By Elizabeth Gagliardi
In many ways, Costa Rica is incredibly progressive in terms of environmental protection and conservation. The country has developed somewhat of a “green” reputation with its strict no hunting laws, biological corridors, and large ecotourist economy centered around national parks and private reserves. At one point, Costa Rica actually had the fastest deforestation rate in all of Latin America, buf after realizing the impacts of losing nearly 70% of the nation’s forest cover in less than 40 years, steps were taken to halt deforestation and bring back some of what had been lost. Forest cover has been increasing in Costa Rica since the late 1980s when it reached its lowest point, thanks to a variety of laws and practices including establishment of “Zonas Protectoras”, or protected zones where land use is more heavily regulated, as well as the extensive system of national parks and private reserves like the Children’s Eternal Rainforest (or “BEN”, after the Spanish “Bosque Eterno de los Niños”). Of course, there is always more work to be done on this front, but one of the best ways to further environmental protection and amplify change is through education.
The Monteverde Conservation League is the Costa Rican nonprofit organization that owns and protects the BEN. The MCL has been instrumental in creating a community that understands, embraces and contributes to the positive impacts of conserving the forest in their backyard. Monteverde has a long history of environmental conservation, beginning in large part with the arrival of Quaker settlers in the 1950s who set aside 550 hectares of land to protect vital water resources. The mindset of conservation in Monteverde has only grown since, with three large private reserves (BEN, The Monteverde Cloud Forest, and the Santa Elena Reserve) bordering the community. Not only does conservation help protect soil and water, benefit biodiversity, and contribute to the health of ecosystems, but the reserves also attract lots of visitors and help sustain the local economy. After spending time in Monteverde on the Pacific side of the BEN and getting to know the people here, it is clear that the community really does embrace and appreciate the forest and are on board with keeping it protected for generations to come. However, on the eastern border (Caribbean slope) of the BEN, the conservation mindset has been slower to develop. Luckily, when purchasing land for protection, the Monteverde Conservation League prioritized buying land in the Penas Blancas Valley, halting a great deal of deforestation for agriculture and land development in the area. Now, a big focus of keeping this protected land “eternal” has shifted to providing environmental education in the surrounding communities.
While I spent most of my two month internship with BEN on the Pacific Slope and in Monteverde, I had the chance to visit Pocosol Station and the Finca Steller environmental education center on the Caribbean side. Here I met BEN’s full time environmental educator, Maria Fernanda Rojas, who works with with kids in grades K-6 at 17 public schools on the Caribbean side of the BEN . The schools range in size from larger classes to very small schools with only one teacher (called unidocentes), so having Maria Fernanda’s help and expertise to incorporate environmental education into the curriculum is invaluable for these students. Her time is split between the many schools BEN works with, and she goes to each of the seventeen once per month to give classroom presentations and small workshops or investigations with the students.
The curriculum covers a range of topics and is centered around themes of conservation, stressing things like not to mistreat animals and ways to protect and respect the forest. Maria Fernanda also teaches students about water conservation, natural resources, climate change and more.
About once a year, BEN brings the students from each school to Finca Steller for hands-on activities. I had the awesome opportunity to tag along on one of these lessons with a class, and I could see right away how excited the students were when they arrived. Maria Fernanda clearly has a gift for teaching – many of the students greeted her with a hug, and they were all so enthusiastic about the hike. Before the lesson had even began I could already see that BEN’s environmental education program was a positive thing for these kids. The lesson began with a short hike, stopping at a stream to collect, identify, observe and answer some questions about aquatic insects. The kids had so much fun splashing around in the stream before we hiked back out and went into the classroom to look at microscope slides and talk about the connections between aquatic insects and water quality.
I asked Maria Fernanda about the impact these trips into the forest and environmental education has had on the surrounding community. She told me that among the older generations, many people were raised hunting, cutting trees, and clearing land and that these attitudes still persist among many older people. Hunting is illegal in Costa Rica, but it can be difficult to enforce and still goes on. However, since environmental education started coming into the area through BEN, attitudes are changing among younger generations. Perhaps years ago hunting was a means for survival, but nowadays it is just for sport. Many young people – including lots of the kids Maria Fernanda works with – understand the value of protecting species, and have no desire to hunt or clear forested land. In fact, many young people are beginning to get jobs in conservation and the ecotourism industry and are experiencing firsthand the benefits of protecting the forests.
When I asked what the most rewarding part of her job is, Maria Fernanda first explained that though many of the kids she works with live right next to the forest, often they have never ventured into the magical world under the canopy. They stay away either because they are afraid, because their parents haven’t taken them, or some combination of both. It can be difficult to appreciate the forest without knowing what lies inside and understanding it. Many of the children’s first hike into the forest is for environmental education with the BEN. They’ll light up and exclaim “¡es el dia mas feliz de mi vida!”, which means “this is the happiest day of my life!”. To be able to take kids into the forest and teach them to appreciate and love the plants and animals they share a community with is an incredibly rewarding experience for Maria Fernanda, and is a testament to the importance of providing environmental education.
Elizabeth Gagliardi was an intern with the Monteverde Conservation League and Children’s Eternal Rainforest from June to August 2018. She is currently a student at Lehigh University, USA.