New plan to save Costa Rica’s National Parks
Costa Rica is very rich in Fauna and Flora (see here for a previous post) and protects almost 25% of its land mass as National Park or Natural Reserves. But this status is not eternal and the high biodiversity may be endangered by various factors.
In an article published by ‘people and planet’ the current situation of the parks and reserves in Costa Rica is reviewed, which first highlights the high popularity of Costa Rica’s fauna and flora among foreign tourists. Indeed, there is a high demand to visit these parks which makes sense to protect these forests from an financial perspective.
Ironically, the financial possibilities of Costa Rica are limited to fund further plans to protect these valuable areas. It lacks financial and human resources. In facing these challenges, the government and international conservation groups came togehter to design an ambitious plan to provide long-term funding for Costa Rica’s protected areas. The goal is to safeguard the country’s biodiversity through research, ecotourism and community development.
An important key to this plan is to ensure financial self-sufficiency of the country’s park system. At the moment, the park’s financial problems are so serious that it is even difficult to pay toilet paper for visitors.
Another problem mentioned in the article is illegal hunting, which can not be prosecuted due to the lack of forest rangers. If there are no actions taken against illegal hunting, protected areas tend to become empty forests.
From our surf camp, you can visit many National Parks within a day trip. See here for more information about our location at the Nicoyan Peninsula.
Read the complete article here…
[Technorati Tags: Wildlife - National Park - Costa Rica - Surf Camp ]
