Common ground for farmers and forests: alarmed by signs of extensive deforestation over the past decades, groups in Costa Rica are developing programs that combine ecological awareness and sustainable agriculture.

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Common ground for farmers and forests: alarmed by signs of extensive deforestation over the past decades, groups in Costa Rica are developing programs that combine ecological awareness and sustainable agriculture.

With more than 25 percent of its land protected in national parks and private reserves, Costa Rica enjoys an enviable reputation as an ecological paradise. Green-hued travel posters tout cone-shaped volcanoes blanketed by forests, home to a variety of flora and fauna all out of proportion to the diminutive size of this Central American nation. Rare toucans, resplendent quetzals, and scarlet macaws delight bird watchers, while adventure-travel enthusiasts wax lyrical about kayaking mangrove swamps, hiking verdant rain-forest trails, and rafting white-water rivers fringed with tropical foliage. Costa Rica's forests have even spawned a new sport: the ingenious canopy tour, in which participants don rappeling gear to zip through the treetops on cables attached to elevated platforms. From this vantage point, the travel posters have it right: broad vistas of undulating green spread toward the horizon, underscoring the tourism slogan, "All Natur...

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