Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Sustainable agriculture / 24.08.2020

Blog by: Hilary Brumberg, Ridge to Reef Program Interim Director Southern Costa Rica is home to two of the most important areas to conserve in Central America: the Osa Peninsula and the Talamanca Mountains. The Osa Peninsula is the most biodiverse region of Costa Rica and contains Corcovado National Park and Piedras Blancas National Park. Deemed one of Mesoamerica’s “5 great forests,” the Talamanca Mountains contain the largest altitudinal variation in a protected area complex in Central America. The mountain range hosts La Amistad International Park, which spans from...

Community Outreach, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration / 01.07.2020

Blog by: María José Mata-Quirós, Restoration & Rewilding & Data Management Coordinator For 105 years on June 15, Costa Rica has celebrated “Día del Árbol,” or Day of the Tree. Former President Alfredo Gonzales Flores established this celebration to raise national awareness about the importance of trees. More than a Celebration  Trees are one of the main sources of energy and matter in terrestrial ecosystems; They support a great diversity of animals, plants, fungi and algae. They are one of the most important carbon storages and climate regulators. They protect water...

Community Outreach / 09.04.2020

Blog by Keylin Castro, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership For eight weeks I had the opportunity to live in the amazing Osa Peninsula. Every day I spent there I fell in love a little more with that impressive place and the desire to live and work there increased. I can confirm from direct experience that here is 2.5% of the world's biodiversity. Every day when I woke up I listened to the birds singing, different insects and all the primates on the peninsula. Every morning on...

Community Outreach / 01.04.2020

Blog by Francine Guido, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership At the beginning of Osa Conservation's field course, I was expecting to learn about the conservation of wildlife and the rainforest in the Osa Peninsula. But what does it take to make conservation? Soon I realized it's all about the people. [caption id="attachment_18602" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sharing information with people from the Osa communities about what makes a healthy river. Healthy Rivers Program’ stand for Alvaro Ugalde Day. Photo: Jonathan Navarro.[/caption] When you think about conservation, what do you picture?...

Community Outreach / 26.02.2020

Blog by: Natalia Gómez Solano, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership Course "Only what is loved is protected and only what is known is loved" –Jacques Cousteau. We have spent six weeks at Osa Conservation, which has allowed us to get to know various ecosystems within the Osa Peninsula. Personally, I am in love with the Peninsula, it is an incredible place and always surprising, where small details constitute its immensity. In the course we have learned a variety of skills and acquired knowledge that supports our professional...

Community Outreach / 28.11.2019

Blog by David Mattey, Wildlife Protection Technician The White-Lipped Peccary is a threatened species of great ecological importance for the composition of tropical forests. Therefore, it is necessary to take measures to protect them, since it is a highly hunted species for its meat. For a few months, before the migration of the peccary in the rainy season, the planning process for community monitoring and protection begins, together with the community's biological monitoring group, members of the Association of Volunteers for Service in Protected Areas (ASVO), who offered their...

Community Outreach / 01.10.2019

Blog by Marco Hidalgo-Chaverri, Ecosystem Resilience and Community Outreach Program Learning means incorporating new ways of relating our experiences with reality. This progression is carried out through two complementary processes: the assimilation of data from the objective reality to the subject, and the redefinition of the subject's relationship with that reality. During the training processes on basic environmental monitoring concepts, members of communities share knowledge about their own familiar experiences. This educational action is part of a process that empowers the members of a group to take over the management...

Community Outreach, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration / 04.07.2019

Blogspot by: Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, Botanical projects coordinator –OC Trees are important components of the forests and our lives, however, deforestation and illegal logging are threatening their existence and contributing to climate change. This year, the United Nations declared the decade of the Restoration of Ecosystems in order to strengthen large-scale degraded and destroyed areas. This was initiated as a proven measure to combat the climate crisis and improve food security, water supply and biodiversity. Every June 15 we remember ‘the day of the tree’, an environmental event...

Aves, Birds, Community Outreach, Science and Research / 18.06.2019

Blogpost by Johan Ortíz, Restoration and Rewilding Field Technician My name is Johan Ortiz, and I am from the community of Puerto Jiménez. I am a lover of nature who enjoys working in it. As well as getting to enjoy these beautiful surroundings that Mother Nature gives us, it gives me great pleasure to do my bit to help protect and conserve nature. Johan Ortiz participating in one of his favorite activities--bird watching--during an eBird Big Day. Photo: Hilary Brumberg I would like to tell you about a great...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration / 15.05.2019

Blogpost by Jonathan Navarro Picado, Healthy Rivers Program Coordinator Children teach us new things every day and they are full of surprises; the only thing they need is a bit of motivation.  The community of Alto Laguna in Osa, the only indigenous reserve on the Osa Peninsula, is full of forest, life, stunning sunsets and inspiring people. The students of the school in the community received a talk about the importance of the rivers. But more than teaching them, they taught us through art the understanding they have of this...