Speaker A
So when we get close to the vegetation, we need to look for a darker spot or a black spot, then for something white. That will be the turtle. Do you see the white?
Exploring if tourism, especially ecotourism in Costa Rica, can truly benefit the environment amidst challenges like climate change and unregulated practices.
Key Takeaways
- Tourism can provide crucial funding and awareness for conservation but also contributes to climate change.
- Ecotourism lacks clear definitions and effective regulation, making its environmental benefits uncertain.
- Costa Rica’s success in turtle conservation shows tourism’s potential but also highlights ongoing environmental threats.
- Certification and legislation are needed to ensure tourism genuinely supports sustainability.
- Individual involvement and responsible practices are essential for tourism to help the environment.
What the video covers
- The podcast investigates the role of tourism in environmental conservation, focusing on sea turtle protection in Costa Rica.
- Tourism has financially supported conservation efforts, helping green sea turtle populations recover from poaching threats.
- Climate change poses new risks to turtles, including rising sea levels and higher temperatures reducing hatchling success.
- Ecotourism is a growing industry but suffers from vague definitions and lack of regulation, leading to inconsistent environmental impact.
- Terms like sustainable, responsible, and regenerative tourism are often used without clear standards or legal enforcement.
- Certification programs for ecotourism are numerous but unregulated, allowing misleading claims by some operators.
- Costa Rica is highlighted as a leading ecotourism destination, yet it faces challenges such as insufficient park ranger staffing and habitat destruction.
- The podcast emphasizes the complex balance between tourism’s economic benefits and its environmental footprint, including carbon emissions from travel.
- Experts suggest that meaningful environmental benefits depend on actual practices rather than labels or marketing terms.
- The episode concludes with reflections on how individual tourists and operators can contribute to better outcomes.
Chapters
- 00:00Sea Turtle Conservation on Tortuguero Beach
- 01:20Tourism’s Role in Local Economy and Ecosystem
- 03:11History of Poaching and Conservation Success
- 04:37Tourism’s Carbon Footprint and Climate Impact
- 06:51Defining Ecotourism and Related Terms
- 08:36Challenges of Regulation and Certification
- 10:15Conservation Challenges in Corcovado National Park
- 13:54Final Reflections on Tourism and Environmental Impact
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Oh yeah, just about. It's the dead of night, and I'm hunting for sea turtles on a beautiful Costa Rican beach.
Speaker A
You can turn on your light now. Put this on? Right, OK, great. It will be easier to see her, and we can get closer.
Speaker A
Oh, wow. What was that? She's throwing a lot of sand because she's camouflaging. I'm exhausted, in complete darkness, and yet I can still see the wide smile on the face of Caitlyn from the Sea Turtle Conservancy here on Tortuguero beach, the birthplace of sea turtle conservation.
Speaker A
We go at night mostly, looking for tracks. So we'll find the females, and we take measurements, we tag the turtles, and we do a body check for poison, health of that turtle. Tortuguero is one of the most important nesting
Speaker A
beaches in the world for green sea turtles, and one of the reasons this animal is still here is tourism.
Speaker A
I grew up in Tortuguero, and for us, tourists are really important because they give us tourism, and that is one of the main ways to get money here. And besides that, they are really important, like in the ecosystem.
Speaker A
This is The Climate Question from the BBC World Service. I'm Qasa Alom, and this week I'm on a journey in Costa Rica, the home of ecotourism, to ask: Can tourism ever really be good for the environment?
Speaker A
We keep working until the sun rises. I realize the sand between my toes is black. It's sticky and humid already, and beyond the roaring waves, I can see a huge storm brewing over the Caribbean. It's magnificent. For now, Caitlyn and I are the only people here, but
Speaker A
soon this place will be packed with visitors coming here to help protect Costa Rica's famous green sea turtles. We receive eco-volunteers. And what work do they actually do to help?
