There are many qualities that make Costa Rica a remarkable and unique country, but most outstanding would have to be its extraordinary biodiversity. Over millions of years the biological activity within these 5 1, 100 km2, has been extraordinarily varied and very intense.
This little piece of paradise is home to a great number of different species, living in a great variety of ecosystems and developing among themselves a wide range of relationships that are comparatively superior to those found in any other tropical region of the world and various times superior to those found in temperate and cold regions.
The secret to this is Costa Rica's special geographic position, which has coasts lining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the presence of irregular mountain chains that reach up to 3,800m at the highest point and which include 68 volcanic formations. Thanks to this complex morphology and different elevations, numerous and varied microclimates arise that generate a great diversity of different ecosystems. These, ecosystems are home to a rich and varied list of living beings. Costa Rica offers the visitor an unparalleled possibility of discovering much of the biodiversity of the tropics, so that he or she may see an incredible variety of life without the need of traveling great distances.
This little country is honer to some 211 species of mammals, 1,416 different orchids, 1,500 types of trees, 192 types of bromelias, more than 7,000 species of plants and bushes, 878 species of native and migratory birds, more than 35,000 species of insects (with almost 2,000 species of diurnal butterflies and some 4,500 species of nocturnal) at least 160 species of amphibians, some 220 species of reptiles, and a little more than 1,000 species of fiches, among many other animals.
If this weren't striking enough, the majority of the life forms here have developed some distinctive features, characteristic of life in the tropics, such as for example vivid and complex colors, ostentatious plumage in the case of birds or surprising camouflage systems, among other forms of differentiation. This is another great contrast to what happens in colder areas, where species tend to be monochromatic and much less striking.
The diverse habitats of the country include cloud forests, rain forests, mangrove swamps, tropical dry forest, marches, coastal, rivers, lakes, coastal forests, cave systems and abundant coral reefs among others. These habitats are occupied by a record number of animal and plant species at a high density (that is to say, a lot of life in a little space), which the avid naturalist assures an intense level of activity that could not exist on any other part of the planes.
The United States biologist, Edward Wilson, once commented "Biodiversity planet's greatest treasures which nonetheless, were the least appreciated for being so". Biodiverse ecosystems are healthy ecosystems that have a greater capacity to react and adapt to changes. Costa Rica is a treasure for humanity and for future generations, but above all it is a treasure for nature itself, cornered, as it has been in other parts of the world by our own actions.
A process so complex, begun so many million years ago ought to be deeply respected. Our actions have caused enough damage, damage which we would not want to repeat in the great natural refuge, named in Spanish appropriately enough, as the Rich Coast. Undoubtedly, we are living in a very special time and privileged place. A a place that is clamoring for our attention and for us to stars to think much more about green... not the green of dollar bills, but the green of life.
Courtesy of Revista Utopia
Ecotourism and Nature 
