Costa Rica Real Estate – Securing the Osa Peninsula against the mega projects and finding peace with nature

Words like saddle club, vineyards and winery, multiple golf courses, five star luxury hotels, shuttle to cruise ships, 600 slip marina for crafts up to 250 feet, recently struck horror throughout the Osa community when emails circulated with a link to a website inviting investors and pre-sales for a ‘luxury planned community’ to be the largest of its kind in Costa Rica, to be built on one of the large farms near Puerto Jimenez.

It was slick packaging that could have been selling a mega development anywhere in the world. Anywhere, except the Osa Peninsula!

Do mega developers and government agencies really understand anything about the Osa Peninsula? If they did, would they really want to impose such an incongruous project upon the landscape that is one of the richest displays of nature on planet earth, where up to 50% of the biodiversity of Costa Rica, and 2.5% of the entire world flourishes? It is also one of the most environmentally sensitive areas on earth.

Osa represents that “100% Natural” idea that the marketing campaigns sell to the world about Costa Rica. It is the best of Costa Rica. To quote President Oscar Arias, “It is a rare treasure… we have truly been blessed with the task of guarding this unique treasure, and we have an immense responsibility to be good stewards.”

But what will happen to the sweetness of the Golfo Dulce when golf courses and lawns are using ground water reserves and polluting creeks and rivers with pesticides and fertilizers? And how is it possible to have hundreds of cruise ships, yachts, sport fishing boats, and 250 foot vessels emitting their petroleum residues into the water?

Try to imagine more than 1,000 boats of varying size, all cruising the tiny tropical fiord all at once. How would the dolphins and whales come up for air with out hitting their heads on fiberglass? It would look more like New York harbor than the serene gulf that it is.

And what about the garbage? While Recycling helps some, there is still a lot of non reusable, non recyclable trash that will accumulate in the new landfill when it finally opens. Is there a place these developments can dump their waste that will not seep into creeks and rivers and into the gulf and ultimately into the Pacific?

The tiny port town of Puerto Jimenez, now bursting at the seams with some 6,000+ people, does not have the infrastructure to support such proposed rapid growth of population.

It is possible to create an environmentally conscious and socially responsible development in an ecologically sensitive area. Several boutique, lodge style hotels in Osa have achieved this, and retreat centers and modest rental homes and eco villages have carved their unique spaces out of this biosphere, and done so with little endangerment to the wildlife, the marine life, and the prolific fauna surrounding them. But we are nearing the saturation point.

Osa is a premiere travel destination because it is one of the few places on earth where “mega mania” has not struck.

Mega development is not compatible with conservation. Period. How can you conserve one beach, and have a mega development two coves down? Marine life does not recognize invisible barriers between them.

We are constantly reminded how delicate a balance there is with the countless species who inhabit this land and that the biodiversity that exists only in Osa Peninsula, which barely includes us humans.

The tender balance between man and his environment has never really been achieved. But land owners, environmental and ecological organizations, and visitors to the Osa Peninsula see it as the proving ground for such efforts.

President Arias said, “We have come together… not simply because we love one mystical peninsula, but because we know saving it is part of a broader challenge, a first step to making peace with nature on a wider scale.”

Now is the time to persuade developers to shelve these kinds of plans. We need encourage Costa Rican authorities to protect Golfo Dulce and the entire peninsula with conservative measures that rethink the impact that approving any kind of mega project would have on the on the fragile eco system.

It is possible to sustain a community that can enjoy the treasure that Osa is without mega projects that are incompatible with conservation and protection of Costa Rica’s greatest resource.

Please let Osa Peninsula stand as an example to the world of man’s best attempt to live in harmony with the earth, and make Peace with Nature.

Let us be the model for how to build, plant, live, with positive impact on the environment, rather than a constant threat to it. Let us secure the Osa Peninsula, from over development, from mega projects, and from over population and severe impact by humans. Let Osa stay “off the beaten track” and out of mainstream marketing and development.

If the Osa Campaign is to be “at the forefront of a new Presidential Initiative, Peace with Nature”, can we trust them to fight not only for conservation of the corridor between Corcovado and Piedras Blancas, but for the entire Golfo Dulce and Osa Peninsula region, to protect the clarity of the water, to protect the diversity of life?

I hope so! Our future generations are counting on it.

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Written by Deborah (Tao) Cain Watts, an environmentally concerned Costa Rica Realtor who has lived in and loved Costa Rica for 17 years. Tao believes that: “The best way to save the rainforest is to own it.” If you are seriously interested in speaking with her about buying real estate in the Osa Pensinula area and helping to protect the environment, then please help her to help you by using the form below:

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.