Extreme Homes in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is the home of some of the mst eco friendly sustainable homes in the world. Have a look at the video below to see just one of these incredible homes.




To see a fantastic Eco-friendly sustainable village in Costa Rica on ABC News click here:

Costa Rica to become a Carbon Neutral Tourist Destination Right Now.

Costa Rica announced plans to become the world's first carbon-neutral tourist destination.

At a sustainable tourism conference, the country's ecotourism organization (CANAECO) and the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications signed an agreement that puts in place a system to cover the offsetting of tourists' flights.

Visitors to Costa Rica will not be asked to pick up the costs of the carbon offset for their flights (approx. US$10-$30 per tourists) and offset costs will be raised from those businesses who benefit from a tourist visit to Costa Rica - from international tour operators down to the small lodge housing visitors during their stay, making the ecological effort more affordable.

This is just part of Costa Rica's commitment to become carbon-neutral over all by 2021.

While the tourist receives a carbon-offsetting certificate and the money raised will go to the nation's forestry financing fund (FONAFIFA) to plant what will basically be carbon-absorption forests. Most of the trees to be planted will be indigenous, and will have a 20-year lifespan – at that point, the trees pass their maximum carbon-absorbing ability and will be harvested, with the local farmer receiving the profit.

Full and excellent coverage of this story can be seen at the Globe and Mail

Sustainable tourism program

Costa Rica runs a sustainable tourism program and this program provides certification for sustainable tourism developments in Costa Rica. T

The Certification for Sustainable Tourism program categorizes and certifies tourism companies according to the degree to which their operations comply with a model of sustainability. Four fundamental aspects are evaluated:

1. Physical-biological parameters: interaction between the company and its surrounding natural habitat.
2. Infrastructure and services: management policies and operational systems within the company and its infrastructure.
3. External clients: interaction of the company with its clients in terms of how much it allows and invites the client to be an active contributor to its sustainability policies.
4. Socioeconomic environment: interaction of the company with local communities and the population in general.

Companies may score up to five levels in each category. The final rating of “green leaves” corresponds to the lowest level achieved in any of the above evaluation areas (so if you score 5 green leaves in four of the areas and only three in one area your overall rating is 3 green leaves). This is to encourage companies to advance toward a model of sustainability by giving the same degree of consideration and importance to each of the four areas evaluated.
For more information, visit the Certification for Sustainable Tourism website.