Costa Rica has big goals to counter climate change, for several years now the government has talked about its objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2021 and eliminating single use plastic becoming the first country to achieve this. Whether this is realistic or not is a topic that has raised many different opinions and points of view. “We are a small country with big goals. Our pioneer...

This week the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) pledged US$3 million to upgrade the country's national parks, which will be invested over the next three years, said tourism officials. The first allocation of a million dollars will be for Tenorio Volcano National Park, which was affected by Hurricane Otto last November, and Manuel Antonio National Park, the country's most visited park. The ...

At around 9:20 a.m. this morning the Poás Volcano in Costa Rica presented a new eruption which is still going at this hour. The column reached over 500 meters above the sea level (3,008 meters or 9,866.24 ft above sea level) according to the report by the National Seismology Network. The Turrialba Volcano in Cartago, on the other hand has also had constant small pulses of ash eruptions...

With the creation of national parks on August 24, 1945 Costa Rica made a commitment to protect areas of biological importance to improve the quality of life of current and future generations. According to information provided by SINAC, the country has 169 protected areas, which represent 26% of the country’s total area; this includes national parks, forest reserves, national monuments, wildli...

Behavioral economics is a ¨method of economic analysis that applies psychological insights into human behaviors to explain economic decision-making¨, this was the method used in an experiment ran by the Curridabat Municipality to promote recycling habits among its residents. Curridabat is a county to the east of San José, Costa Rica and which according to the Municipality has close to 20,600 ho...

In the mid-1990s, 1,000 truckloads of orange peels and orange pulp were purposefully unloaded onto a barren pasture in a Costa Rican national park. Today, that area is covered in lush, vine-laden forest. A team led by Princeton University researchers surveyed the land 16 years after the orange peels were deposited. They found a 176 percent increase in aboveground biomass -- or the wood in t...

As Costa Rica seeks to increase revenue from exports, various sectors are exploring ways to be more competitive, including the timber industry, said the  Costa Rican Trade Promotion Agency (Procomer). The agency's recent study, "The World Timber Market and Trends for Value-Added Products," recommended that the national timber sector develop ideas for new value-added products. According to th...

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.  Monday’s total-solar eclipse has taken over the media’s airwaves. The hearts and minds of Americans weary of toxic politics welcomed the chance to concentrate on the Moon and Sun instead of terrorism, President Donald Trump, North Korea and racial divisi...

The whale watching season begins in the South Pacific of Costa Rica and national and foreign tourists have been posting their videos of the impressive mammals on social media and these go viral very quickly. The spectacle of humpback whales and dolphins during the months of July through October with a peak in September increases tourism to the South Pacific, particularly the area of Uvita a...

An as yet unidentified substance was used by an unidentified individual to color water in a large downtown San José, Costa Rica decorative fountain as a means of protest against environmental contamination, reported the Costa Rican digital news service Amelia Rueda this week. The act was described on social media as a protest against pollution caused by pineapple production in Costa Rica. Th...

Heavy rains that fell during much of yesterday in Costa Rica's northern region caused damages to some of the infrastructure at Tenorio Volcano National Park, and forcing a temporary closure, said a report on Teletica, Costa Rica's Channel 7 television news station. The park was closed all of yesterday, Thursday, August 17, and rangers hoped to be able to reopen the park - even if only partially...

A shopper in Scotland brought home something unexpected with his purchase of a Costa Rican pineapple this week. The pineapple was shipped from Costa Rica as are all fresh pineapples with the crown, or green leaves attached to the top, to keep them from ripening too quickly. And this adventurous snake found that a convenient place to hide. The Edinburgh grocery shopper called the Scottish Soc...

Just two months after the establishment of Costa Rica's Pacific coast Cabo Blanco Protected Marine Area, a shrimp trawler, the Maria Aurelia, was arrested by the Costa Rican Coast Guard after being caught red-handed trawling in this area where trawl activities are banned, said the conservation group CREMA in a press statement today. The illegal fishing activity comes two months after the protec...

