The Link Between Biodiversity and Sustainable Development

In its quest for a human sustainable development model, Costa Rica, like many other countries, faces the challenge of how to establish a proper balance among a complex interaction of economic, social and environmental factors (Proyecto Estado de la Nación, 2002). With a territory of 51,100km² (about the size of West Virginia), the country is home to an estimated 500,000 species of plants, animals and microorganisms, representing nearly 5 per cent of all the world’s diversity of organisms (Obando, 2002). How to protect this biological wealth while simultaneously promoting the social and economic development of the country represents a challenge of singular complexity and magnitude.