Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Miscellaneous / 12.02.2014

[caption id="attachment_5289" align="alignnone" width="857"] Térraba-Sierpe National Wetlands, Costa Rica. Photo credit: Cavu[/caption] By: Luis Williams Community Planning - Wetlands Program A functional environment is built on a day-to-day basis, from all sectors of society, and a fundamental support for environmental security comes from the participation of local citizens. In many cases, local organizations become protagonists that can either complement or detract from the government’s role in supporting a functioning environment. At Osa Conservation, we aim to highlight the responsibility of citizen participation by presenting useful information to voters during this year’s...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Science and Research / 20.12.2013

by Pilar Bernal, Environmental Education and Community Outreach Program Manager [caption id="attachment_5766" align="alignnone" width="1863"] Local students perform tests to measure water quality of streams in the Osa.[/caption]   Osa’s Ant Defenders, an environmental club composed of 15 fourth grade students from the Saturnino Cedeño School in Puerto Jiménez, have started a program to monitor the water quality of Osa’s waterways this past November - starting with Quebrada la Ignacia, a stream that passes through town. These students will be analyzing the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the stream once a...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Marine Conservation / 18.11.2013

by Lauren Lipuma, Conservation Outreach Coordinator, and Ándres Jiménez, Wetlands Program Coordinator [caption id="attachment_5289" align="alignnone" width="857"] Térraba-Sierpe wetlands, Costa Rica. Photo credit: Cavu[/caption]   OC’s conservation efforts in the Térraba-Sierpe wetlands have gotten off to a great start! Our wetlands program, started earlier this year, aims to strengthen the presence of government and conservation organizations in the Térraba-Sierpe National Wetlands and to develop sustainable economic opportunities for neighboring communities. In addition to housing a diverse array of wildlife, wetlands perform important ecological functions - from water filtration to carbon storage. Mangroves...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Sea Turtles, Volunteers and Visitors / 01.11.2013

by Pilar Bernal, Environmental Education & Community Outreach Program Manager Video by Lindsay Metz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNaCw6OrDU4&feature=youtu.be On October 6th, we celebrated our fifth annual Sea Turtle Festival on Carate beach. Over 150 gusts joined us for these festivities highlighting the past year of sea turtle conservation. The sun shone brightly throughout the event while families began pouring in as early as 8 am and stayed throughout the day. We began the festival with the release of infant sea turtles from the Corcovado Turtle Committee (COTORCO) hatchery. Afterwards, we played games and held events encouraging...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration, Science and Research / 11.10.2013

By Andrés Jiménez, Wetlands Program Coordinator   Recently I had the opportunity to spend time with Doctor Jurgenne Primavera, a world-class mangrove scientist from the Philippines. A quiet yet cheerful scientist, she shows a special glitter in her eyes every time she talks about mangroves. After more than 40 years of working with these trees, she still smiles when showing a picture of herself climbing one. I have to admit, at this moment I had no idea of what was happening in the Philippines. The only vague concept I had about...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Uncategorized, Wildcats / 18.09.2013

by Juan Carlos Cruz Díaz, Science Manager, and Brigid Prouse, Science Program Assistant [caption id="attachment_5395" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Brigid Prouse, Science Program Assistant[/caption] Environmental education is a crucial element for promoting and teaching the importance of conservation to communities and individuals. By having a solid environmental education and outreach program, we can promote long term appreciation, awareness and respect for our environment. For this reason, a few months ago, as part of the Science Program at Osa Conservation, we started delivering a series of talks to locals, schools and tourists in...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education / 06.08.2013

  By: Pilar Bernal This past July 30, 16 students from Carbonera, Rio Oro and Piro schools toured the “Discovering the Rainforest” interpretive trail accompanied by two teachers and two persons familiar with the trail. During the tour, the students enjoyed a morning in the forest learning about the ecology of rainforests at each station on the path.   We had an opportunity to observe spider monkeys, Baird’s Trogon, snakes, and to observe and admire giant forest trees like the Ajo, Reseco, Baco, and Ojoche trees. This portion of the interpretive trail “Discovering...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education, Marine Conservation / 21.05.2013

[caption id="attachment_5018" align="aligncenter" width="300"] tomada por Pilar Bernal[/caption] by: Pilar Bernal On Saturday, May 11th, we celebrated the Festival of Water in the community of Puerto Jiménez. The event began with an opening parade, in which the students carried signs with messages promoting conservation awareness and the responsible use of water resources and were accompanied by a happy band of students from Puerto Jiménez Technical High School. Students from more than six different schools in the Osa Peninsula participated and entertained themselves with plays and presentations by other students. The ICT’s...

Community Outreach, Environmental Education / 18.02.2013

By Pilar Bernal [caption id="attachment_4883" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Esquinas River which feeds into the Golfo Dulce[/caption] This year has been declared the International Year of Water Cooperation by the United Nations. As students return from vacations this month for another academic year, we at Osa Conservation are preparing environmental education materials and activities which will be taught in fifteen schools throughout the peninsula and surrounding areas. The environmental themes that we will be focusing on for this year are: terrestrial and marine ecosystems, deforestation and climate change, and waste management....

Community Outreach, Land Conservation and Forest Restoration / 14.12.2012

In order to create public access stations for environmental education purposes, Osa Conservation recently built and inaugurated a 2.5-mile interpretive trail. In this easy journey, adventurers will find 23 stations labeled to help them understand and interpret the ecosystems, species and ecological associations that cross the path, which is a representation of the biological richness of the Osa Peninsula.