Costa Rica has financed its plans largely by restructuring its external debt. The nation was able in doing this to set aside the funds required to pursue its sustainability development. This has been augmented by assistance from organizations such as the IMF and grants from the World Bank.

Part of Costa Rica's employment strategy is to build the ecotourism business, which provides higher level employment. Costa Rica also seeks to develop its agriculture in a sustainable fashion, with small farms wherein the owner keeps the profits. Land resources are also used to boost the pharmaceutical industry, with sustainable harvesting of key plant species. Costa Rica has battled carbon pollution by instituting taxes on vehicles and purchased carbon from Norway.

One area of commonality between the Costa Rica and Abu Dhabi plans is that they both leverage the relative strengths of their countries. The Costa Rica plan leverages that nation's ecological wealth while the Abu Dhabi plan leverages the financial wealth of...

Neither of these plans addresses the issue of water usage, Costa Rica being rainforest and Abu Dhabi assuming its water levels will sustain them for a prolonged period. Both plans, however, address the issue of lifting the poorer segments of the populace into higher economic standing. The plans diverge significantly in their approach to sustainable development. The Abu Dhabi plan assumes development first, followed by attempts to ensure that it is sustainable. Costa Rica believes that sustainability will lead to the right types of development. As a result, these two sustainable development plans are vastly different in their execution.
Works Cited:

Masdar.ae website. (2009). Retrieved November 22, 2009 from http://www.masdar.ae/en/home/index.aspx

No author. (2004). Costa Rica case study: Analysis of national strategies for sustainable development. International Institute for Sustainable Development. Retrieved November 22, 2009 from http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2004/measure_sdsip_costa_rica.pdf