Over the last decades, Costa Rica became established as a world-leading ecotourism destination due to its environmental policies and environmental awareness. The country is located in a dynamic region where the combination of tectonics and volcanism, and tropical climate and vegetation have molded its landscapes. Our aim is to carry out a review of the geodiversity, geoconservation, and geotourism status in Costa Rica. We analyzed different geomorphic environments (volcanic, coastal, karstic, glacial, and fluvial), prospecting the importance of environmental policies and the Conservation Areas National System for the promotion of national geoheritage through geotourism. Our results are critical for the promotion of geosciences to the wider public throughout geotourism and conservation decision-makers. In dynamic, geomorphic, tropical, and developing countries with strong anthropic pressures over their geo- and biodiversity, geoheritage studies might be a priority for increasing their revenues through geotourism and reducing the pressure on their natural resources.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching impacts on every aspect of human life since the first confirmed case in December 2019. Costa Rica reported its first case of COVID-19 in March 2020, coinciding with a notable correlation between the occurrence of disaster events at the municipal scale over the past five decades. In Costa Rica, over 90% of disasters are hydrometeorological in nature, while geological disasters have caused significant economic and human losses throughout the country's history. To analyze the relationship between COVID-19 cases and disaster events in Costa Rica, two Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) were used to statistically evaluate the influence of socio-environmental parameters such as population density, social development index, road density, and non-forested areas. The results showed that population and road density are the most critical factors in explaining the spread of COVID-19, while population density and social development index can provide insights into disaster events at the municipal level in Costa Rica. This study provides valuable information for understanding municipal vulnerability and exposure to disasters in Costa Rica and can serve as a model for other countries to assess disaster risk.