The Best Way To Save the Rainforest Is To Own It!

Any buyer can be a benevolent buyer, even if his intention wasn’t necessarily so to begin with. If conscience dictates to any of us, it tells us that our personal integrity is the only thing we really have to work with in making any difference in the world, in righting the wrongs, in saving a tree or a life or a way of life.

I know I am naïve in some respects; maybe I’m a dreamer. Maybe I don’t understand all the ways that money influences people to set aside integrity. But I believe that there is an appeal to the heart of any man to do the right thing.

Even big developers will have good intentions. They mean to try to balance the wrong-doing towards wildlife with some way of serving the community, of giving something back to the environment, or however they can try to make amends for the threats to the biodiversity of the area their projects affect.

I have yet to meet someone who didn’t at least talk a good game, even if they fully intended to rape and pillage, they had contribution in their plans, even if their contribution does not excuse or make full amends for the devastation that they have the potential to cause with their “you have to kill the pig to eat the chicharrones” attitude.

One way of helping to save the rainforest, no matter what kind of buyer you are is to consider the use of the legal mechanism called the “Environmental Easement”, or Land Trust, also known as a type of deed restriction. This law was created by a group of environmental lawyers and lobbyists not all that long ago.

When I first met Roberto Wells about 16 years ago, he was working with a small team called CEDARENA to write the law and pass it in Congress for private property owners to be able to set aside a portion of their property as an Environmental Easement, “unto perpetuity” … regardless of inheritance, sale, change of ownership or zoning.

The area of forest below his family estate was one of the first properties set aside for this. The family agreed to protect an undeveloped part of their farm, which was a stand of forest, under the new law. No matter how many houses or other constructions, no matter the use or sale of the rest of the property, whether divided in parcels among grandchildren or pieces sold or developed to put kids through college, the forest would stand protected basically… forever!

This is something almost any buyer can do! He can protect whatever small or large portion of his property, whether a mountain farm within the Golfo Dulce reserve, or a green portion of his 1 hect lot, he can opt for protecting it for now, and for the future.

Those of us who live in the Osa Peninsula are very concerned with the continued protection of species, and urge those who are interested in investing in this area to consider investments in properties with the purpose of preserving and protecting, with conscious development, or none at all.

Areas with concentrations of primary forests, mangroves, and beachfront are areas which deserve our respect and efforts to protect them for future generations. There are various legal methods with which we can do this, including private reserves, wildlife refuges, and environmental easements.

Your efforts are needed to help preserve the rainforest and natural resources of the Osa Peninsula. Purchasing land and maintaining it in it’s most natural state is one way you can help.

I recently have been looking at the idea of REITs and RPIs as related specifically to of putting a group investors together who otherwise would not be in the position to be “Angel Investors” or give large donations to non-profit organizations, but who wish to do something “green” with their investments.

One buyer may not have the funds to purchase a large track of land, but a group of conscious investors, can not only purchase land, protect that which can be protected by means of a Wildlife Refuge, Private Reserve, or an Environmental Easement, and then find a sustainable and eco-friendly management plan and use for the land that may have already been affected by deforestation, or other forms of abuse.

This land can be reforested to extend corridors, and be planted in orchards and renewable crops, such as bamboo, teak, or palm. These plantations can provide jobs for skilled and unskilled laborers, and produce income and return on the land investment.

If Eco tourism is appropriate for the land, low density, positive impact micro projects can find space to bring visitors to appreciate Nature, and spread the tourism impact out in small doses to avoid over impact and traffic in the National park.

The Golfo Dulce Reserve Management Plan has created a zoning plan to show where these types of businesses make the most sense. Investment in these areas allow for conscious development and economic growth in the area. And since many of the areas zoned for eco-tourism border areas that are pure conservation areas, a buyer or group of investors can fulfill both the need for investment returns, for conservation and “green” responsible investing.

While no project has all the bases covered, with Integrity in every area, there are certainly noted attempts to do so. For a project to be categorized as “Responsible Property Investment”, all the bases need to be covered. You cannot do damage in one area and then do damage control in another to cover your sins.

An RPI has to have all the ducks in order, and act in integrity with every decision. This is not always easy, especially when nothing is particularly easy in this country! But there are ways and there are resources to make sure that your project is played out with the utmost of integrity.
Or maybe I am just dreaming? Maybe it is just a clever idea that will help reduce density, but fill the needs of the community, protect the environment, and well, save the rainforests!

There will always be a certain objection to foreign investment. There is a growing community of foreign investors in the Osa Peninsula, but for the most part, the kind of buyer that comes to Osa and buys in Osa is one who is above all a Nature Lover.

