Source: Sea Shepherd Sea Shepherd Media Release - Last week, while patrolling the waters of the Faroe Islands, the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship, Sam Simon, discovered the carcass of a pilot whale floating in the waters just outside Klaksvík in the Kalsoyar fjord in the northeast of the archipelago. On closer inspection, the Sea Shepherd crew made a number of gruesome and disturbing observa...

22/09/2015 - Madrid / TRAGsa Press Release -- A total of 51 professionals, all of them technicians and in charge of ecotourism in Wild Protected Areas at Costa Rica’s National Network of Preservation Areas (SINAC) took part in the courses given by professionals from Grupo TRAGSA, and which had as their main goal to strengthen the capabilities and knowledge of the workers from the above institution...

TORONTO, Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- National Geographic and award-winning Canadian tour operator G Adventures have joined forces to launch National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures, a new line of experiential trips to destinations all over the globe. With similar core values, an aligned sense of social responsibility, and a shared belief in the positive impact that travel can have on the ...

University of Nebraska Press By Carol Blair Vaughn It’s not often in this era of greed and recklessness that a New Age David and Goliath story unfolds, and there is an author onsite to capture the moment. Such is the story of Jeremy Evans' new book, The Battle for Paradise: Surfing, Tuna, and One Town’s Quest to Save a Wave (University of Nebraska Press), which comes out on Oct. 1, 2015, an...

San Juan, Sep 28 (EFE).- St. Lucia's government said Monday it planned to allow hunting of three endangered sea turtle species exceeding specific weight limits from Oct. 1 until Dec. 31. Hawksbill turtles weighing 27 kilos (60 pounds) or more and green and loggerhead turtles weighing more than 34 kilos (75 pounds) can be taken during the period, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement. ...

What effect does environmental degradation have on local communities? How do you produce enough food to sustain humanity? Why do so many racial and ethnic minorities and the poor live in places that are detrimental to their health? How can people live in harmony with the environment while having access to modern conveniences? According to Dr. Patricia Campion, Saint Leo University asso...

In an effort to prevent interference by awful tourists who have previously disrupted nesting sea turtles in Costa Rica, the Ministry of Public Security (Spanish initials: MSP) has alerted officers from a special police unit to deploy to Playa Ostional, province of Guanacaste, in case they are needed. According to a news report filed by Pablo Rojas of online news daily CRHoy.com, the MSP has rea...

U.S. National Park Service News Release – Birds have begun their migration south! But before they began their flights to more tropical locations, Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and its partners the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (RMBO) and its sister parks in Costa Rica collaborated to conduct a summer solstice bird count, held on June 20, 2015. Much like the winter solstice bird count, comm...

Officers from Fuerza Publica, the national police force of Costa Rica, arrested a drunk man who, for some reason, was holding a baby howler monkey hostage in Liberia, province of Guanacaste. According to official press release CP-1602-2015 from the Ministry of Public Security, Fuerza Publica officers assigned to the main precinct in Liberia responded to reports of a threatening man who walked a...

"Galápagos land iguana" by Charlesjsharp - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons Quito, Sep 7 (EFE).- A Mexican suspected of belonging to an international wildlife trafficking ring was arrested over the weekend when he tried to smuggle 11 iguanas out of the Galapagos Islands, the Ecuadorian Environment Ministry said. The man allegedly captured iguanas and smuggled them out of th...

Source; US CBP MIAMI, September 4, 2015 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Miami’s seaport intercepted an unusual pest identified as Hesus flaviventris Burmeister during an inspection of a container of pineapples from Costa Rica. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed that this marks the first interception of this pest in the United States. Hesus...

Wikimedia Commons Toronto, Sep 4 (EFE).- The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday that a group of Ecuadorian villagers locked in a long legal battle with Chevron Corp. may sue the U.S. oil supermajor in an Ontario trial court as part of their effort to collect on a multi-billion-dollar pollution verdict. "In a world in which businesses, assets and people cross borders with ease, courts are ...

San Jose, Aug 30 (EFE).- President Luis Guillermo Solis has issued an executive order banning the development of hydroelectric power plants along Costa Rica's Pacuare and Savegre rivers for the next 25 years. The environmental protection measure covers power projects with a generating capacity equal to or greater than 500 kilovolts to keep the rivers clean and free of barriers. The goal is t...