Nayara Resorts near Arenal Volcano have expanded their resident sloth population to 15 recently, reported the travel news industry. The resorts, Nayara Springs and Nayara Resort, Spa & Gardens, which have won numerous awards and recognition for their stunning natural surroundings and luxurious amenities and service, give guests views of Arenal Volcano while soaking in mineral springs. St...

Costa Rica's Administrative Court last week threw out a case filed by the San José Municipality, the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce (UCCAEP), the Chamber of Construction, the Costa Rican Chamber of Commerce, and others against the Costa Rican National Groundwater, Irrigation and Drainage Service (SENARA), according to a report in the daily Costa Rican Elpais.cr. The plaintiffs challenged a 201...

The Central America Birding Trail is the name of a project developed by Birdwatching Central America and Operador Latino two companies that focus on bird-watching tours and that wanted to create a new option for birding fans. Around 1500 species of birds can be spotted in the Central America region, from Guatemala and Belize to Panama. Sergio Arias, director of Birdwatching Central America e...

The First Encounter of World Marine Heritage Sites of the East Pacific took place from Wednesday to Friday this week in the Guanacaste Conservation Area in Costa Rica. Representatives from the different Marine World Heritage Sites gathered in the country in the event organized by the Pacifico Foundation, the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the UNESCO field office in Costa Rica in respons...

Tucked in the hills west of San José, beekeepers producing organic honey in San Ramón, Alajuela are petitioning the local government to ban herbicide use in the region to avoid contaminating their products, according to a report in the digital daily elmundo.cr. Association of Organic Beekeepers for the Conservation of the Environment (Asocapico, its initials in Spanish) made a request to the Sa...

A mega rail and road cargo transportation project that would completely bisect Costa Rica east-west through its northern region seems to have the makings of a future conservationist versus businessman standoff. The details of the project's location have been kept nebulous, while those in the shipping, trade and transport sectors tout the economic benefits of a future rapid interoceanic system t...

How, and why, would a jaguar paint? Staff at the Las Pumas wildlife rescue center in Cañas, Guanacaste, Costa Rica got inspired with the idea when trying different things to ease the stress of captivity on one of their rescued female jaguars, named Curubanda. They spray a canvas with pheromones, which attract the jaguar to roll on it. Add some color - and boom, a unique wildlife painting is ...

The Turrialba Volcano has been once again presenting eruptions since 12:30 a.m. this Monday morning. The eruption that took place at 12:30 a.m. presented a column that reached 500 meters above the crater and 3,840 meters above sea level (12,595.20). Another explosion was registered at 9:20 a.m. this time with a column of 400 meters above the crater, this one is still carrying on. Neighboring...

The Poás Volcano National Park, one of the most visited parks in Costa Rica, has been closed for almost four months, due to the explosive activity it started presenting since April, this has caused big economic loses to local commerce that depend on tourism; it has also affected the National System of Area of Conservation (SINAC) that is not receiving the park entry fee. Considering that the Vo...

The new regulations contained in the Wildlife Conservation Law, signed this Thursday, August 3 by Costa Rica’s President Luis Guillermo Solís and the Minister of Environment Edgar Gutierrez, change some of the aspects regarding wildlife management using scientific and technical criteria taking as a base foreign institutions with vast experience in this topic. The Wildlife Conservation Law now d...

Costa Rica's national park system is about to get a major boost with the inauguration of top notch new facilities in a northern lowland protected area teeming with biodiversity. A visitor's center and a series of accessible walkways spanning parts of the wetlands and seasonal lakes at Costa Rica's spectacular Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge will be inaugurated Friday, August 4, reported the National...

Costa Rica established a committee tasked with monitoring governmental commitments on responsible   pineapple production and trade Monday, July 31 at a forum supported by the United Nations Development Program.   The initiative - led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG)- also involves the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, and th...

Three tour operators have been ordered to stop offering walks and tours in areas of the Arenal Volcano National Park that are off limits, said the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC) this week. Improvised trails that lead to the crater of Cerro Chato, the twin peak of Arenal Volcano, were closed with barbed wire by park rangers, due to informal tour operators using them for touris...

The Association of Tour Operators (ASOTU) welcomes visitors to the Marino Ballena National Park all year, but especially in September for the height of whale watching season on Costa Rica's southern Pacific coast. Humpback whales can be seen along many parts of Costa Rica's southern Pacific coast from July - October each year when they give birth to their calves in the area's warm waters. Th...

