Costa Rica is emerging as a leading destination for green tourism. The extensive rainforest will play a vital part in counteracting global warming, serving as a vast bio-sink to soak up carbon dioxide. Tourists create CO2 by flying. But they are an important part of the solution. They provide the cash, and the incentive, to protect the trees. Now Costa Rica has commited to becoming the world’s first carbon-neutral nation by 2021.

The Central American country is said to contain 5% of the biodiversity in the entire world. The rainforest’s exotic wildlife includes 850 species of birds, 200 mammals, umpteen spectacular trees and flowers. National Geographic magazine named Corcovado National Park “the most biologically intense place on Earth.”

Las Baulas National Marine Park protects the most important leatherback sea turtle nesting beaches in the entire Pacific Ocean, according to the Leatherback Trust. (This is one of the best examples of good practice in turtle hatchling conservation, so distressingly not demonstrated in the sequence shown in the final programme in Planet Earth II, shown on the BBC in December 2016.)

This country offers more than outstanding nature. There’s an awful lot of coffee in Costa Rica. Consumers are increasingly concerned that their cup should come from estates where workers are fairly paid, and the environment is respected. Tourists can judge for themselves on a number of “coffee tours” and learn more about the issues around this desirable bean.

This is my article on Costa Rica