Costa Rica-Deliberative Process

Globalization   Oct 18, 2017 by Lucia Torres Bustamante

In the bilateral conference Canada chose the Tar Sand problem and Costa Rica the Crucitas mine. Tar Sands are a mixture of sand, clay, water and molasses-like substance called bitumen, this causes an enormous amount of carbon emissions and contaminate the water supply and the land. The problem with Crucitas is that recently independent groups of people are getting int the mine and using mercury to extract gold, this chemical is traveling downstream and contaminating the water for the communities nearby.

What both issues have in common is that they contaminate the water supply with toxic chemicals that may cause inmune and respiratory problems in the communities nearby in the long term. Some differences between the 2 issues is that in Canada indigenous communities are the ones getting affected but in Costa Rica there are no indigenous communities living in that area. In Canada the government is getting a profit for this legal contaminating action but in Costa Rica the ones getting rewarded are the individuals that take the gold illegally.

The big problem between these issues affecting the 2 countries is that money is a big factor and it is very difficult to search for a solution for a problem that generates such big amounts of money for the parties involved. But it is important to realize that without a planet money is worthless.

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