Costa Rica's national strategy for sustainable development: A summary

The Costa Rican National Conservation Strategy for Sustainable Development (ECODES) is an official programme of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mines within the Costa Rican government. It began as a conservation strategy but has been greatly enlarged in both methodology and scope. ECODES integrates many of the sectors typically found in national 21st century studies, including economics, urbanization, agriculture, water resources, demography, industry, mining, tourism, energy, and science and technology. The programme began with the identification of national objectives and then proceeded to the identification of specific policies which the nation must adopt if it is to reach those objectives. In the programme, sustainable development is seen not just as an integration of environment and economics, but as the search for a whole way of life based on individual and group responsibility, social justice, and peaceful civil and international relations.