The Corcovado Foundation was created by members of the community of Drake Bay, mainly hoteliers, whom concerned for the imminent destruction of the rainforest of the area, have worked to create the Corcovado Foundation.

Control and Protection

Since 2000, our organization has helped and supported Corcovado National Park and the entire Osa Conservation Area in their efforts to protect the precious natural resources of this area. In order to achieve this, the foundation established an agreement with the Ministry of Environment (MINAE). This agreement allowed the foundation to hire park rangers with private funding and put them to work in the park system.

At that point the foundation hired two park rangers and one forestry engineer. The park rangers were very aggressive in controlling hunting and illegal logging. At the same time our forestry engineer was very successful in detecting illegal logging permits. Thanks to these efforts, the logging permits decreased from 132 to 16.

Up to October 2007, the Corcovado Foundation kept a payroll of 62 park rangers, 2 environmental lawyers, one forestry engineer, and two environmental educators amongst others, to add up to 79 employees hired for the Osa Conservation Area (ACOSA).  This corresponded to a 55% of the total staff of ACOSA. In October 2007, after an aggressive campaign, we were able to convince the government to absorb these positions permanently and finance their salaries for good.

In 2005 and 2008, the foundation built 5 ranger stations: Los Planes and Los Patos Ranger Stations at Corcovado National Park,  El Naranjal at Golfito Natural Refuge, La Gamba at Piedras Blancas National Park and Rancho Quemado at Golfo Dulce Forestry Reserve.
Between 2001 and 2009 the Corcovado Foundation has successfully managed more than 65 programs and projects for the Osa. With this funding we have been able to pay for operating expenses for the national park. Fuel, food and equipment have also been purchased for the park.

These are great successes for the conservation of the Osa area and will guarantee the integrity of its natural resources.

Osa Biological Corridor Technical Coalition

The foundation participated actively in the creation of the Osa Biological Corridor Technical Coalition and is an active member of it, together with other important organizations that work in the Osa: including the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), the Neotropica Foundation, the National Institute of Biodiversity (INBIO) and the Environmental Law Center (CEDARENA).

Through the CTCBO project, the Corcovado Foundation funded and led the program called Community Environmental Protection Committees Strengthening Project. These committees are constituted by people from the local communities who commit time to help protect the environment. This funding was invested in helping the committees get organized, trained and equipped.

Environmental Education Program…Creating awareness

We believe that through education we will be able to create enough awareness among the local communities about the true value of their natural heritage and the existing need to protect it from over exploitation and unsustainable development.

As an initiative to spread this message to the young generations, we also brought to the Osa the children’s stage play “Corcovado… at the south of our dreams”. This play focused on the illegal hunting that threatens wildlife in Corcovado. Since illegal hunting is also a cultural problem related with local traditions, we wanted to show the children the negative effects of this practice.

Since 2003, we have hired an environmental educator to visit local schools such as Drake Bay’s Agujitas and Lapa Roja Schools, Los Planes, El Progreso and others.  In the last years the community has improved dramatically.  Children show awareness about what is going on in their surroundings. They recycle and protect their natural resources.  watch a video here.

The foundation also helped create the Jaguars youth group. These children get together every Saturday to work on different projects a tree nursery, a turtle nursery and a recycling program are some examples of their weekly activities.  Weekly workshops and some field trips have helped to educate the children about the importance of protecting their environment.

 Recycling Project

Years ago, the Corcovado Foundation’s personnel started to proactively work with school students and hotel staff in Drake Bay to teach them the importance of recycling and responsible waste management.  Then we realize a serious issue: the area did not have a viable way to collect the recyclables.   Therefore in 2004, we built a recycling collection center in Sierpe, donated by the president of the foundation. 

We then trained and provided equipment to the Sierpe High School so that they could make the profit from selling the recycling materials.  Just in 2006 we recycled over 7,424 kilos or 16,332 pounds of aluminum, glass and plastic that otherwise would had ended up burnt in the back of the homes of the Families in Drake Bay. The project generates around $1000 extra dollars a year for the high school that separates and sells the recycled material.