Wikimedia Commons Svalbard, Norway – Crop Trust Press Release – Varieties of one of the world’s most important staple crops will be stored for perpetuity deep in the Arctic ice today. José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is joining scientific experts and delegations from Peru, Costa Rica and Norway to witness a ceremony h...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Miami, Aug 21 (EFE).- A 10-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after having one leg bitten by a shark while she was playing in the water a few yards (meters) offshore at a beach in Jacksonville, on the northeast coast of Florida, local media reported. The incident occurred last Wednesday when the girl was with her mom in the water close to the shore, and was at...

Rainforest in Costa Rica Costa Rica’s path towards carbon neutrality as a nation began in earnest in 2012; during the administration of former President Laura Chinchilla, a nationwide campaign for residents of Costa Rica to get involved in the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2021 was launched. “Limpia tu huella” (clean up your carbon footprint) officially started on Monday, Mar...

By Maria Jose Brenes San Jose, Aug 20 (EFE).- The plight of a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle that biologists in Costa Rica rid of a plastic straw stuck in its nose highlights the need to reduce the use of the synthetic material, since 8 million tons of plastics are dumped in the oceans each year, biologist Nathan Robinson told EFE. Robinson and Christine Figgener, of the Leatherback Trust, posted ...

Wikimedia Commons La Paz, Aug 19 (EFE).- Bolivia's government said Wednesday it will submit a bill to Congress that provides economic rewards to energy companies that take exploration risks. Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera made the announcement at the inauguration of the 8th International Oil and Gas Congress, organized by the Bolivian Hydrocarbons Chamber. State-owned and private-se...

CR Star Archives SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA, August 19, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- There is little doubt Costa Rica's limited, legal sale of turtle eggs from one Pacific beach offers a loophole for the sale of eggs collected illegally elsewhere. Not only does egg poaching, often carried out by armed gangs, pose a clear danger to the endangered marine turtle species affected, it's putting an increasi...

Solar Energy Park in Guanacaste, Costa Rica CEPAL Press Release (August 18, 2015) -- Using the abundant energy resources found in Latin America and the Caribbean in a sustainable way can significantly contribute to overcoming barriers to development, experts gathered at ECLAC’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile said during the seminar The Future of Energy: Latin America’s Path to Sustainability....

Source: Zoo Ave An infamous case about cruelty against wildlife in Costa Rica will be the subject of a future documentary, which will be produced in association with the Discovery Channel cable television network.   The heartbreaking history of “Grecia,” a juvenile toucan that lost most of its upper beak after a savage attack by a group of youths in Costa Rica, has drawn lots of att...

CR Star Archives San Juan, Aug 14 (EFE).- Environmental agencies in Puerto Rico are investigating the destruction of 99 eggs of the endangered leatherback turtle that were found in a nest on a beach in San Juan, activist Deborah Feliciano told EFE Friday. Feliciano, a member of the government-sponsored 7 Quillas group that is charged with keeping watch on the beaches of Condado and Ocean Pa...

San Jose, Aug 13 (EFE).- Clean energy sources were used to generate 100 percent of the electricity in Costa Rica for 94 straight days, breaking the old record of 75 days set between January and March of this year, the state-owned Costa Rican Electricity Institute, or ICE, said. No fossil fuels were burned between May 8 and Aug. 9 to generate electricity, cementing Costa Rica's "world leadership...

Uvita, Costa Rica (PRWEB) August 12, 2015 -- Bodhi Surf School, a community-engaged surf and yoga camp in Uvita, Costa Rica, is proud to announce its 2015 My Ocean Guardian Journey Contest. The contest is an environmental essay and photo contest that aims to recognize individual actions that promote conservation and impact-reduction; moreover, it aims to give momentum to the grassroots movement to...

"Ara ambigua" by Alois Staudacher - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons A chapter in the history of how open pit mining failed to take hold in Costa Rica recently closed with the bankruptcy of Canadian firm Infinito Gold, which lodged a lawsuit against the sovereignty of our country for what they feel was a breach of contract in the infamous Crucitas case. Although t...

Source: Christopher Gillette Facebook The charismatic biologist and wildlife photographer Christopher Gillette is currently on his sixth visit to Costa Rica. Mr. Gillette, better known as Crocodile Chris, has appeared on various television programs broadcast by the Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, History, and E! Entertainment. According to a report by Teletica Channel 7 News, Mr. Gillette a...

Fuerza Publica guards the rescued sea turtles. Source: MSP Despite dangerous surf conditions off the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, law enforcement and environmental protection officers apprehended three men suspected of hunting sea turtles with harpoons. According to press release CP-1407-2013 of the Ministry of Public Security (Spanish initials: MSP), the incident occurred on Wednesday aftern...

Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Aug 4 (EFE).- Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, or DRNA, personnel are caring for a manatee calf rescued off a beach in northwestern Puerto Rico, environmental officials said Tuesday. The marine mammal was spotted on Monday off Shacks beach in the city of Isabela, Natural and Environmental Resources Secretary Carmen Guerrero Perez said in a state...

Wikimedia Commons Buenos Aires, Aug 4 (EFE).- Navy and Environment Secretariat personnel are working with whale experts Tuesday to lead a lost whale out of the dikes on the River Plate in Buenos Aires and into open water, Argentine officials told EFE. The young humpback whale, which is seven meters (about 23 feet) long, got lost on Monday in the waterway. Rescuers using motorboats are tr...

2015 National Geographic Photo Contest Winner WASHINGTON (Aug. 3, 2015)—Selected from more than 17,000 entries, an underwater photograph of divers swimming near a humpback whale taken by Anuar Patjane Floriuk of Tehuacán, Puebla, Mexico, has won the 2015 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest grand prize. Floriuk wins an eight-day National Geographic Photo Expedition to Costa Rica and the ...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Harare, Aug 2 (EFE).- Zimbabwe is suspending the hunting of lions, leopards and elephants outside Hwange National Park in response to the killing of Cecil, the African country's most famous lion, in July, officials said. The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, or ZPWMA, is also investigating the possible illegal hunting of another lion a day after Cec...

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica (PRWEB) July 29, 2015 – Featured in BBC's "Nature’s Miracle Orphans", Kids Saving the Rainforest and The Sloth Institute Costa Rica announce plans to re-introduce the famous two-toed sloth duo, orphaned and hand raised by Sam Trull (known as the Mother of Sloths) and co-founder of The Sloth Institute (TSI), back into the rainforest in the maritime zone adjoining Tulemar ...

WNET THIRTEEN Media Release – Growing up in the wild is hard enough on young animals when they have parents to rely on for protection and guidance, but what happens when they lose their parents? How do they survive? Over the past few years, great strides have been made in understanding how to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned wildlife. But as the documentary shows, success often comes down to the e...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Mexico City, Jul 22 (EFE).- More than 97,000 Kemp's ridley sea turtles were born in recent days at the Playa Rancho Nuevo wildlife sanctuary in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, the National Protected Natural Areas Commission, or Conanp, said. The hatchlings emerged from more than 2,000 nests in the wildlife reserve under monitoring by Conanp specialist...

Crocodile Man Tour at the Tarcoles River near Jaco, Costa Rica Biologists and wildlife experts in Tamarindo Beach are urging visitors and residents of this coastal town to give crocodiles the space they deserve. Over the last few days, anglers casting their lines in the Tamarindo estuary have noticed a significant increase in the number of large reptiles in the area, a situation that conservat...

Alleged Greenwashing by Infinito Gold The controversial Canadian mining firm that fought against Costa Rica for nearly a decade over the Crucitas open-pit project has formally suspended its arbitration case presided by the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, which serves the World Bank. According to a news report filed by Manuel Sancho of online news daily CRHoy.com,...

Source: MSP Ministry of Public Security / Official Communique CP-1319-2015 – Police officers assigned to the port city of Limon, located in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica, rescued five sea turtles in the nick of time, thereby preventing their slaughter by nefarious poachers. The incident occurred in Moin, near the area located between the beach and the maritime shipping docks. Officers ...

Source: Fuerza Publica Earlier this month, the Ministry of the Environment (Spanish acronym: MINAE) in Costa Rica held the first in a series of workshops destined towards defining the next strategy for sea turtle conservation in our coastal regions. The Vice Ministry of Coastlines and Wetlands will be in charge of these workshops, which call upon various stakeholders to determine the current s...

Source: Wikimedia Commons Violence against sea turtle nests and the human volunteers who protect them continued last week, this time in an Atlantic beach of South Florida. According to a news report filed by Anne Geggis of the Sun Sentinel newspaper, a 72-year old man was rushed to the hospital with a gunshot wound on his hip after an altercation involving a man who did not approve of the work...

Source: MSP Two suspected poachers were arrested this weekend by officers from the National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica in Playa Amor, located in the Santa Cruz canton, province of Guanacaste. According to official communication CP-1301-2015 from the Ministry of Public Security (Spanish initials: MSP), the suspects were caught with 165 sea turtle eggs, specifically from the Lepidochelys ...