costa Rica” over 500 years ago.
About 20 years before he became one of America’s greatest presidents, Roosevelt, always the explorer, went to Europe to climb the famous Matterhorn Mountain in Switzerland. He was chagrined by what he encountered on the mountain or, more accurately, what he did not find.
The mountain was virtually barren. Where once there had been wilderness there were no longer goats, mountain sheep, bears, wolves, or other great animals.
Though “eco tourism” didn’t enter the language lexicon for nearly 100 more years, Theodore Roosevelt was the world’s first eco tourist and, I would say, the responsible for today’s eco tourism.
How do Roosevelt and the Matterhorn relate to Costa Rica eco tourism? Perhaps more than you might imagine. From his observations at the Matterhorn, Roosevelt realized that unless vast tracts of land were set aside, relentless exploitation would ultimately lead to disaster. So, when he became President and, despite the powerful robber barons and vested interests who fought him, he was the first to set aside wilderness and parks—an incredible 230,000,000 acres—an extraordinary achievement for America and singular accomplishment for the world.
Roosevelt’s bold vision led to an extraordinary discovery: common citizens would gladly pay money to visit nature. Sustained use of land through eco tourism had important economic consequences, perhaps more valuable than exploitation in many cases—in America.
But, America’s experience was one thing. It was wealthy 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 farm land. 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.
With challenge comes opportunity for the bold and thoughtful and, in an apparently unlikely alliance, conservationists and business interests argued in favor of setting aside resources for sustainable, rather than exploitative, development. For whatever reason, the government agreed to this rather bold experiment and, in just three decades, has now set aside nearly 25% of the country for parks and preserves. Roosevelt, ever the visionary, would applaud if still here.
In the span of just 30 years, the results have been stunning. While most countries were burning and cutting their forests, Costa Rica was reforesting. Today, there are 20% more forests than just 25 years ago. Birds and mammals are returning to places where they haven’t been seen for a generation or more. Costa Rica has enthusiastically embraced sustained development, rejecting the siren’s call of Big Oil by refusing off shore drilling for oil. Indeed almost 100% of its electricity now comes from renewable, non-polluting hydro-electric power and it is embarking on wind turbines for additional generation. Researchers from Columbia and Yale researchers now categorize it in the top 5 of all environmentally sensitive countries on the globe.
Costa Rica tourism and eco tourism have skyrocketed and the country has vaulted into the #1 position on the Happiest Place in the World Index. Turns out that Columbus was prescient when he named this place “the rich coast” or “Costa Rica” and the Spanish governor who derided it as “the poorest and most miserable Spanish colony in Americas” was dead wrong. Somewhere, Roosevelt smiles in triumph.
To close, we need to revisit the Swiss Matterhorn, the impetus behind Roosevelt’s sudden clarity that parks and preserves were essential to saving wildlife and Costa Rica’s wise 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 five 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.
