Costa Rica will now be able to measure the impact of tourism in its national parks, thanks to innovative environmental technology from The NeverRest Project. The country aims to preserve ecological balance and reinforce its leadership in sustainable tourism.
This is possible due to an agreement between the Costa Rican National Parks Foundation (FPN) and The NeverRest Project. Ricardo Meneses-Orellana, president of FPN, and Frédéric Kauffmann, CEO and founder of The NeverRest Project, announced the agreement at the opening of the Expo Ambiente 2025 conference.
The agreement will enable Costa Rica to incorporate EverData, the digital platform developed by The NeverRest Project to collect, visualize, and analyze environmental and tourism data.
Data shows visitors to national parks have grown by 33% in just ten years, posing a major management challenge.
The tool offers open information, such as the amount of waste generated by each visitor, the CO₂ emissions linked to their activities, and the number of tickets registered per park. It provides mapping, real-time monitoring, and project management tools, transforming the environmental footprint of tourism into redistributive economic mechanisms that directly benefit local communities.
Both institutions signed a collaboration agreement that will enable Costa Rica to implement advanced technological systems for measuring, monitoring, and optimizing the environmental impact of tourism in its protected areas.
According to representatives of the organizations, this collaboration seeks to conserve, educate, and protect the country’s ecosystems while generating concrete benefits for local communities by opening up opportunities for income redistribution and job creation.
“It is no longer a question of how many tourists come, but how they do so. Tourists who contribute positively to the country should be welcomed with open arms, while those who do not should be made aware that their presence will only cause problems. It makes no sense for tourism revenues to be used for cleaning up rather than for improvements for the population and ecosystems,” said Kauffmann.
The founder of FPN mentioned that having accurate data is not a luxury but a necessity. He noted that public policies must reinforce environmental transparency, comply with the UN’s sustainable development goals, and ensure that “every visitor leaves a positive footprint and not a burden on our parks.”
The Costa Rican National Parks Foundation, created in 1979 as a private non-profit organization, has played a key role in consolidating the country’s environmental model. Thanks to its work, more than 90,000 hectares have become part of the national park system, while volunteer programs have been promoted and community and environmental education projects have been developed that are now benchmarks in Latin America.
“We are a small country in terms of territory but immense in terms of commitment. We cannot talk about the future of tourism without discussing sustainability, nor about climate change without recognizing the role of tourism as an opportunity and responsibility to be a living laboratory,” said the president of the FPN.
