Deforestation, Population Growth Peril Costa Rica’s ‘Pure Life’ : Central America: The country loses some sections of its rain forests as fast as it saves others. Developers and land-poor farmers clash with environmentalists and the ‘ecotourism’ industry.

Buy a pound of plantains or papayas on any street corner here, and the vendor may thank you with the words “pura vida”--pure life.

Costa Ricans sometimes use the phrase as a greeting. It is a distinguishing feature of this ecologically diverse Central American democracy.

Increasingly, however, the definition of “pura vida” varies, depending on who’s giving the answer.

The West Virginia-size country loses some sections of its rain forests as fast as it saves others. Developers and land-poor farmers clash with environmentalists and the $300-million-a-year “ecotourism” industry.

When Spanish colonizers arrived in Costa Rica in 1502, it was almost completely covered by tropical rain forest. In 1900 the country was still 85% forest. Today it’s about 50%, with an average loss of 98,800 acres a year.

Costa Rica is losing its forests more rapidly than other ecologically rich countries. Its rate of deforestation is 2.6%, more than triple the average rate of 0.8% for Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the World Resources Institute.

Costa Rica “is devastating in the overall picture because there’s so little land to use,” said Bruce Cabarle, the institute’s coordinator of forestry in Latin America.

Even so, environmentalists consider the country an international leader in conservation efforts.

Some experts predict that Costa Rica will lose all its unprotected forests by 2000 as a result of agricultural expansion, population growth and overbuilding.

Others, quoting a recent World Bank study, suggest that the problem is not so dire.

Past governmental decisions to set aside about 20% of Costa Rica for national parks or reserves have minimized deforestation, said Augusta Molnar, a natural resources management specialist at the bank. Less than 30% is covered by unprotected forests.

The environmental awareness that led to creation of these reserves in the late 1960s is still evident throughout the country.

Along the Central Valley’s Reventazon River, teen-age white-water rafting guides point out whole forests that have been cleared for cattle-grazing.

In the town of Monteverde, a store clerk explains why the 23-mile road to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve should remain unpaved: “Because only concerned tourists will make the arduous uphill trip.”

Each candidate in next February’s presidential election knows his chances of victory depend partly on the strength of his environmental platform.

The Costa Rican government has been criticized for encouraging agricultural expansion at the expense of rain-forest preservation.

But, said Pirso Maldonado of Fundacion Neotropico, an independent research firm in San Jose, “For the first time ever, we have a written policy on forestry.” The new law diminishes the red tape that farmers once had to untangle to obtain tree-planting permits.

Even though the conservation message is clearly known, many poor Costa Ricans continue to survive by clearing forests and planting subsistence crops or raising cattle.

Environmental groups outside the country aren’t helping much by telling “ticos,” as Costa Ricans call themselves, what they should do with decades-old family land, said forestry expert Marco Vinicio Zamora of the Monteverde Conservation League.

“Some people involved in conservation ignore the farmers,” he said. “So there is friction, there is coldness, there are problems.”

Recent governmental attempts have been made to help resolve these differences by giving more responsibility to country folk who live next to parks and nature reserves.

The Ministry of Agriculture, for example, is considering expanding a program that awards bonds to farmers who plant new trees on their land. After two years, the bonds can be exchanged for about $325 per acre of forest.

Vinicio and his co-workers are teaching Monteverde farmers how to plant trees on low-quality pasture and unused land. Their efforts culminate each year with “El Dia de la Reforestacion”--Day of Reforestation--when the entire town celebrates on the property of the farmer who has made the greatest strides in replanting.

“It’s the biggest day of the year,” said Giselle Rodriguez, a conservation league volunteer.

But such local efforts don’t have much impact, said Raul Solorzano, director of the Tropical Science Center, a research company in San Jose. “In towns like Monteverde, reforestation is minimal. They plant one tree each on 10 properties. It’s a means without an end.”

Reforestation programs have fallen short of expectations, according to a 1992 science center study: Most of them aim at producing fast-growing trees that can be sold quickly for lumber or firewood. Not enough attention is given to reproducing the hardwoods found in the natural rain forests, because it takes decades--even generations--to see any results.

The steady decline of Costa Rican woodlands, combined with a weak economy, has led to a widespread feeling that these efforts won’t prevail unless developers and conservationists join hands.

In 1991 Costa Rica made a deal with the U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co. to share profits from any useful medical products that might result from species identified in the rain forests.

No blockbuster drugs have resulted yet, but some people call the unprecedented scheme, for which Costa Rica was given $1 million up front, one of the strongest incentives for the country to keep its forests standing.

“It’s a testing ground for conservation strategy,” said the World Bank’s Molnar.

Another area that may reshape Costa Rica’s “pura vida” is tourism, which ranks just behind coffee and bananas as the country’s third-largest industry and has begun attracting wealthy investors from Spain and the United States.

Costa Rica annually attracts about 600,000 tourists, many of whom are ecologically sensitive and hike in the forests, observe the remarkable wildlife and snorkel in the tropical waters.

But even “ecotourism” brings development. “There is too much construction going on,” said Pirso Maldonado. “If tourism grows, the whole country will change, and the same attraction it has today will not exist.”