June 2006
Have you ever felt the steamy embrace of a virgin rainforest? Or observed from a pristine beach as scarlet macaws peer down at you inquisitively from atop a stand of almond trees? You can still do that in Costa Rica.
We want to make sure you’ll always be able to.
Our small country has deservedly earned world attention for setting roughly one-quarter of its national territory aside for parks and protected areas.
But history has proven that setting the land aside has not been as big a challenge as preserving its protected status from the likes of illegal loggers and poachers.
The government has yet to pay original landowners for some lands that are now protected. Visitors’ centers are rare, and park rangers are often poorly paid caretakers with little formal knowledge of the amazing flora and fauna they’re responsible to protect.
Café Britt and a collection of other environmentally conscious businessmen and women intend to change that.
Our new association, ProParques, seeks to ensure that Costa Rica’s parks and protected areas not only survive for future generations, but are enhanced through stable sources of funding and education to improve the visitors’ experience – whether you come for sun and sand, or to learn about our amazing ecosystems.
We hope to find creative ways to create a permanent and renewable resource pool to expand conservation efforts and create a professional corps of park staff.
We’ll get communities and nature lovers involved creating money-making opportunities that will put them to work for the parks, instead of unlawfully exploiting the parks’ riches for temporary and very short-sighted gain.
We intend to use our business savvy to make ProParques the catalyst for positive, noticeable change. We all have too big a stake not to get involved.
