Nature solutions for Community development

Education will change the people that change the world.

Baba Dioum said "In the end we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."

As environmental educators, we spend our lives teaching children to respect their surroundings, to love nature and to feel connected to other living things.   We spend our days trying to detect that change in the children’s attitude towards nature, and it is the small details that show us the change within them.

Alvaro and Diego are two children, who used to participate in the Pumas group in the small town of Progreso, a community where we have been involved in for several years.  The Pumas is a group of 10 to 12 young children that gather together to learn about the environment and make changes in their community.   Recently, Alvaro and Diego quit the group, feeling that they were a little too old for the activities suited towards younger aged kids.

Soon after they quit, they decided to join the community turtle conservation initiative thinking it would be a better use of their time.   Volunteers, staff from the Corcovado Foundation, and local people from the community work tirelessly to protect sea turtle nests from egg poachers.  Every night there is a race between poachers and the project to reach the sea turtle nests before a wrongdoer takes the eggs and sells them in the market. 

Alvaro and Diego decided that they would volunteer their time at the sea turtle conservation program.   Many local people in Progreso, work at the project, but they charge for their time.  These kids committed to a full year of volunteering their time to the protection of the turtles.   This was something that they decided on their own; nobody asked them to do it.  They just wanted to give something back to their community to help preserve natural resources.

These boys are a great example of how attitudes are changing toward nature.  They know that if they don’t protect their natural resources, they will lose forever the beautiful olive ridley sea turtle.  This emblematic reptile has been visiting Progreso since ancient times. Their populations have been decimated by human intervention.  These boys are aware that if they are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem.  

The mission of the Corcovado Foundation is to protect wilderness areas and promote environmental education, responsible tourism and community development compatible with the sustainable use of natural resources on the Osa Peninsula and southern Costa Rica.    Help us to keep influencing young minds like Alvaro and Diego, so that changes in behavior can be a natural part of their life.