Costa Rica and Debt Forgiveness

In an unprecedented gesture, the U.S. government has forgiven Costa Rica's $26 million debt. Even more stunning is the reason the debt was forgiven: environment. Because Costa Rica met conditions the U.S. imposed in areas like drug enforcement (I also wonder if last week's approval of CAFTA may have been a part of this, given that, last week, it barely passed after the U.S. had vaguely threatened to not renew trade agreements and other agreements set in place if CAFTA failed , and the timing does seem a little convenient in that regard).

This debt forgiveness is nothing but good news. That it is the largest debt the U.S. has forgiven is nice, but the real importance here is on the environmental initiative. Costa Rica has already been working hard at protecting its environment, setting up a broad protection system since the early 1990s (these efforts have included setting aside and protecting national parks, refusal to rely on more hydroelectric power that would flood forest areas, and preservation for private ecotourism enterprises). Obviously, Costa Rica stands to gain greatly from this, for they are re-diverting that 26 million to protection efforts in places like Tortuga on the Caribbean coast and the Osa and Nicoya penninsulas on the Pacific (I have traveled to the latter, and while there are areas of protection, Nicoya in particular is desparately in need of these efforts - it was the only time I saw slash-and-burn farming in Costa Rica when I lived there). I can only hope that there are many more agreements like this in the future.