“Ara ambigua” by Alois Staudacher – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A chapter in the history of how open pit mining failed to take hold in Costa Rica recently closed with the bankruptcy of Canadian firm Infinito Gold, which lodged a lawsuit against the sovereignty of our country for what they feel was a breach of contract in the infamous Crucitas case.

Although the Infinito Gold/Crucitas case has been widely reported on and documented, not much has been discussed about the avian species that triggered the dispute. The great green macaw, an endangered parrot in Costa Rica, is the species that set in motion the political chain of events that resulted in the resurgence of a ban on open pit mining.

Lynn Holland, a Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), is working on a three-part series on the enactment of mining restrictions in Central America, and she starts off with the green macaw in Costa Rica. You can read the entire first part at the COHA website, and it is a highly recommended read. Here are some of the highlights of Ms. Holland’s ongoing report:

The story of how Costa Ricans implemented a nationwide ban against new open pit mining has turned out to be a very different story, however. With a population of less than five million, Costa Rica is one of the smallest countries in Central America and has faced its share of dramatic challenges including mounting debt and persistent poverty. But in one important respect, Costa Rica is leading the way in the Western Hemisphere – that of standing up for the environment against the multibillion dollar metal mining industry.

 

[Open pit mining] involves the use of toxic chemicals including cyanide to leach tiny flecks of gold and other minerals from out of tons of rock. The potential for leakage of these chemicals poses a serious threat to the surrounding environment.

 

Environmentalists were incensed. Their immediate concern was that Las Crucitas was one of the last homes to the Great Green Macaw, a highly endangered parrot, and the yellow almond tree provides its nesting sites. There are perhaps 2500 of these birds remaining.

 

Infinito obtained the required permits and began cutting down yellow almond trees in an old-growth rainforest area. Almost immediately, the Northern Union for Life, a powerful environmental group, filed a court appeal against the presidential decree and the Constitutional Court delivered an injunction against the company for violating environmental laws.

 

[When former] President Chinchilla announced to the public that it would cost a billion dollars to compensate Infinito for the closure of the Crucitas mining project, she was met with outrage. A broad coalition of “research centers, experts from universities, political party leaders and representatives of affected communities” petitioned vigorously to nullify the project and reinstate the ban through legislation. Polls showed they had over 80 percent of the public on their side.

 

In November 2010, Infinito was handed its first defeat when a Costa Rican appeals court struck down the Crucitas mining project. The court determined that it had compromised the ecosystem in the area, violated Costa Rican law and involved the complicity of public officials. From 2010 to 2013, Infinito made three appeals to the Supreme Court, all of which were rejected.

 

Ever defiant, Infinito announced that it would take the case to the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). The company claimed that, by ending the Crucitas mining project, the Costa Rican government had violated the Costa Rica-Canada Bilateral Investment Treaty costing it $1 billion in lost profits.

 

As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, Infinito Gold’s legal challenges depleted their operational cash. These days, green macaws continue to nest in the mature rainforest portion of Crucitas, and they enjoy the protection of environmentalists.