Parrots in Costa Rica

In 1502, Christopher Columbus dubbed this Central American country Costa Rica y Castillo de Oro, which means 'rich coast and golden castle.' He assumed it was home to gold resources, which colonizers never actually found.

But the country is nontheless home to great wealth - namely its extraordinary diversity of plant and animal life. But this treasure is increasingly in jeopardy.

The problem has been worsening steadily since the 1970s. The rainforest is under threat from deforestation and agriculture, as well as pineapple farming.

Costa Rica is one of the world's main pineapple exporters and with rising prices on world markets, pineapple production continues to expand and claim land. It's happening at the expense of the rainforest. Moreover, liberal amounts of pesticides sprayed on the plantations are polluting  Costa Rica's rivers and soil.

The result is an ongoing degradation of the country's ecosystems. 

Pioneering conservation efforts

A number of initiatives have attempted to reverse the loss of precious biodiversity. Among them is The Tropical Science Center (TSC) founded in 1962 by Leslie Holdridge, a US expert on tropical forests, and ornithologist Alexander Skutch. Costa Rica's first NGO, it set out to protect biodiversity in this tropical paradise and to promote sustainable use of its resources.

Back then, the Central American nation didn't have a single designated conservation area. Today, more than 27 percent of the country's area is protected. The pioneering environmental conservation efforts in Costa Rica are largely thanks to the work of the TSC.

The Great Military Macaw is among the species facing extinction as a result of widespread deforestation. The largest parrots in their natural range, these green birds can grow up to an average of 85–90 centimeters long and weigh approximately 1.3 kilograms.

They are rarely sighted, not least because they have nervous personalities. But they are also endangered, and belong to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. The protection of these birds is one of the primary tasks of the TSC.

Decades of degradation

One of the first things the researchers did was to learn to understand the birds' habitat. In 1994, they began a study which ended with sobering results. It found that the parrot's nesting areas had shrunk by 90 percent since the 19th century.

Aware that it can only survive in a specific biotope, the TSC acquired parts of the rainforest and campaigned for designated conservation areas.

 Another threat to the parrot is poaching, with squabs particularly sought-after – and at up to $300 a head, extremely lucrative.

The TSC therefore runs educational programs that raise awareness among the local population of economic alternatives and teach them how important it is to preserve the rainforest.

"Otherwise they won't change their behavior," says Monika Melisch from the environmental organization Tropical Verde, one of the TSC's partners. "Environmental protection works for people not against people."

'A keystone species'

Since 2001, a group of 20 environmental organizations has been fighting to set up the El Castillo-San Juan-La Selva biological corridor which is meant to stretch from Costa Rica to Nicaragua.

The group clinched its first success in 2005 when the government declared the Malenque rainforest in northern Costa Rica a wilderness reserve. Today it's home to the greatest biodiversity in the country as well as the Great Military Macaw's main nesting areas.

"The Great Military Macaw is a keystone species,” says Melisch. A keystone species is a species that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community.

"It therefore has great symbolic value," says Melisch. "If you protect a keystone species then you're protecting biological diversity as a whole."

Author: Michaela Führer (jp)
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar