Sustainable Eco-Tourism in Costa Rica
A participative research about sustainable eco-tourism on local level
Name: Joe Freisjer
Age:Twenty six
Duration of the Project: Four months
Where have you been?
For my study I wanted to do a project involving coastal related issues in a developing country and that’s where Costa Rica came in to perspective. In Costa Rica I looked at two specific locations. These sites are the sea turtle voluntary conservation project ‘La Tortuga Feliz’ (LTF) on the Caribbean coast, and Santa Teresa, a small, but fast growing tourist surfer-town on the Pacific Coast. La Tortuga Feliz is an NGO that protects turtles and their eggs from poachers on a small strip of coastline of the country.
What did you do there?
The project I did was to find out in what way the natural resources of Costa Rica contribute to sustainable development through eco-tourism. Examples of natural resources are: land, rainforest, avian wildlife, terrestrial wildlife, aquatic wildlife, biota, air, waves, water ground water, etc. What I wanted to find out is what sustainable development really means in the daily reality of Costa Rica. Instead of doing a desk research, where I would be physically apart from local people and entrepreneurs, I wanted to be in close contact with them and participating in their daily activities. The method I used for this was ‘participative research’. This is a form of research that is executed on the social domain. It is a method I have studied very well beforehand and I figured out it is a good instrument to get the information I needed in a South American culture. Through this method you can obtain specific sorts of information, other than doing a desk or literature research. Especially through joining activities and mixing with the local people, I got a true inside look at how local people and organisations perceive eco-tourism. Through this I have seen what effect this has on them and their region. By gaining trust with local people I got informed about things which occupy the local peoples minds and about what is really going on in their daily life; how people work and live, and deal with the environment on local and regional scale. For me it would have been harder to find these sorts of information without being integrated into the social life of Costa Rica. The activities I used the most to get in to contact with people were participating in all activities at LTF on the Caribbean coast, having conversations with people, doing interviews with organisations and entrepreneurs and surfing on the pacific coast. This also
includes listening to what local people have to say and to get a feeling of how things work in these areas. The interviews I did were with project-supervisors, volunteers-trainers, surfschool-managers, restaurant-and hotel owners. Through surfing, for example I created a certain bond and feel with local people, which helped me later on in getting specific information for my research. To give you an example, I received really valuable information
about influence of certain people and organisations and power structures in the community. This was very useful for my stakeholder analyses.
There are eleven indicators of sustainable tourism that I used to measure the sustainability of the eco-trourism.
These are:
- Site protection
- Stress
- Use Intensity
- Social Impact
- Development control
- Waste Management
- Planning process
- Critical ecosystems
- Consumer Satisfaction
- Local Satisfaction
- Tourism Contribution to local economy
How did you prepare yourself?
I formulated a few objectives I wanted to reach. One of those objectives is an improvement of my communication skills by doing interviews with local
entrepreneurs and municipalities and participating in daily activities with volunteers and local citizens. Furthermore I wanted to gain knowledge about
eco-tourism. Before I left I talked to a lot of people who have been to Costa Rica. I spoke with my placement supervisor Paul van der Heijden about the culture of the country and all the necessary things I needed to know before going there. That was when I found out that it is important to figure out what vaccinations to take. In Costa Rica there is this disease which is spread through a mosquito, called Dengue (In Dutch it is called knokkelkoorts). When you get this disease the first time it is okay, but when you get bitten twice it can be deadly. In addition I read books about eco-tourism and how it can be sustainable. That’s when I found out that the method of participative research would be a very interesting and valuable thing for me to do. One very practical thing before going is to check the names and numbers of the busses you will need to get to the destination before you fly to Costa Rica, otherwise you can end up in the wrong places. Luckily I ended up in the right places!
Can you tell us something more about the project ‘La Toruga Feliz’?
A Dutch man, Paul Leputre, who recently passed away, founded this organization. The organisation still exits and has been taken over by the
previous employers. Paul Leputre’s work created quite some change in the region. The people living in the area used to be turtle poachers (hunters). At this moment 25 people (+/- 85 % of the poachers), are working for the NGO as guides, and are protecting the turtles. It is noteworthy to say that those people are now proud of the turtles and of protecting them. Before, they had to steal the eggs out of necessity for survival. Now those people are defending the turtles from what they used to do themselves. He accomplished this by offering them a salary of 150 dollar a month. This is the same amount as they would get for one nest of eggs but the money is clean, and legal. Now they don't have to compete against other poachers and they don't have to fear the coast guard anymore. The money comes from volunteers paying to work for the NGO. It costs volunteers 12,50 dollar a day to work for the NGO with three meals and lodging included. The WWF supports this project financially. The nesting data is collected and used for analysis by WWF. The project was designed in such a way that it would continue to operate sustainable without paid management. The sea turtle project is recognized by the WWF as a sustainable project and therefore it receives money from them. The results of the project are very positive, for example the hatchling rate goes up each year with a couple of thousand eggs. This means that more and more turtles are born every year.
So can you tell us about your findings? In what way do the natural resources of Costa Rica contribute to sustainable development through eco-tourism?
