by Erick Bertin
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Costa Rica has stepped up for whales.© NOAA |
Conservationists and whales alike have reason to rejoice as the 61st annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) starts up this week in Madeira, Portugal. After several years in arrears, Costa Rica, an adamant opponent of whaling, announced at a press conference on June 11 that it would settle all remaining debts with the IWC.
At the conference, which was held at the Costa Rican Congress in San José and attracted coverage by local media, representatives of the Ministry of Environment and the Congress confirmed that the country would make good on its pledge to honor its dues with the IWC and reiterated the country’s commitment to voting in favor of the preservation and protection of all species of whales at the annual meeting.
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After a 25-year absence, Costa Rica rejoined the IWC in 2007 by making an initial down payment renewing the country’s right to vote and reaching an agreement to pay the remainder of the debt over subsequent years. This milestone was in no small part the result of the concerted efforts and campaigns of the
Coalición Costarricense por las Ballenas (CCB), a group of 13 nongovernmental organizations both local and international that lobbied for the country’s return to that international forum. HSI Latin America is a member of the CCB and actively participates in its initiatives.
Costa Rica voted in favor of the moratorium on whaling in 1982 and is today among the several Latin American countries that profit from the thriving industry of whale watching. This activity generates up to US $5 million a year of direct revenue for 10 communities on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica.
