meet the ‘Guanacaste’ tree

On my way back from the Costa Rican savannah in the north of the country to the capital I had the change to drive by some of the most amazing trees in the tropics: the Costa Rican national tree, the guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) The Guanacaste tree isn’t any tree. It is one of the widest trees in the World and serves as the perfect shade for cattle while nurturing the savannah ecosystem
As I got over the amusement, I recalled the current political efforts of the Costa Rican government to obtain carbon credits from “avoiding deforestation” under the United Nations Framework convention on Climate Change. Basically, the government, in junction with the government from Papua New Guinea, wants to be paid for not cutting trees.
So, basically it is something like this “ Dear Planet, give me Money or I will liberate sequestered carbon until your oceans boil. Love, Costa Rica”
Costa Rica is an expert at tagging a price to every ‘ecological service’ we can come up with. ‘Avoidance of deforestation” sounds like blackmailing to me, but some point to it as a way to bring in developing countries into the climate debate. Like if we didn’t have enough from turning our virgin forest into eco-museums (aka don’t touch unless you can buy the entire acre) and making ecotourism our second largest industries, we want to be paid for keeping our source of income…

I wonder for how long we will continue to justify inaction under economic terms. Polar bears drawing? Cities underwater? International displaced victims? How much to keep you from eating your guanacaste tree? You name the price…