Speaker A
They can take measurements, and they can help us count the eggs while the turtle is laying. So they help us with the money, of course, but we give them the experience. Most of them really love it because it's something completely different, and they get involved in the work
Speaker A
we do here. And that's important, isn't it, making sure that people are involved and then they care about the animals, care about the environment? Yeah, when people get involved in nature, they understand more the importance of that. It's a far cry from how things used to be. In the 1960s,
Speaker A
it wasn't tourists but poachers on the lookout for sea turtles, leaving them on the brink of extinction.
Speaker A
Thankfully though, since Costa Rica banned sea turtle and egg consumption at Tortuguero, as well as a government decision to become an ecotourism hotspot, both the turtle numbers and tourism have flourished. When the national parks began in the 1970s, we started to have an increase
Speaker A
of the population of green sea turtles, and that was good, so everybody was happy.
Speaker A
But recently, numbers are back on the slide to the lowest recorded in 25 years, and Caitlyn believes this could be down to climate change. The sea level rise can be negative in the nesting beaches.
Speaker A
Also, the erosion is negative because the nest will be destroyed, and the beach will get smaller and smaller, so they will not have enough place to go and lay their eggs. The temperature is higher because of the climate change. We have a really low percentage of hatching success because of
Speaker A
the temperature. The hatchlings don't develop. How sad is that? That's so bad, isn't it? I want to ask you a little bit about tourism. We've talked about how important tourism has been for Costa Rica, for the people, even actually their money to help the numbers of turtles flourish as well,
Speaker A
but equally, when we have so many tourists flying over here adding to the carbon in the atmosphere, which is leading to global warming, I mean, that could also be harming the turtles in the long run by making the climate warmer as well. What do you think about that? Yeah, that is an interesting
Speaker A
question. I didn't think about that before, but it's true that a lot of tourists flying here can contribute to the climate change and, yeah, affect sea turtles in the future and now, so it's like a 50/50, tourists help us being here, helping us protect sea turtles, but they also can have negative consequences.
Speaker A
Ecotourism is the buzz in tourism right now. It was worth $92 billion globally in 2019, and it's forecasted to generate $103 billion by 2027. I've travelled to one of the shining beacons of ecotourism for the BBC's Travel Show, but while here I wanted to help my friends at The
Speaker A
Climate Question to weigh up how much good it actually does versus the impact on the climate. But first, I need to understand, what does ecotourism actually mean? I think I know exactly the right person to help figure that out: Ralph Buckley, a professor at Griffith University in Australia and a man who has literally written the book on it.
Speaker A
When the idea of ecotourism was first put forward, which was in the 1970s, the idea was that tourism could be an economic engine that would fund conservation and local communities, and that it could be managed to minimise its
Speaker A
environmental impacts, and it could create a contribution to conservation. Effectively, that means get lots of rich Western tourists to come to beautiful countries and use their cash to conserve and protect the wildlife. Sounds simple enough, but not really.
Speaker A
Since that time, it's never been very well defined. To complicate matters further, lots of other terms have also come into the equation like sustainable tourism, responsible tourism, and even regenerative tourism.
Speaker A
People used to talk about sustainable tourism, and again this was the idea that it would have an economic contribution to local communities, and it would contribute to the environment. The idea of responsible tourism is that there were going to be opportunities for the individual tourists to take actions to benefit the
Speaker A
environment, but again, super vague, you know, concept. When people get to see that one particular term doesn't mean very much, they invent another one, so the idea of regenerative tourism is that tourists will somehow contribute to the regeneration of the host communities that they visit.
Speaker A
Personally, I think that all these different terms don't really mean very much, you know. Unless they're incorporated in legislation, then what matters is not what it's called but what people actually do.
Speaker A
So say there is a tour operator or a company that is falsely labelling itself as sustainable or regenerative and actually not doing anything of the case, what sort of penalties would there be in place for them?
