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Costa Rica has a 70-year history of progressive social, economic, and environmental initiatives. When the nation abolished its army in 1948, the country was able to direct more of its limited resources to health care, land reform, education, clean water, and electrification initiatives for the benefit of all Costa Ricans. In the 1970s, Costa Rica participated in some of the first “debt-for-nature” swaps, as it led the developing world in land conservation strategies. It continues to be a global leader in environmental policies and programs and has developed a widely recognized green image. 

The economy of Costa Rica has also grown steadily since the late 1980s with expanding high-tech industries (medical industries, computer technology) and service sector industries (primarily tourism), and less overall reliance on agricultural commodities (coffee, fruit). As a result, Costa Rica is no longer considered a developing country but is now recognized as a newly developed country with an upper middle-income standard of living. Taken together, Costa Rica’s political stability, friendly population, and safety make it an ideal place to study sustainable development in a climate of rapid economic, social, and environmental change.

Named one of the “most biologically intense places on earth” by National Geographic magazine, the tiny Osa Peninsula – just a little larger than Chittenden County, Vermont – is home to over 2.5% of the earth’s biodiversity. More than half of the peninsula is protected by Corcovado National Park and the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve.

People began settling on the Osa Peninsula only 60 years ago, and for decades it was described as a “wild west” of subsistence farmers, fishermen, gold miners, and loggers.  Over the past 15 years, outside pressures of economic and social change have begun to threaten the biological integrity of the Peninsula. The road onto the Peninsula was fully paved only ~10 years ago. Development proposals include a large-scale marina and resort, a nearby international airport, and new African palm and rice plantations. Small scale, locally owned businesses are at risk of being overwhelmed by a sudden influx of outside capital investment and well-meaning government and NGO development projects. In sum, the Osa Peninsula is a region poised at a crossroads, where hard decisions must be made about how to balance growth and conservation with local control.

The program is led by Program Director and Rubenstein School faculty member . Dave has more than 25 years of teaching, research, and service experience in Costa Rica and on the Osa Peninsula. 

Throughout the semester, additional ����̽̽ faculty and staff are on the ground supporting the program and teaching the Rural Livelihoods in a Globalized World and the Tropical Ecology courses. Additionally, a variety of Costa Rican academics, government officials, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) representatives, businesspeople, and local residents will deliver specialized content in all courses and be present throughout the entire semester.