Costa Rica’s Supreme Court this month won applause from environmentalists after handing down mining and wetlands decisions being viewed here as important affirmation of the country’s preference for natural conservation over traditional development. Environmentalists say the decisions to cancel the nation’s first major gold mine and to force the government to protect all wetlands set important precedents. Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, the vice president for conservation policy at Conservation International in Costa Rica, says the rulings underscore how the Court, especially its constitutional chamber, counteracts erroneous or weak-willed environmental decisions by the government. “The Supreme Court has emphasized the environment and taken into account civil-society concerns about it even when we haven’t seen committed leadership from the executive branch,” he argues. In its most... [Log in to read more]