Speaker A
At the moment, I'd say that there aren't any. There are two possible options - so there is a government legislation regulation option, for example, if you are a tour operator and you want to take people into a national park, you have to have a permit, and that permit can be withdrawn because
Speaker A
then you can't operate your tours, you can't make any money. That doesn't happen very often. Even though conditions are breached, usually there's only a rap on the knuckles. And then there are obviously market-based measures, such as certification. The problem is that they're not regulated, so anybody
Speaker A
can set up a competing certification program where you can pay a lot of money to have a green tick from Mr. X, but from us, Mrs. Y, or whoever, you can have the same or very similar green tick
Speaker A
for a rather smaller amount of money. So you get these multiple competing systems. So all of these certification programs don't really work.
Speaker A
That's quite damning on the pitfalls of ecotourism from one of the world's leading experts in it. At the moment, there's no real consistency - it's the wild west - an unregulated space full of tall tales and bold claims. But Costa Rica is the poster child
Speaker A
of ecotourism. How well is it really working there? So I've made it to Corcovado National Park, which is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, and there's a gentle little stream on my left.
Speaker A
everything look absolutely spectacular. We're going to go out on a patrol today where we're going to try and keep the place protected from poachers, miners and loggers. This whole area has been part of a fierce intense battle between those who want to protect the animals
Speaker A
and keep this place safe for tourists and those who want to survive and we're just about to head out.
Speaker A
Corcovado National Park is in the Osa Peninsula on the South Pacific Coast of the country. It's a place teaming with wildlife that attracts thousands of tourists each year. There are 400 species of birds and 5% of the planet's animal population crammed into
Speaker A
this rainforest but equally there are plenty of precious resources here too like gold and timber. I'm told to stay close to Alejandro, a small ranger with ferocious green eyes.
Speaker A
We all have weapons because we have sometimes had very serious difficulties with people, more than anything with hunters, not miners, but hunters can be the ones who get defensive. Have you ever feared for your life?
Speaker A
Several times, both me and my colleagues have had problems where we've practically felt that it will be the last day of our life.
Speaker A
Costa Rica is indeed a green country, it's preached all over the world that it is a green country. We love nature but there are many people who are still unaware that it shouldn't be harmed. The Osa Peninsula practically lives off tourism because there
Speaker A
are jaguars but people are still hunting, they are killing the animals that attract tourists. Right now we have a very big problem that the government is not prioritising these forests and they are not hiring park rangers. We are only 20 park rangers for a big forest,
Speaker A
almost 47,000 hectares. That works out to each of these rangers needing to be across about 6,000 football pitches worth of land, staggering when you think about it. But the scale of this forest does show the success of Costa Rica's eco-tourism model. The country's forest cover has doubled
Speaker A
from a quarter in 1983 to more than half in 2021 thanks to the government's decision to create more protected areas. And of course that forest helps to suck planet warming carbon dioxide out of the air and although there aren't enough rangers to help Alejandro keep across the land, some studies
Speaker A
suggest the increase in tourism numbers acts as a human deterrent keeping hunters away. During the pandemic when tourism stopped hunting, mining and logging reached levels not seen here for years.
Speaker A
I do believe tourism is very important if you know how to benefit the communities. Many people will stop mining and dedicate themselves to tourism if they get some benefits. It's a way of indirectly helping conservation. Through my knowledge of the forest I abandoned mining forever.
Speaker A
I had no idea that Alejandro himself had been a gold miner for more than 20 years but partly due to tourism he's gone from harming nature to protecting it. But of course there's an elephant in the room or more accurately in the sky. Although tourists may have helped Costa Rica to conserve some
Speaker A
of its wildlife, the way visitors get there is a huge issue. We have calculated that tourism's contribution to global warming in 2019 is about 10% of the overall total.
Speaker A
Stefan Gossling is from Lund University in Sweden. He researches tourism, transport and sustainability. Aviation is about one-third of overall total emissions from tourism. Another third is from food and the last third is then different transport modes but also accommodation and perhaps the shopping and
Speaker A
activities that you do in the destination. That is staggering listening to you say 10% of global CO2 emissions comes from tourism.
Speaker A
Well I might reveal as much as saying that when the new calculations are going to be published then we are looking into a higher figure, considerably higher.
