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Not
Everyone
In
Agreement
With
An
Airport
For
Costa
Rica's
Southern
Zone
An
international
airport
in
the
southern
part
of
the
country,
the
Osa
Peninsula
in
fact,
would
promote
the
ability
of
the
government
to
fight
poverty
and
create
jobs.
And
since
last
October,
presidenta
Laura
Chinchilla
has
designated
the
project
one
"of
national
importance".
However,
not
everyone
agrees
that
an
international
airport
in a
region
that
harbours
3%
of
the
world's
known
biodiversity,
as
ecological
and
environmental
concerns
are
being
raised,
as
damage
to
the
existing
and
exemplary
network
of
ecotourism
lodges
cannot
be
avoided.
On
the
Osa
Peninsula,
a
hooking
promontory
on
the
southwest
Pacific
coast,
the
airport
is
planned
for
a
site
only
three
miles
from
the
Térraba-Sierpe
Wetland,
a
recognized
Wetland
of
International
Importance
with
annual
ecosystem
services
valued
near
$2
billion.
The
airport
project
has
moved
in
“fits
and
starts
since
2006,”
according
to
Carolina
Herrera,
Latin
American
Advocate
at
the
Natural
Resources
Defense
Council.
The
1,000-acre
agricultural
site
was
formerly
held
by
two
government
agencies
and
transferred
through
an
expedited
internal
process
to a
third
government
agency
for
development.
Local
families
that
make
use
of
the
land
are
preparing
for
eviction
and
will
testify
before
the
National
Assembly’s
Environmental
Commission
with
other
community
groups
next
week.
“There’s
been
very
little
information
released
publicly,”
said
Ms.
Herrera,
regarding
the
project’s
progression.
Opponents
of
the
proposal
are
skeptical
that
an
international
airport
will
reduce
poverty
and
create
jobs,
and
they
are
using
the
example
of
Guanacaste
Province
as
an
argument
against
development
on
Osa.
Guanacaste
expanded
its
local
airport
to
an
international
terminal
in
2002.
Studies
of
the
area
have
tied
this
expansion
to
social
instability
from
a
rapid
influx
of
international
real
estate
investment
and
an
overgrown
luxury
resort
industry.
Many
of
the
new
jobs
created
- an
oft-cited
benefit
of
development
-
have
gone
to
people
from
outside
the
region.
Additionally,
the
cost
of
living
in
Guanacaste
has
risen,
while
wages
for
many
have
not
kept
pace.
Costa
Ricans
describe
ecological
damages
in
Guanacaste
through
their
nickname
for
the
residential
and
commercial
development
that
has
taken
hold:
desarrollo
hormiga,
or
“ant
development.”
Opening
a
major
airport
in
the
Osa
Peninsula
“with
few
rules,
limited
government
resources
and
little
planning
or
control
could
readily
lead
to
the
same
negative
effects
seen
in
Guanacaste,”
argues
a
recent
report
by
the
Centre
for
Responsible
Travel,
a
nonprofit
research
institution
with
offices
in
Washington
and
at
Stanford
University.
This
is
particularly
troubling,
says
the
centre,
given
the
vibrant
industry
of
high-value,
small-scale
ecotourism
lodges
operating
on
the
peninsula,
which
owes
much
of
its
success
to
pristine
natural
surroundings.
A
2010
survey
of
forest
health
across
the
peninsula
found
the
highest
rates
of
reforestation
on
the
reserve
of a
private
eco-lodge
and
its
adjacent
properties.
More
than
a
dozen
daily
one-hour
flights
from
San
José
into
local
airports
and
a
newly
constructed
highway
provide
150,000
tourists
access
to
the
Osa
Peninsula
every
year.
Making
these
airports
“work
better
could
support
the
Osa’s
ecotourism
model
without
potentially
opening
up
the
region
to
major
over-development,”
Ms.
Herrera
said.
Herrera
works
with
other
nonprofits
and
community
groups
to
bolster
the
local
ecotourism
market.
She
said,
“The
mere
announcement
of
the
proposed
new
airport
in
the
south
of
the
country
is
being
used
by
real
estate
developers
in
their
advertisements.”
Supporters
of
the
airport
include
President
Chinchilla,
Costa
Rica’s
Civil
Aviation
Authority,
the
Ministry
of
Public
Works
and
Transportation,
the
Osa
Chamber
of
Tourism,
and
Judesur,
a
regional
development
board
formed
in
the
economic
vacuum
left
when
the
United
Fruit
Company
departed
in
1984.
Construction
is
planned
in
two
phases
from
2012
to
2016
at a
cost
of
$35
million.
An
initial
airstrip
designed
for
50
passenger
planes
will
later
be
expanded
into
an
almost
10,000-foot-long
runway
able
to
land
the
new
A380
Airbus,
the
world’s
largest
commercial
aircraft
with
a
maximum
capacity
of
853
passengers.
As
part
of
its
Peace
with
Nature
Initiative,
formally
announced
in
2007,
the
Costa
Rican
government
has
pledged
to
achieve
carbon
neutrality
by
2021,
only
five
years
after
the
completion
of
the
airport.
Green
technologies
incorporated
into
the
airport
design
construction
are
intended
to
help
meet
these
goals,
but
there
has
been
lack
of
clarity
on
the
specifics
of
these
technologies.
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