A research study conducted for the first time in Costa Rica showed that back in 2002, nature parks and national reserves chipped in $815 million to the Central American nation's economy. That figure also accounts for 5.5 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.
The yearlong assessment pieced together by the Center for Economic Policy and Sustainable Development at the National University in collaboration with the Institute of Bio-diversity.
The report concluded that protected areas not only help preserve natural resources, but also assist local communities to bring home the bacon, making it the nation's number-one tourist activity.
Costa Rica's Environmental Protection Minister Carlos Manuel Rodriguez said the analysis shows conservation efforts cannot be solely seen from a moral or ethic standpoint, but also from a social and economic view.
Mr. Rodriguez expects the report could eventually make senior officials in the Costa Rican administration and legislative body fully aware of the need to increase budget money for nature parks, currently undergoing a 50 percent shortfall.
Last year alone, the arrival of 933,000 tourists -nearly half from overseas- contributed little more that $4 million worth of revenues for the country's coffers.
In some particular areas blessed with the proximity of nature parks, cash-strapped rural communities managed to put up with slumping prices of such top commodities as coffee, bananas and cocoa.
Approximately 12 percent of the Costa Rican territory is covered by protected areas, including 26 nature parks and 8 national reserves. According to Mr. Rodriguez, roughly 40 percent of those areas generate profits and contribute resources for other zones.