Speaker A
Sobering stuff, especially since we need to half our emissions over the next decade in order to meet our climate targets. And it's not just the flying that's an issue here. As Stefan says other aspects of tourism are also bad for the planet. Then you have accommodation and that
Speaker A
very much depends on the type of accommodation that you're choosing, if you are going to stay in a five-star hotel you might have a very significant carbon footprint but then if you go to a middle class hotel or even a campsite perhaps, these emissions will be very small.
Speaker A
What is it about the accommodation, is it the electric bills, is it the food?
Speaker A
Accommodation is mostly heating and cooling, you have to imagine in many tropical destinations we have ACs running, they are very electricity-consuming and that then depends on how the electricity is generated or sourced. Food is a surprisingly large carbon footprint. The type of food consumed in tourism
Speaker A
is often more carbon intense because it's high in protein, more meat, more fish, more seafood.
Speaker A
For this programme Stefan we're visiting Costa Rica. It's seen as a real global example of using tourism responsibly. I'm curious to know what you make of that statement?
Speaker A
I definitely believe that Costa Rica is a country that has managed to make a lot out of its tourism system also because tourism has been supportive of growth that has been more small scale involving local businesses, local workforces and that has helped to make Costa Rica a very stable country, probably the
Speaker A
most stable country in all of Central America. In 2021, Costa Rica earned nearly 5% of its GDP from tourism and that is clear to see. From restaurants, roads and hotels, as well as smaller businesses, there are signs of bigger developments everywhere and not everyone is happy about this. Back in the
Speaker A
Osa Peninsula I'm going for a drive with Gabs, an adventure tour operator. We're winding up a steep mountain on the edge of the rainforest that's making my stomach turn in knots.
Speaker A
I saw a puma here right up this road, it's kind of amazing, just crossing the road.
Speaker A
Just crossing the road, how casual. I've been wanting to see it. And what does it look like then? It's a pretty big intimidating cat, I'll tell you that much. Were you scared? I was pretty far from it so no I was
Speaker A
actually just more in awe. I was really excited to be able to witness that, it was beautiful.
Speaker A
The thing is I wouldn't have known this was a puma's territory without Gabs pointing it out.
Speaker A
You see on one side the area is lush, green, full of trees but on the other there's scaffolding and workmen.
Speaker A
It's noisy. They've been clearing out these areas, which I guess, you know, I'm worried about the puma's territory of course.
Speaker A
The construction around us is to build more than 90 luxury homes for tourists and Gabs says there are more and more areas like this popping up all the time.
Speaker A
Costa Rica's infrastructure, natural beauty, as well as the political and economic stability has helped cement its reputation as one of the places to visit in the world and that's shown in the visitor numbers as well. In the last two decades tourist numbers have shot up by 320%.
Speaker A
It's been just going faster and faster, you know, because I could tell you for sure that 10 years ago this didn't look like this. It's also like one thing that will make wildlife leave. Last time I got off I could see
Speaker A
that they expanded this road, you see the dirt on the sides and so the puma is going to feel like their terrain was completely you know it's sent, it's gone, so we probably will never see it here again.
Speaker A
Although earlier I mentioned that Costa Rica's forest cover is doubled, only around a quarter of the land is certified as in protected areas, meaning the country is ripe for development away from national parks.
Speaker A
Marie, another tour operator further up the coast, says sometimes even protection isn't enough. Especially right now we are in a huge, huge I would say battle in the Caribbean side because the local government is allowing some foreign people to chop a huge portion
Speaker A
of the forest to build hotels in the coastal line and that place used to be protected.
Speaker A
They just changed the law but why, you know? We already have a lot of hotels there and you know what we don't need need more.
Speaker A
I get the sense from some Costa Ricans that the country is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. It's become so well equipped at being an eco-tourist destination that the very reason people choose to come here - the rainforests, the animals and
Speaker A
the untouched beauty - is being compromised in order to accommodate the influx of tourists.
Speaker A
We put these claims to the Environment Minister from the Costa Rican government but we didn't receive a response.
Speaker A
My final stop on this incredible journey across Costa Rica has me whistling after a bird called Suzie.