One is attracted to Osa, usually because it is not only a frontier as far as investment, but a frontier that they at some level want to see protected from drastic changes. Most buyers fall into the “last one into paradise” syndrome, and want to close the gates after they have gotten in so that it doesn’t get too populated, too developed, or too popular with tourists, so that it always maintains that pristine, private, and remote flavor that Osa holds the winning hand on.

Before I ever got to Osa, I wanted to go there because, like Kevin Costner’s character in “Dances With Wolves”, I wanted to see the frontier before it was gone. Once I got here, and I rode, standing up, in the back of a pickup through from Matapalo to Carate, to the end of the road, and watched a sunset over the PerePerrito lagoon, I knew that I had the responsibility to be a steward of this land. That was long before I got into real estate here.

I got into real estate because I wanted to help people find their dream place and help to caretake it. I remembered Roberto Wells and his Land Trust ideas, and knew that if I could help to find buyers who might be able to take better care of the land than was presently possible by subsistence farmers, who lived off the sale of a 400 year old hardwood trees, or who hunted the wildlife for food, thus decreasing integral levels of the food chain for endangered species such as the jaguar.

In private hands, land could be protected perhaps better, because of the integrity of the owner, and his ability to find other income sources in the land without cutting trees or killing wildlife. And with the shortage of man power in park ranger employ, private lands can be managed in private hands, and perhaps better secured from poaching.

This is not an easy task. A friend of mine who owns property in a highly sensitive area of the corridor has paid sorely by her vigilance to keep hunters off her land. Her prized dogs were shot.

But she maintains her stand as steward not only of her land but of the lands that surround hers. She has created a cottage industry from Cacao trees on her property. She has planted hundreds of trees and plants which will yield organic produce that she can use in her business. She employs local women who would not otherwise have an income. This is Positive Impact and it is sustainable investment, and clever ideas such as these will protect hundreds of acres of forest.

I am not in the real estate profession to just to make commissions. Commissions are the payment for the work that I do, much of which is unsalaried and immeasurable. I try to keep people informed, by not only educating the buyer about the local area, but about ideas for sustainable development, off the grid living, for protection of the rainforest, for contributing to the corridor, and for contributing to the community.

I do not write these articles as sales pitches. I write them because I am a writer, and my real estate commissions support my writing habit, and they allow me to give back to my community by offering service, and by contributing a part of my commissions to projects in my community. And Scott pays me for my writing by forwarding interested buyers my way.

I wish I could sell a huge piece of property and make lots and lots of money so I could give lots and lots of money where money is often the greatest need in a fight to protect the environment, to educate, and to help where there are needs in the community, and around the planet. When I voice my opinions through my writing, it is because it is something that I am passionate about, not because I am working the opportunity to sell real estate.

I know that by opening my mouth, I am going to alienate a large sector of developers and investors who may have their eye on the prize, looking to Osa’s undeveloped lands as opportunity to turn some profits for themselves and their cohorts.

You’re right… I probably won’t get too many of those kinds of clients after the things I have written. And yes, I am trying to appeal to a more ecologically and socially responsible investor. Those are the kinds of neighbors and friends I want to have here in Osa.

And I think I have a certain right and obligation to voice my opinion and to pass on information that may lead to better stewardship of the land that I have called home for over 13 years, where my son was born, where he goes to school, and where he hopes to live most of his life.

I want to grow a community for his generation. I do not want to be the one to blame if it loses its charm, its vibrancy, and its simpler lifestyle. If I were responsible for that because I was a greedy real estate agent, then I could not continue to live here, face my friends, or enjoy an abandoned beach on a Sunday afternoon.

I wish I could find buyers who would help me steward the Osa Peninsula. This is not a sales pitch. This is an honest plea for people of integrity to step up and make a choice between a luxury home on a golf course where they spend two weeks a year, and putting the same amount of money into a small farm that is mostly forest, and may be so far from a maintained road that you have to ride a horse two hours to get there.

I am looking for a group of investors who can think outside of the box and take cattle pasture and turn it into an organic farm, a cottage industry, and a village of people whose livelihoods come from doing what they love to do and getting financial rewards for it.

I am an idealist, and an idea-ist. I have lots of ideas for how I would like to see the Osa Peninsula. I have more ideas than I have money to back them. While I am not a tree hugger, I like to talk to them and stand in awe of the really great ones.

I am not really an activist, but find myself acting on my principles and standing up for what I believe in. I believe that conservation and mega development cannot co exist in the Osa Peninsula. I believe that only projects with the best of intentions will get past the web of environmentalists, and the tight circle of natives that work to keep Osa from being exploited.

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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.