Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Jaco Beach has seen some welcome clean-up in the past months.
Jaco Beach has always been one of Costa Rica’s most popular beaches for various reasons. It is less than 2 hours from San Jose, the country’s capital, making it a quick and easy getaway for those seeking good waves, fresh seafood, and a relaxing time in the sun. The Pacific beach town is neighbor to some of the country’s finest resorts such as the Marriott Los Sueños and one of Costa Rica’s most popular white sand beaches, Playa Blanca, in the Punta Leona Reserve.
This easy access also allowed for over visitation and unplanned development in the past, giving the beach town a worn, uncared for look. However, Jaco has recently taken a new direction steering away from the over consumption, party town atmosphere. The local community and a new brand of developer have been working together to fight this reputation, and much of their hard work was finally acknowledged when the town was recently awarded the Ecological Blue Flag.
(more…)
Posted in Costa Rica News | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
The country is one step closer to passing a smoking ban in public places, including bars.
The Legislative Assembly yesterday ratified the World Health Organization’s Tobacco Control Convention. In 2005, Costa Rica signed the agreement, which requires countries to take steps to regulate, minimize and penalize tobacco sales. But is has taken the assembly three years to ratify it.
Citizen Action Party (PAC) Legislator Orlando Hernández, one of the proponents who sought to build consensus to ratify the agreement, said the assembly still needs to pass follow-up legislation to comply with its commitment.
He said a law now needs to be passed to ban smoking in public places, including bars, restaurants and night clubs, increase taxes on tobacco products, ban advertising and require better labeling and health warnings.
Hernández said there was a lack of political will previously to ratify the agreement but that dynamic changed over time.
The key was we got a conscience, he said. It got to the point where we had so many people lobbying for passage the Drug Abuse and Alcoholism Institute (IAFA), the World Health Organization, the Health Ministry and the National Anti-Tobacco Network we finally understood. Now we’re obliged to follow through with the next stage.
The legislator said the convention still has to survive a review by the Constitutional Court but he didn’t foresee any problems.
A hundred and nine countries signed this convention and if they didn’t have any problems, I don’t see why we would, he said.
Posted in Costa Rica News | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
Dole Food Company announced June 2nd. that for the second time in its history, Dole Standard Fruit Company de Costa Rica S.A. has been presented the “2007 Overall Excellence Award” bestowed by the Costa Rican Industry Association. This is the most prestigious honor that a company can obtain in Costa Rica. Standard Fruit also won the award in 2000.
Dole Standard Fruit was recognized as the most outstanding organization in the following categories: Leadership and Strategic Planning, Customer and Market Focus, and Innovation and Technology.
(more…)
Posted in Costa Rica News | No Comments »