The Municipality of Escazú will be fumigating and collecting non-traditional waste to prevent the spread of dengue and zika. The campaign started Friday, July 28 and will tun until August 18, said the Ministry of Health in a statement. The neighborhoods of Los Anonos, El Carmen, San Francisco, Corazón de Jesús, and Bello Horizonte were chosen for the campaign based on Ministry of Health recomme...

Nat Geo announced the second season of its digital series Untamed with Filipe DeAndrade; the filmmaker and his colleagues and friends McKenzie Barney and Brian Moghari explore the wildlife of Costa Rica and will bring the audience closer to the many wonders the country has to offer. The filming of Untamed in Costa Rica began the first week of July and will extend for six months, the second seas...

The National Chamber of Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism (CANAECO), organizer of the VI International Conference on Sustainable Tourism: Planet, People, Peace-P3, together with the Costa Rican Tourism Institute ICT), invite children from 8 to 10 years of age from throughout Costa Rica to participate in the children's drawing competition with the theme of "Planet, People, Peace". The contest s...

Costa Rica is working to rehabilitate and protect mangroves, a coastal ecosystem that is highly threatened throughout the world, said Deputy Minister of Water, Seas, Coasts and Wetlands, Fernando Mora in an interview with the Spanish News Agency (EFE). Costa Rican environmental authorities stressed the importance of conserving mangroves in harmony with the well-being of communities bordering th...

In just the first half of 2017, Costa Rica has reached a new record in clean energy production and received their latest Biosphere Reserve declaration by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)—solidifying their unshakable commitment to sustainability. During the first six months of the year, 99 percent of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources, a...

The Wisconsin-based Natural Resources Foundation announced a new offering for adventurous travelers. In March 2018 the non-profit educational group will run a "Bird Conservation Boot Camp" in Monteverde, Costa Rica. The week-long educational course will be led by conservation biologist, Craig Thompson, and will be held at University of Georgia at Athens field station in the San Luis Valley a...

The production of coffee around the world, including Costa Rica could be affected by climate change, stated experts and authorities in Colombia, which also warned no country is ready to face these problems. Because of how sensitive coffee plants are to small fluctuations in temperature as the temperature goes up this will affect the coffee production which in the past few years has been overtak...

-- 10,000 hammerhead sharks were sacrificed to amass the 8-ton stockpile The Costa Rican Endangered Marine Species Rescue Center (CREMA) and the U.S.-based organizations Fins Attached Marine Research and Conservation and Wild Over Wildlife have begun an on-line campaign and petition requesting Costa Rica's President Luis Guillermo Solís to stop the export of 8-tons hammerhead shark fins a...

Nature guides and environmental educators at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve welcomed an atypical group last week to their outdoor classroom. Ten young men from the Ofelia Vincenzi Specialized Center, a rehabilitation center run by the Ministry of Justice and Peace, visited for the first time the world renowned forest as part of their educational experience. Those chosen have ...

On the southern Pacific beaches in and around Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, there are four types of sea turtles that nest at different times of the year: Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea), Green (Chelonia mydas), Leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata). All of these are in danger of extinction, mainly due to human pollution and other human intrus...

In July, a suit was filed with the Costa Rican Administrative Litigation Tribunal requesting the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC, its initials in Spanish) and the Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) undertake a scientific study to determine whether or not there is an over-population of crocodiles in the country. Each year there are at least a few human encounters with cr...

Around 6:29 a.m. this Friday, the Poás Volcano had a new eruption that lasted for close to 10 minutes and was captured by the cameras of the National Seismology Network (RSN); the eruption concluded with the emanation of reddish colored ash. The color, according to Dr. Mauricio Mora from the RSN obeys to an oxidation process which is normal and has been occurring for several weeks. The colorati...

Envision a country with electric transportation, both public and private. That's all it would take to make Costa Rica cut its dependence on fossil fuels, with its already nearly total production of green electricity. Sound like a tall order? Monica Araya says that though she comes from a small country, she likes to dream big. The Yale-educated conservationist has turned her efforts over rece...