In order to help other communities do the same, the Corcovado Foundation has worked with ten other communities which needed support getting organized and we have provided training, equipment and we have a created a recycling network in order for these projects to get stronger through their work together.

Sustainable tourism

Eco tourism is fundamental for the protection of the natural resources in the Osa Peninsula, it provides an income to communities that otherwise would need to consume the natural resources to make a living.

Osa’s clear importance in biodiversity and its increasing popularity as a nature tourism destination make it a critical site for implementing a sustainable tourism project. Hotels produce considerable amounts of different sorts of waste: solid, liquid, semi liquid and even gases. Regardless of the kind of waste, hotels have major responsibilities to undertake actions in the Management of Solid Waste. The Corcovado Foundation has been helping these businesses to diminish their impact on the environment.

At Drake Bay, the issue of garbage has been a perpetual concern for the inhabitants. Up until today, the lack of a collecting system makes the handling of the waste as improperly as it could be: trash is burned or buried. Both procedures cause great damage to the environment, especially the burning. The gases released are carcinogenic. On the other hand, the rain can wash buried materials away, carrying it over to rivers and shores, ending at the ocean. To reach an efficient management of solid waste, two steps are mandatory: Diminish the amount of garbage produced, by recycling the waste and responsibly handle the waste that cannot be processed.

In 2004, the Corcovado Foundation built a collecting center for recycling materials in Sierpe, this will help to launch the recycling program in Drake Bay. The high school in Sierpe is in charge of receiving the materials and selling to the different recycling companies. The profits are used to pay for the Sierpe High School expenses.

Also, the Corcovado Foundation has been having talks with hoteliers about sustainable tourism, how to diminish their impact in the environment. From 2003 to date, our organization has trained and create awareness among 350 employees in the Osa Peninsula and the central Pacific area of Costa Rica.

The implementation of the best management practices is a powerful tool that can be used successfully to address the negative impacts of growing nature-based tourism. Today there are numerous efforts to define best management practices in tourism. The best management practices are a series of principles and concrete recommendations that can be implemented by different land-use sectors.

Marine Turtle Conservation Program

The decline of the populations of marine turtles in regions like the Osa Peninsula is a reflection of the global situation that threatens these reptiles worldwide.

Currently, regions such as Drake Bay (Bahia de Drake) in the Osa Peninsula (Peninsula de Osa) confront remarkable human population growth. This has brought, as a consequence, many changes including the loss of important habitat for wild species.

Having an economically non-equitable development in the area increases the possibilities that the less favored groups apply more pressure on some specific natural resources, turning the situation of certain populations even more critical.

This project works in coordination with the regional strategy for the conservation of this species. Data is taken with standardized protocols and results are compared.

Preliminary studies show a reduction of nesting activity in Drake Bay Beach. According to testimonies, the nesting species include the Eretmochelys imbricata (Hawksbill/Tortuga Carey), Dermochelys coriacea (Leatherback/Tortuga Baula) and Lepidochelys olivacea (Olive Ridley/Tortuga Lora). However, only this last species nests in decreasing numbers.  According with the research done by our organization in 2003, 2004, and 2005 the amount of nests poached was in average 85%.

This decrease seems to be the result of the robbing of turtle eggs, the destruction of nesting habitats by domestic animals, the impact of fishing with trammel nets and by shrimpers who drag their nets over any living beings they can gins. For these reasons it is necessary to protect the beaches, where sea turtle nesting is reported.

Therefore, it becomes crucial to maintain the program of protection and recovery of the marine turtle’s population, which currently visit that beach, in order to counteract against threats as the stealing of the eggs, poaching of the nests by pets and the building and lighting on the beaches, among others.

Since its first year, in 2006, there were several positive achievements.  The annual Turtle Festival (Festival de la Tortuga) gets around 200 people every year, all of whom enjoyed games, recreational activities, puppets plays, etc.

The greatest accomplishment of this project are the 32,000 turtles that were able to hatch and then make it to the sea since 2006.