Conservation

Conserving a Costa Rican Rainforest

3 min read

Photos By:Nick Kelley

Location:Osa Peninsula

While the Osa Peninsula might seem like a world apart, rainforest protectors like Jim Córdoba-Alfaro are working to map the endless networks of life and find a balance between conservation and tourism. Here’s a peek into Jim’s work under the canopy.

Jim Córdoba-Alfaro approaches research in the Osa peninsula’s rainforest like he’s creating a set of instructions for understanding and repairing the world.

“Just take a deep breath,” Jim said. “A rainforest stores more carbon dioxide than any other type of ecosystem on our planet. So, we need to restore and protect rainforest ecosystems to absorb carbon dioxide and protect biodiversity.”

Jim is the founder and president of Biosur Foundation, a grassroots organization that promotes rainforest conservation, research, and environmental awareness on the Osa Peninsula. The Osa is a special place. It holds almost 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity in just 700-square miles of land. In other words, the Osa manages to squeeze something like 250,000 species (over 300 of which can’t be found anywhere else on earth) into a space a little more than half the size of Rhode Island. And much of this biodiversity is found within the rainforest – the last tropical rainforest on the Pacific side of Central America.

The Osa’s economy is helped by tourists who come to experience this one-of-a-kind place, but tourists also present an increased risk to the Osa’s unique ecology.

In addition to this ecological wonderland, the Osa is a great place for surfing, fishing, hiking, kayaking, and waterfalls. The Osa’s economy is helped by tourists who come to experience this one-of-a-kind place, but tourists also present an increased risk to the Osa’s unique ecology. Jim’s organization and others like it are trying to find a balance between protecting the peninsula and allowing folks to experience life under the rainforest’s canopy.

It's All Connected

Researchers who study one of the most biologically diverse places on earth know that they have to pay attention to details and be willing to get their hands dirty, because they never know where they might learn their next big lesson.

A recent epiphany came from an unlikely place while studying the relationship between spider monkeys and tree seeds.

“We've been analyzing it and we found over 400 different types of tree seeds, and we’ve been able to germinate the seeds.” Jim told us that spider monkeys disperse these seeds across the forest via their feces.

This work highlights the connected nature of rainforest ecosystems—threats to any one species are threats to entire ecological communities in ways that scientists are still trying to understand.

Conserving the Canopy

Scientists do know that the Osa Peninsula’s biodiversity is almost unparalleled. And much of that biodiversity exists in the rainforest’s canopy, the forest layer that serves as a kind of foliage roof. But—because it’s hundreds of feet in the air—the canopy is difficult to study.

“We really don’t know everything that is up there,” Jim said. “Scientists keep discovering orchids and new species of plants. That is something amazing about tropical forests—more than sixty percent of our plants are up there in the forest canopy. The canopy is another world.”

Rainforests—which used to be six percent of the land surface on the planet but are now less than two percent—account for more than sixty percent of biodiversity on earth. Jim has been studying the rainforest since he was a kid.

“Several people from the National Museum of Costa Rica really gave me the opportunity to learn with them. Since I was nine years old, I have been working in the field with experts.”

Seeing all that could be learned and all the work that needed to be done, Jim knew he had to keep from getting overwhelmed. “There are so many different things—climate change, pollution, flora, fragmentations, and other conservation issues,” Jim said. “Living on the peninsula, I knew that I had to really focus.”

Thinking big by going small

One of Jim’s focuses has been the smallest creatures in the Osa—the insects. For an entomologist, the rainforest is one of the most exciting places on the planet. Jim has discovered more than 30 new species of insects (and two mammals) and he founded and directs a nonprofit museum called Insectopia.

As part of this work, he’s noticed changes to the insect populations due to climate change.

Conservation is about more than just loving and admiring the land. Conservation is a requirement for the delicate balance that keeps the planet humming.

“They are getting smaller because we are losing water in the rainforest,” Jim said. “It’s creating a problem for the insects.”

When he first began collecting swallowtail butterflies, he would do so in February, but now he collects them in November because of climate-related changes to the forest. Jim’s work is vital for ensuring that these important members of the rainforest community can survive and thrive in the years to come.

“We need nature,” Jim said. “Nature doesn't need us.”

Believing in Balance

Jim knows that conservation is about more than just loving and admiring the land. Conservation is a requirement for the delicate balance that keeps the planet humming. Seemingly small actions like developing roads and increasing tourist opportunities without considering the environment can fragment forests and have effects that ripple across ecosystems. So we have to understand how all these things work, for our own sake.