Ensuring Wetlands Protection

Since 1998, with CRUSA’s support, the OTS has implemented several initiatives in the Palo Verde National Park and its surrounding areas to promote the conservation of the park’s wetlands, which are of incalculable economic and biological value. It has also worked with local communities to help them use the water resources of the Tempisque River Basin in a sustainable way in their various economic activities.

As part of these efforts, the OTS has trained small and medium-scale rice farmers to use more efficient and eco-friendly production techniques and has also developed technological tools to help them make informed decisions about the management of the watershed. Several activities have been carried out to eliminate invasive plants in the area, and the project has also restored life to the Palo Verde Lagoon, which lay abandoned for more than two decades. Since 2004 this lagoon has been visited by around 35,000 aquatic birds of more than 50 different species.