Special Report: How to be small and successful in Latin America (ISSN 17414474)

The World Bank has described Costa Rica as a “development success story” having experienced 25 years of steady economic expansion, based on outward oriented growth, openness to foreign investment, and gradual trade liberalisation. The country has also paid particular attention to protecting the environment and promoting itself as a ‘green’ tourism destination. Costa Rica pioneered the concept of payments for environmental services (PES) to further forest and biodiversity conservation. It is the only tropical country in the world to have reversed deforestation.