Speaker A
It's a nickname of the streak-chested antpitta that lives in this pristine forest and a favourite of my guide 19-year-old Samantha.
Speaker A
It's my favourite because when I call the pitta come and maybe it's 2 metres, 4 metres close to me. No way.
Speaker A
Yeah, it's not the same like the other birds, it's totally different. You are so good at that. Thank you. It's many years practice.
Speaker A
Inspired by Samantha, I thought I'd have a go myself but rather than attract any birds I brought about a deluge of rain.
Speaker A
Samantha and I took refuge under a roof where I watched the rain fall on the leaves with a feeling of calm and contentment. I wondered if other tourists have had a sense of awakening to the natural world after visiting her country. You clearly have a lot of tourists come here do
Speaker A
the bird trails, spot birds like me. When they leave what's their emotion, what are they like?
Speaker A
I see the people look excited. A new place, this ecosystem with the birds, plants, I think when they go they are connected with that natural place.
Speaker A
You hear this a lot, this notion that tourism has an intangible benefit to the world that science can't quantify. That when a person travels it can awaken something within to change their behaviour. I put this idea to Ralph Buckley from Griffith
Speaker A
University, who we heard from at the beginning of the programme. Yes that can happen but you have to say well OK so that one person is in a group of 50 what happens with the other 49 and does that
Speaker A
one person actually do anything about it and if so does what they do about it outweigh the impacts of the other 49? There has actually been quite a bit of research where researchers have gone on tours with people to very eco-oriented destinations like the Antarctic for example and said
Speaker A
now that you've seen the wonder of nature are you going to change your life so as to do more to support conservation and they're like "No, we're on holiday".
Speaker A
OK perhaps not and unfortunately while the idea that these small ripples can lead to waves of change is nice, for Ralph the reality is it won't be enough.
Speaker A
We very much have the situation where tourism does have positive impacts as you've said for local communities in many developing countries and it can, not always but it can, have positive impacts for conservation but the cost is its contribution to climate change
Speaker A
and there isn't really any way to avoid that unpleasant part of the equation. So what you're saying Ralph is that individually on a local level there can actually be some environmental positives from eco-tourism but on a global level it's doing more harm than good?
Speaker A
Yes I think that regrettably that is indeed the case and it's not that anyone's doing it intentionally it's just that aircraft travel creates contributions to climate change that we have not yet worked out how to overcome. I don't think that we're going to see any substantial reductions in tourism in
Speaker A
the short term. The solution for Stefan Gossling from Lund University is to drastically alter our behaviour. He's only taken one flight in the last five years and says we need to majorly rethink how we price flights.
Speaker A
The most important part is probably to internalise the cost of carbon dioxide and the price of travel and that would help everyone to make an assessment as to whether you would really travel just for two weeks or rather three weeks and
Speaker A
then do one trip less, perhaps where possible use a different mode of transportation and so on.
Speaker A
That would then help to also generate funds that can be used to restructure in the global aviation industry, for instance where we need new fuels, new technology all at a huge cost.
Speaker A
I've travelled all around Costa Rica and seen some amazing sights. The way the country does eco-tourism is a model for the rest of the world to follow but it's not perfect. Yes locally it's supporting businesses, livelihoods and even health the wildlife around here to flourish
Speaker A
but on a global level it's a different story. I'm mindful that every person who takes part in eco-tourism, including myself, creates a carbon cost that the rest of the planet has to take.
Speaker A
That's it from us this week, thanks for listening. What are your thoughts on eco-tourism?
Speaker A
Email us at [email protected]. We love to hear from you. This programme was researched by Octavia Woodward. The producers were Sophie Eastaugh and Jamie Hamilton. Series producer is Simon Watts.
Speaker A
Editor China Collins and the man behind the mix is Tom Brignell. I'm Qasa Alom. Goodbye.
Topics:ecotourismtourism and environmentCosta Ricasea turtlesconservationclimate changesustainable tourismenvironmental impactwildlife protectioncarbon emissions
