RESERVA NATURAL MONTE ALTO

Deforestation leads to water shortages in the region

Reforestation became necessary

Originally, large parts of the Pacific coast of Central America were covered by species-rich, tropical dry forests. But between the 1930s and 1980s they were almost completely cut down. This led to a loss of natural biodiversity and a drastic water shortage in the annual dry season, because the rivers dried up!

The population reacts

Only the protection of the remaining forest areas and reforestation in the headwaters of the Rio Nosara promised to reverse this development. In 1992, citizens in Hojancha founded the local organization Fundación Pro Reserva Forestal Monte Alto. Two years later, a 924 hectareas, largely deforested basin was designated as an official protected area. By 2022, over 60 % of this area will have been reforested with natural mixed forest. The streams in the headwaters of the Rio Nosara carry water all year round again today, and the protected area is home to a steadily increasing diversity of species. A special aspect of this project is the combination of forest protection and small-scale agriculture (coffee and oranges), so that nature conservation and fruit plantations can coexist.

Pupils are proud of their planted forest
The little howler monkeys can be heard throughout the valley. But it is a peaceful roar and they're just showing off: This delicious tree is already occupied by us. So you don't have to fight!
The Monte Alto Lodge is very simple but located in the middle of the reforested forest. You almost sleep in the treetops.
The tamandua (small anteater) in search of its favorite food
Project manager Miguel Mendez with the healthy saplings from a tree nursery in Monte Alto
Forest engineer Victor Esquivel catalogs and evaluates the growth of the reforestation on Finca Alicia

Reforestation of several pasture areas

Together with pupils and the local population, Tropica Verde has reforested over 50 hectareas of pastureland in the Monte Alto valley. Here one can see forest engineer Víctor Esquivel cataloging and evaluating the growth of the species-rich plantations on Finca Alicia.

Local tree seeds

Tree seeds from over 30 tree species were collected in the forest, germinated in the tree nursery and then after further 15 months planted out in the reforestation area. In order for the trees to grow, it is necessary to cut back the aggressive pasture grass for a further 5 years.

Tree seeds first had to be laboriously collected in the forest and germinated before trees could be grown in the nursery
Stefan Rother, Alexis Obregon & Miguel Méndez (from left) with camera trap in Monte Alto © Víctor Esquivel

Camera traps

In Monte Alto, camera traps financed through crowdfunding have been used for several years to continuously document biodiversity.

Watch movie

Video recordings from camera traps in the Monte Alto area

Listen & watch podcast

(Video) podcast from the Frankfurt Palmengarten about Costa Rica, the Monte Alto bed & environmental education in nature conservation projects

WHAT DOES TROPICA VERDE DO?

  • Tropica Verde has been a member of the foundation since March 1997. Since then, several pastures have been jointly acquired, which did not allow for natural reforestation due to the aggressive pasture grass. In order to restore species-rich forests, local tree seeds were collected with the locals, pupils and students and grown in tree nurseries. The last reforestation project was established at Finca Alicia in 2018. Together with the local schools, over 30 different local tree species were planted. The labour-intensive reforestation with these young trees was successful: over 80 % of the 1,100 trees planted have grown well in 2022 and will contribute to the region’s biodiversity in the future.
  • Tropica Verde supports environmental education by visiting the surrounding schools and excursions by pupils to the protected area. Every year, training courses on respectful interaction with nature, river clean-up campaigns, animal identification courses and much more are held. A training center in the Reserva also enables further training in the middle of nature. The principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are important to us.
  • In order to link the Costa Rica-wide environmental education activities of our local partner organizations, Tropica Verde 2024 launched across-project education network .
  • Since 2020, we have been supporting the scientific mapping of the area using camera traps and clay animal track beds, among other things, to document the increase in biodiversity.

News about this project