Costa Rica is a Central American nation lof four-and-a-half
million people ocated between Nicaragua to the north and Panama
to the south. Its eastern coast fronts the Caribbean Sea while
its western coast fronts the Pacific Ocean. Its main
environmental issues include: - deforestation and land use
change, largely a result of the clearing of land for cattle
ranching and agriculture; - soil erosion; - coastal marine
pollution; - fisheries protection; - solid waste management; and
- air pollution. Four volcanoes, two of them active, rise near
the capital of San Jose in the center of the country. One of the
volcanoes, Irazu, erupted destructively in 1963-65. Although
explored by the Spanish early in the 16th century, initial
attempts at colonizing Costa Rica proved unsuccessful due to a
combination of factors, including: disease from mosquito-
infested swamps, brutal heat, resistance by natives, and pirate
raids. It was not until 1563 that a permanent settlement of
Cartago was established in the cooler, fertile ce