When hundreds of tribes and thousands of supporters gathered at Standing Rock in the U.S. midwest to protest a pipeline that threatened the local...

The Ecological Blue Flag program this year awarded three Pacific beaches with flags portraying the maximum five stars. Four beaches will display the blue flag for the first time this year, including two at Cocos Island.

On Tuesday, representatives for four public agencies discussed actions they will take to deal with a severe drought in the northern and central Pacific regions of the country.

With each swish of a paddle, algae bubbled around like heaps of diamonds. “Oh, wow!” we cooed, because there was nothing else to say. Words were as ineffectual as camera lenses.

Farms and tourist areas near the country’s colonial capital, located 22 kilometers east of San José, have been hit hard by water scarcity, including diminished reserves that traditionally supply enough water for the entire province and more than half a million residents in eastern San José.

“You don’t really see how things like access to clean water, agriculture and deforestation all connect living in the U.S.,” Carlton Solle said. “Down in Costa Rica you see it.”