Recently a landscape ecology colleague and I were consulting in Costa Rica for the President and his Minister of Natural Resources and Energy. In the Minister's tenth-floor office overlooking the stunning red roofs and palms of the capital, we studied a protected-areas map of the country. Seven large green blobs are magnets for international eco-tourism, the leading income for the national economy. I commented on the extraordinary accomplishment of having these large areas protected. The Minister mentioned that in the previous decade his country had the highest deforestation rate in the world. Then he off handedly added: “Protected areas are really only as good as the Costa Rican economy.” “What? Aren't they permanently protected? International organizations helped protect them. Doesn't the whole world visit them, and keep an eye on them?” “Maybe. But now you should go immerse yourself in one.”

The single-engine Costa Rican air force plane dropped through a torrential rain to a grassy strip, and we soon reached an eco-tourist lodge in the large Tortuguero National Park and Conservation Area. Tortuguero is known for its sea turtles that leave bulldozer-like holes and tracks on the beach. The rain barely stopped for two days. At night guests enjoyed a rainforest slide show, followed by a nightlife walk with awesome reverberating howler monkeys over us. The next day we went by motorized log boat winding forever through rainforest and mangrove swamp to a village on stilts. Soccer with the local boys preceded lunch with the mayor. I asked him about a few dwellings I had seen en route, each with a clearing, some cows, chickens, and children.