Drill, Baby, Drill, Article Review Example

Friedman, T. L. (2009, April 11). (No) drill, baby, drill. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12friedman.html

This article is the government role in environmental protection in Costa Rica. It explores on the ability of this government in ensuring that economic growth and environment protection. This includes working together through the creation of a holistic approach to economic activities and environmental protection. It is the tradition of the country to ensure that investors pay for using natural resources.

The role played by the government in this case is to protect the interest. The role played by the government in this scenario is to protect the interest of the public. The government is at front position at ensuring that economic growth and protection of environment (Friedman 15). The environment ministry is empowered by integrating all the ministerial areas that have potential impacts on the environmental by ensuring that energy and environment ministry is put in one place. The government of Costa Rica has ensured that externalities that can result into market failure. This happens due to failure of the price mechanism to consider the benefits and costs of production and consumption. An externality is a consequence of an economic activity that third parties experiences and which are either negative or positive (Cornes & Sandler, 1996).

The vice president for Conservation International was at the front position in pioneering an idea that a country such as Costa Rica depends on both tourism and agriculture. These two sectors depend on the services provided ecosystem and as such need to be paid. In order to account for such “externalities”, land owners who keep their forests intact and rivers clean were to get pay (Friedman, 2009). This led to imposing a tax on carbon emission channeled to the indigenous communities protecting surrounding forest through national forest fund. Major water users also pay water taxes given to villagers staying upstream.

The government is leading the market by imposing taxes that used to support poor families and rejuvenate the depleting natural resources in the country. The government is leading change by implementing strategies that are able to ensure sustainable economic development. The major beneficiaries from the government programs are the local communities living around these natural resources. The business community on the other hand has to pay additional tax in order to make the local communities live comfortably. With such programs, there is no loser in the long term. However, in the short term, the business community might see that they are sustaining the local communities for no apparent reason.

Works Cited

Friedman, T. L. (2009, April 11). (No) drill, baby, drill. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12friedman.html