Costa Rica rural community support fund

Dear friends of Globalgiving!

Just a quick update regarding our community development program:  We are really excited to tell you about the success of this program in Río Tigre.

We chose the community of Río Tigre due to the large number of residents who continue to enter illegally into the Corcovado National Park to hunt animals and pan for gold.  The Ministry for the Environment (MINAE) had asked us to help them find economical activities for this community. Thanks to the support of donors like you and the blue moon fund, we were able to start working with the Conservationist Association of Dos Brazos in Río Tigre and respond to the call for help from MINAE.

I am thrilled to let you know that this project has been a great success, especially because the response from the community and participation of local residents in the project has been unprecedented.  The Conservationist Association is impressive: their determination to make Río Tigre a more sustainable and prosperous community is absolutely inspiring.

In my 14 years of working with Corcovado Foundation I have never had the privilege to work with another group as committed and as capable.

Thanks to your help we have provided five more tour guide certification courses for 15 members of the community, and five more local residents have signed up to an agreement to pay in instalments so that they can also complete their certification.

A couple of months ago, we  visited the new trail into the Corcovado National Park that the association built. It took us 7 hours to cover the 14.5 kms (9 miles) of this stunning new trail. The guide was excited to tell us about all the wonderful change that this project is bringing to the communities.  He told us about how he grew up hunting and mining. He was very honest about the damage that he himself had caused previously and how, thanks to the new project, he has now pledged to quit mining. He shared stories about how unpleasant it used to be sleeping in the forest, hiding and running from the park rangers, and how now as a guide he makes in just three days the same amount that he would make on an average month of gold panning.

Since the trail was open at the end of February the community has received 105 tourists paying $75 USD per person for a total of  $7,875,  guides have made $4.200, the association made  $1.050 and MINAE made $1050 for park entrances.

Thank you so much for supporting these great efforts.  We are thrilled to be part of this great success!  Your contributions will keep changing people’s lives and supporting therefore protecting the environment.  Keep us in mind this end of the year!