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Costa Rica, a leader in eco-tourism and home to some of the world's rarest species, planted its 5 millionth tree of 2007 this week as it tries to put a brake on global warming.
President Oscar Arias shovelled dirt onto the roots of an oak tree planted in the grounds of his offices, reaching the milestone in the Central American nation's efforts to ward off what some experts say are the first signs of climate change.
By the end of the year, Costa Rica will have planted nearly 6.5 million trees, which should absorb 111,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, Environment Minister Roberto Dobles said.
The country aims to plant 7 million trees in 2008 as part of the newly launched programme.
Along with other green-minded nations such as Norway and New Zealand, Costa Rica is aiming to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero, and has set a target date of 2021.
"I don't know if we will end up being carbon neutral in 2021 as we have proposed, but the important thing is the audacity of the goal and the work we have to do," President Arias said.
Costa Rica is a magnet for ecology-minded tourists who visit the lush national parks and reserves that cover more than a quarter of the country and are home to almost 5 per cent of the world's plant and animal species including exotic birds and frogs.
Over the past 20 years forest cover in Costa Rica has grown from 26 per cent of the national territory to 51 per cent, though environmentalists complain that loggers continue to cut down old trees and that the national park system is underfunded.
Costa Rican authorities have blamed the loss of more than a dozen amphibian species, including the shiny yellow "golden toad", on higher temperatures caused by global warming.
Experts also say climate change is behind a spike in mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. The number of dengue fever cases so far this year in Costa Rica's high-altitude central valley stands at 3487 - 86 per cent higher than in 2006.
- Reuters