Generally spoken, I can say that the natural resources of Costa Rica bring money to the country, trough tourism. Costa Rica's main asset is nature or
natural resources. This attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world. This also means that they have to maintain their natural resources to sustain their income and thus preserving a healthy and clean environment and the country in a natural state. These are forms of a synergy between ecological and economical aspects of sustainable development. According to the eleven indicators of sustainable tourism I can carefully say that at the LTF project the eco tourism is a form of sustainable tourism. Local people profit from the turtle project and earn an honest living, which involves social aspects of sustainable development. Probably the main result of eco-tourism is public awareness of the importance of sustaining the natural environment for both tourists and local people. Costa Rica is so welcoming to foreigners that a lot of species are being actively protected by foreigners and foreign organisations, like for example the sea turtles. Santa Teresa on the other hand is not really sustainable; hotels and houses are being built by westerners without permits, Israelis are chopping down parts of forest on hill sides to accommodate their houses, which makes the ground unstable with heavy rainfall in the rainy season. There is no sewage system, there is no good solid waste system, the local people don’t have the money to pay for special garbage bags that are retrieved by the waste collectors. However, a lot of these tourists are surfers and have affinity with the environment, they are aware of pollution and the things going on in Santa Teresa. A small group of volunteers, (the numbers vary widely), are trying to fulfil the role of village council and they try to actively change these unsustainable issues into sustainable ones. When corruption is present in many organizations it is very difficult to enforce these 'laws'. And thus difficult to get things done, but they do their best and start with themselves. A problem is that tourists and volunteers don't mix together very well. The tourists are having a “holiday” while the volunteers have to work hard. This creates a bad atmosphere between the two groups. Sometimes curious tourists from nearby hotels come to visit the project for a day and an evening to see what the volunteers are really doing.
Did you change your methods along the way and was that needed?
During my time at LTF, I found out that it is easier to make contact with local people when you share things with them, like food and water, during
turtle patrols for example. These simple gestures help create a connection between people where the differences in language prove to be an obstacle most of the time.
How and where did you get the opportunity to do the project?
This was via Paul van der Heijden, he owns a consultant office for environmental-and sustainable projects in the Netherlands, called ‘Mature Development’. He has a big network and stimulates many projects focused on sustainable development. I met him at my university.
What did it cost you and did you get sponsored?
A return ticket from the Netherlands cost me about Euro 760,-. In total it cost me about Euro 5000,- for four months. It was about Euro 1000,- a month, including living costs. I didn’t find sponsors for the project, I didn’t really know about the opportunities about that before I left.
What is the hardest thing you have seen or experienced?
There is a lot of garbage on the beaches. Tourists don’t see this because it is taken away in the summer, but in the rain season the whole beach is covered in waste. This was very unpleasant to see. It was hard to walk the turtle patrols, this means walking for four hours on the beach and looking for turtle nests. Walking the beach is very heavy, because the sand is soft and most of the times we walk in the dark. I remember the first day when I arrived and had a jetlag. I didn’t get the time to acclimatize and had to start working the same day when I arrived, I was a wreck after that.
What was easy?
Because of my participative research I had an advantage in social contacts, compared to other western people. The group life and socializing with the
people came natural. Most people who join the project are very open in a social way.
What is the most special thing you have seen?
To see the eggs lying on the beach is really a very special thing. Also sitting on the beach by moonlight is very eccentric.
How did you live and sleep there?
At LTF I stayed in a bunk bed with one other person most of the time. It was also possible to sleep in a dorm with more people or to stay in a tent.
In Santa Teresa I stayed in several hostels where you sleep in private rooms or dorms, the quality was certainly more luxurious than at LTF.
Did you make a lot of social contacts?
I made some friendships with volunteers from the project. I still have contact with them through the email. We will have a reunion in England this year. I don’t have contact with the local people I met there. That is very hard because the locals don’t have email and mobile phones.
What did you expect before you went?
I was very pleasantly surprised when I arrived. I did not expect it to be that beautiful!
Did your time in Costa Rica change you in any way?
It has given me a different view on the world. In what way I can not really tell. The life in Costa Rica is slower and relaxed, maybe I took a part of that with me.
What did you miss?
Food! They have good food around there but it is the same everyday. At LTF we ate beans and rice with pancakes the first day. The next day it’s mostly soup or pasta. The day after that it’s beans and rice again with some sort of cabbage and some meat. A lot of local vegetables are used for eating but I liked all of them. In Santa Teresa there was much more variety, like Italian, Israeli, and much more.
What did you take back to the Netherlands? like experience, knowledge and skills, and what do you do with that now?
I took back a great experience, a motive to go back to Costa Rica and knowledge of the country of how things work down there. I have knowledge
of eco-tourism and have seen and worked for a real sustainable example of this. I improved my interviewing skills and my research skills. The interviewing skills I will definitely use for my final thesis.
Why would you choose this project above an internship in the Netherlands, for example?
I wanted to learn more about different cultures.
What would you advice to people who want to do a similar project?
It is hard to find out how the mobile phone works and so I didn’t have one there, it is important to communicate about your arrival times with the
people there before going. Another thing is that my visa was valid for three months so I went to Panama, which is a neighbouring country, for three days and than back to Costa Rica to make my visa valid for another three months. This is a good advice to take with you! My last advice would be
for people who want to do a similar project. It is important to make clear goals about what you want to achieve. It is also important to formulate
good research questions before you are going to do the research, so you can focus on the answers you are seeking. Also be flexible and open-minded
before going there.
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