Greenwashing in Costa Rica - UNIT 4 Case Studies

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  • Greenwashing in Costa Rica
    • Location
      • South America, with Nicaragua and Panama being it's neighbours
    • Info
      • 1987 known as a Ecotourism paradise with tourist numbers of 328,000
      • Increase by the attraction of biodiversity and adventure tourism
    • + impacts of tourism
      • Tourism has boomed and has become the largest economic contributor
    • Management
      • Has resulted in the country placing 10 national parks to protect the 12 intertropical rainforests
      • Costa Rican government are seeking to implement many successful management plans
        • Education is its main focus. as by teaching young children the importance of rainforests, they are also able to teach a brand new generation once they are older which is said to be sustainable
      • The tourist agency has also promoted the idea of eco-lodging which therefore meant that land wouldn't be deforested to clear land for extravagant hotels and resorts as they would be built within the treetops
    • Costa Rica's carrying capacity
      • Costa Rica is said to have reached it's overshoot as the country has reached it's overcapacity
        • This is because the amount of people arriving cannot be sustained by the level of resources the country has
    • - impacts of tourism
      • Soil degradation/deforestation of forests
    • Greenwashing
      • When a company/organisation spends more time and money claiming to be 'green' through advertising than actually implementing business practices that minimise the environmental impact
      • Four Seasons Hotel
        • Claims on the website to be 'casual luxury and unsurpassed service to this pristine jungle setting' - but is actually located on dry and denuded former cattle grazing land
        • Being billed to the travel press as ecologically responsible because plans for the golf course include using a special type of grass that can be watered with a combination of sea and recycled waste waters
          • However this all inclusive resort will bring only modest revenue to Costa Rica, with vacationers paying for their packages overseas and not needing to venture into Costa Rica since everything (except a rainforest!) is available at the resort
    • Sources
      • Martha Honey - exclusive director of the International Ecotourism Society
        • She has lived in Costa Rica which reduces bias and makes it particularly reliable

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