Central America and the Caribbean > Costa Rica > Environment

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Adjusted savings: net forest depletion > % of GNI	0.22 % of GNI		[39th of 57]
View time series
Areas under protection	130		[40th of 146]
DEFINITION: Protected Areas under IUCN management categories I - VI (1992-2003)
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Carbon efficiency	0.51 CO2 emissions/$ GDP		[111st of 141]
DEFINITION: Carbon economic efficiency (CO2 emissions per dollar GDP) Units: Metric Tons/US Dollar GDP
SOURCE: World Resources Institute
CO2 Emissions	5,223		[102nd of 178]
DEFINITION: CO2: Total Emissions (excluding land-use) Units: thousand metric tonnes of carbon dioxide
SOURCE: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
Ecological footprint	2.77		[55th of 141]
DEFINITION: Ecological footprint per capita Units: Hectares per Person
SOURCE: World Resources Institute. 2003. Carbon Emissions from energy use and cement manufacturing, 1850 to 2000. Available on-line through the Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) at Washington, DC: World Resources Institute
Endangered species protection	83.3%		[49th of 141]
DEFINITION: Percent of CITES reporting requirements met Units: Percent of Requirements Met Units: Countries that have not ratified the CITES convention are recorded as having zero percent of their requirements met.
SOURCE: World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Living Planet Report 2000, Gland, Switzerland: 2000, and Redefining Progress.
Forest area > % of land area	46.83 % of land area		[48th of 195]
DEFINITION: Forest area is land under natural or planted stands of trees, whether productive or not.		View time series
SOURCE: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Report on National Reports Required Under Article VIII, Paragraph 7(a), of the Convention, Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Gigiri, Kenya, April 2000
Forest area > sq. km	23,910 km²		[97th of 195]
DEFINITION: Forest area is land under natural or planted stands of trees, whether productive or not.		View time series
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
Known mammal species	205		[36th of 145]
DEFINITION: Known mammal species (1992-2002).
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database
NOx emissions per populated area	0.03 thousand metric tons/squ		[140th of 141]
DEFINITION: NOx emissions per populated land area Units: 1000 Metric Tons/Sq. Km. of Populated Land Area Units: We obtained the total emissions for each country by summarizing emissions data, originally available as a grid map with 1 degree x 1 degree cells. Air pollution is generally greatest in densely populated areas. To take this into account, we used the Gridded Population of the World dataset available from CIESIN and calculated the total land area in each country inhabited with a population density of greater than 5 persons per sq. km. We then used this land area as a denominator for the emissions data.
SOURCE: World Resources Institute
Pollution > Carbon dioxide 1999	1,670		[100th of 199]
DEFINITION: 1999 total CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring. Emissions are expressed in thousand metric tons of carbon (not CO2).
SOURCE: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, Data Version 1.1, B1Illustrative Marker Scenario with model IMAGE
Protected area	13.7		[25th of 147]
DEFINITION: Environmentally protected area (1997)
SOURCE: Gregg Marland, Tom Boden, and Bob Andres, University of North Dakota, via net publication
SO2 emissions per populated area	380 thousand metric tons/squ		[83rd of 141]
DEFINITION: SO2 emissions per populated land area Units: 1000 Metric Tons/Sq. Km. of Populated Land Area Units: We obtained the total emissions for each country by summarizing emissions data, originally available as a grid map with 1 degree x 1 degree cells. Air pollution is generally greatest in densely populated areas. To take this into account, we used the Gridded Population of the World dataset available from CIESIN and calculated the total land area in each country inhabited with a population density of greater than 5 persons per sq. km. We then used this land area as a denominator for the emissions data.
SOURCE: Jacaranda Atlas
Threatened species	44		[42nd of 158]
DEFINITION: Number of Threatened Species (1990-99)
SOURCE: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Special Report on Emissions Scenarios, Data Version 1.1, B1Illustrative Marker Scenario with model IMAGE
Threatened species > Mammal	14		[55th of 160]
DEFINITION: Number of threatened mammal species (1997)
SOURCE: United Nations World Statistics Pocketbook and Statistical Yearbook
Water > Availability	23.35 thousand cubic metres		[22nd of 141]
DEFINITION: Water availability per capita (1961-1990 (avg.)) Units: Thousands Cubic Meters/Person Units: This variable measures internal renewable water (average annual surface runoff and groundwater recharge generated from endogenous precipitation)
SOURCE: Jacaranda Atlas
Water > Dissolved oxygen concentration	7.12 mls/litre		[85th of 141]
DEFINITION: Dissolved oxygen concentration Units: Milligrams/Liter Units: The country values represent averages of the station-level values for the three year time period 1994-96, exceptwhere data were only available for an earlier time period (1988-1993). The number of stations per country varies depending on country size; number of bodies of water; and level of participation in the GEMS monitoring system. The data from "The Wellbeing of Nations" included a smaller subset of stations representing outfalls of major watersheds. An analysis of a sample of countries with numerous stations found that the data for stations in the subset is broadly comparable to the data for all GEMS stations in those countries.
SOURCE: Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, WaterGAP 2.1B, 2001 via ciesin.org
Water > Freshwater pollution	0.36 tons/cubic km		[47th of 69]
DEFINITION: Industrial organic pollutants per available freshwater Units: Metric Tons of BOD Emissions per Cubic Km of Water Units: Emissions of organic water pollutants are measured by biochemical oxygen demand, which refers to the amount of oxygen that bacteria in water will consume in breaking down waste. This is a standard water-treatment test for the presence of organic pollutants. The data from the World Bank, which represented BOD emissions (kilograms per day) were normalized by the combination of water availability per capita and water inflow availability per capita from the WaterGap2.1 model. In calculating the ESI, the base-10 logarithm of this variable was used.
SOURCE: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Global Environmental Monitoring System/Water Quality Monitoring System, with data for an additional 29 countries from Prescott-Allen,R. The Well being of Nations, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2001
Water pollution, wood industry > % of total BOD emissions	1.31 %		[42nd of 114]
DEFINITION: Industry shares of emissions of organic water pollutants refer to emissions from manufacturing activities as defined by two-digit divisions of the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), revision 2: wood (33). Emissions of organic water pollutants are measured by biochemical oxygen demand, which refers to the amount of oxygen that bacteria in water will consume in breaking down waste. This is a standard water-treatment test for the presence of organic pollutants.		View time series
SOURCE: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2001, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2001 (for BOD emissions)and Center for Environmental Systems Research, University of Kassel, WaterGap 2.1, 2000 (for data on waterquantity). via ciesin.org
Wildness	0.02%		[112nd of 141]
DEFINITION: Percent of land area having very low anthropogenic impact Units: Percent of Land Area Units: Global grids for population (GPW), land use (USGS AVHRR based classification from EROS data center), VMAP roads, VMAP railways, VMAP coastlines, VMAP major rivers and the stable lights data were all scored for "wildness". The scores were aggregated and normalized.
SOURCE: World Development Indicators database

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