Costa Rica is often praised as a model of “green” tourism, but how fair and sustainable is it really? My project looks at three very different places (Puerto Viejo, Nosara, and Belén) to see how tourism and development shape communities, culture, and the environment. Through field visits, conversations, and observations, I explored who benefits from tourism, who gets left out, and how local identities and ecosystems are affected.
What I found is a mixed picture: eco-lodges and conservation projects do important work, but foreign investment, gentrification, and uneven participation often complicate the story. This research argues that true sustainability must go beyond protecting nature; it also has to mean fairness, inclusion, and recognition for the people who live in these places.
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