Central America is leading the world in conservation, with Costa Rica pledging to be carbon neutral by 2021. With Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua hot on its heels, we look at eco homes. Words Roderick Easdale.
This February Costa Rica was one of four countries to announce its goal of becoming carbon neutral. However Costa Rica’s plan was the most ambitious of the four, as its goal was to become so by 2021. “If any country can do it, it’s Costa Rica,” national climate change strategist Sergio Musmanni says. “We have been at the forefront of the climate change issue for years. A large percentage of our electricity already comes from renewable energy sources. And we are in the tropics - we don’t have problems heating up our homes during the winter.”
There is a lot to conserve in Costa Rica - it has around 5% of the world's wildlife. This remarkably eco-diverse land contains about 9,000 species of plants, 1,200 of butterflies, 850 of birds, 350 of reptiles and amphibians, and 200 of mammals. As far back as 1995 the government stated its intention to protect 18% of the country in national parks and another 13% in privately owned preserves.
More than one million tourists visit Costa Rica annually, and the property market is booming, However caution comes from one agent: “in a booming market many people with no experience all of a sudden turn into developers and approximately 30% of all pre-development projects will never make it to completion.” So carry out due diligence on any project before investing.
Like its southern neighbour Costa Rica, Nicaragua has both Pacific and Caribbean shorelines, and many natural wonders. With dictatorship and rampant inflation now in the past, the largest of the Central American countries is proving popular with investors, not least because property prices tend to be 30 to 50% cheaper than in Costa Rica.
Spanish is the official language of all Central American countries except English-speaking Belize. As a former British colony (British Honduras), the legal system is based on British model. Other attractions are that Belize has no capital gains or inheritance taxes, and property prices are still low but are increasing at between 15 and 30% a year.
As one of the poorest ten countries in the Western Hemisphere, property prices are low in Honduras. This bio-diverse country has more than 6,000 species of plants, 250 species of reptiles and more than 700 bird species.
Read the full article in our November 2008 edition.
