Nature solutions for Community development

On behalf of the foundation's team, we want to thank you for your support to our organization this year!  It was not an easy year, but with your support we made it through the tough times.

Below we present a small summary of the achievements made in 2017 and which would not have been possible without your collaboration:

·       We collected the money and will be starting the construction of a pedestrian bridge for the Drake Bay River between Progreso and Drake Bay area, which will make it safer for the students and the community in general, since they wont need to cross this dangerous river by foot any more.

·       137 teachers from the Regional Department of Terraba trained in the Education Guidelines for Sustainable Development Workshop.

·       6 Drake schools, with a total of 137boys and girls, received environmental education monthly or bimonthly.

·       40 children from 4 environmental groups carrying out environmental activities in their community.

·       1 youth group implementing environmental education and environmental actions in their community.

·       Our organization supported the creation of the Junior Ranger Program for the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve.

·       44 volunteers recruited to support the turtle conservation projects at Playa Rincón and Río Oro Beach. A total of 12 volunteers have collaborated at Playa Rincón and 32 volunteers at the Río Oro Beach.

·       In collaboration with the Osa Foundation, we have supported the protection of Playa de Rincón, where a total of 108 nests have been reported from August to date.  93 of these nests were relocated to the nursery and only 9% were lost due to poaching or predation.

·       We supported Cotorco with the preparation of technical manuals and trained volunteers to work on nesting beaches. Our purpose is to collaborate with their mission to protect sea turtles in the Rio Oro Wildlife Refuge. They counted 3946 turtles on this beach, which demonstrates the importance of protecting this beach for the conservation of these reptiles.

·       39 architectural designs ready to start construction in 2018 in 5 Protected Areas of the Southern Region. These designs had a cost of $ 400,000 USD, that were donated by JUDESUR, for the improvement of infrastructure in 5 Wild Protected Areas of the Southern Region. We are hoping that this investment will help promote tourism in the nearby communities and generate economic development in them.

·       A project to strengthen technical capacities for communities around La Amistad International Park in the process of implementation.

·       A toolkit for environmental education for high schools was designed.  This contributes to raising awareness and taking action to adapt to climate change in the marine Area of responsible fishing Paquera-Tambor.

·       An economic alternative activity was developed in order to diversify the income of fishermen in the communities of Paquera and Tambor.  This will reduce the pressure on marine resources in their area.

·       General Management Plans prepared for the Los Quetzales National Park and the Golfo Dulce Forestry Reserve.

·       Sustainable Tourism Plan prepared for the Chirripó and Tapantí National Parks, Macizo de la Muerte, Amistad International Park and Río Macho Forest Reserve.

·       Environmental Education and Tourism Plans for the Carara, La Cangreja and Los Quetzales National Parks under development.

·       Infrastructure plans for 10 protected areas in the process of preparation.

·       Design of the Campaign against Single Use Plastics in Osa, in support of the innitiave by the Osa Chamber of Tourism.  Our organization also adquired the commitment to support the awareness and dissemination processes of this campaign in 2018.

Again, thank you very much for your support!  We wish you Merry Christmas and may next year be full of peace and love for all of us who share this Planet Earth. May we live in harmony with our neighbors and with all the species that inhabit it.

Should you wish to make a donation to plant a tree, name a seaturtle on behalf of a family member or friend, or make an end of the year donation to support any of our programs, please make a donation on globalgiving.org.