Costa Rica's national flag flaps a majestic blue, white and red aboard Costa Rican ships, above the nation's government offices and over frenzied fans at international soccer games. A different flag, however, is reserved for Costa Rica's internationally famous beaches: La Bandera Azul Ecológica, or the Ecological Blue Flag.
For 12 years, the Costa Rican government has awarded beaches around the country the coveted Blue Flag for meeting a list of environmental and other requirements. It is a seal of excellence of sorts, a coveted distinction that seeks to assure visitors that the beach is in line with the ecological image that brought nearly two million tourists to the country last year.
The program is overseen by Costa Rica's water agency, the Institute Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), and has awarded the flags every year since 1996. The ceremonies are prestigious events, and Costa Rica's president Oscar Arias has appeared at each one during his administration.
Costa Rica's reputation for eco-tourism, environmental beauty and conservation has become more and more widely known around the world over the last decade, and with each passing year, the Blue Flag program has become more important. The boom in tourism has, in recent years, grown hand-in-hand with a boom in construction - mostly hotels, luxury homes and condominiums. As this developing has put pressure on the surrounding environment, the Blue Flag program has given many communities, particularly along the Pacific coast, motivation to keep their growth clean and sustainable.
One example is the central Pacific town of jacó. Once a sleepy fishing village visited mostly by Costa Rican weekend vacationers, jacó's consistent waves began attracting low-budget surf travelers. The path they opened was soon followed by more tourists, and then real estate developers. Today Jacó is one of the fastest growing towns along the Pacific coast, with condominium towers reaching for the sky.
Playa Nosara
This year, for the first time, it was awarded a Blue Flag - not, however, for beach cleanliness (though it was recognized for improvement in its beach), but rather for its community. Since 2000, AyA has expanded the program from just certifying beaches to including communities, schools, protected natural areas (such as national parks and wildlife refuges), programs to fight climate change and projects that protect water drainage basins.
Communities, schools, businesses, protected areas and all others interested in vying for a Blue Flag must sign up in order to participate, and then report their activities to the Blue Flag program throughout the year. They are inspected and graded in the months before the awards are announced and rated on a variety of points depending on the category. The approval of a Blue Flag and its number of stars depend on the rating.
Jacó won points in the community category for its waste management (the town's landfill is recognized as one of the best in the country, and a brand new recycling program was a plus), the quality of its drinking water (certified 100 percent potable by AyA), citizen and tourist security (Jacó has uniformed police, Tourist Police and a new municipal police force), street cleanliness, environmental education, public health campaigns, and others.
This is very, very important, said the mayor of Jacó, Marvin Elizondo. "One can tell that it is part of the change that is going on." Just north from Jacó is the Punta Leona hotel and resort, recipient of this year's highest Blue Flag award.
Punta Leona
The paradisiacal white-sand Playa Blanca beach, directly in front of the resort, was awarded a four-star Blue Flag, which are the most stars that can be awarded.
Punta Leona puts a lot of economic resources (about 40000 $ a year) and a lot of human resources toward maintaining the Blue Flag," said Andrea Osorio, Punta Leona's head of Public Relations and the president of its Blue Flag committee for the last four, years. "We were sure that we would deserve the four stars.
They also keep a watchful eye on the neighboring wetlands that are also on its property and officially declared as protected area. The resort also has a protection program for the endangered scarlet macaw, which inhabits nearby forests and feeds from coastal trees, and funds a reforestation program that has planted more than 3,000 trees in the last two years all over the region.
The resort's Blue Flag program has also promoted tree-planting and environmental education programs for 14 area schools and a recycling program for the communities. "We see the Blue Flag as a seal of quality, not a prize," Punta Leona's Osorio and "The Blue Flag is way of life".
