Our first project Festival RAFA--"United for the Pacuare"--is an annual 3-day festival centered around Earth Day to unite the community in conservation of the Pacuare River Basin, creating alliances for the benefit of all and for the watershed. Our second project is creating and implementing a participatory water quality monitoring program to promote and achieve sustainable management practices in the Pacuare River Basin.
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Festival RAFA - "United for the Pacuare" is an annual 3-day festival that we began in 2022, centered around Earth Day in April. Our purpose is to unite the community in conservation of the Pacuare River Basin, creating alliances for the benefit of all and for the watershed.
The first day, on April 21, will be a community "Summit" gathering. In 2022, we brought together conservation and civic organizations, Costa Rican State institutions, international organizations, municipal authorities, educational authorities, and rafting companies and lodges that operate on the Pacuare River. The full day of presentations and meetings was held in the Turrialba Municipal Theater, sponsored by the Mayor of Turrialba.
For 2023, we plan to honor the local community leaders in Turrialba and Siquirres counties, including the indigenous Cabecar community, who have fought for decades to protect the Pacuare watershed. We will be remembering the 2005 plebiscite that received overwhelming support against any future hydroelectric dams on the Pacuare. We plan this to be a large, public, community gathering.
The second day, on April 22, will be a community rafting trip down the Pacuare to celebrate the river's natural beauty. We do this in partnership with the rafting companies and lodges.
The third day, on April 23, will be a tree planting in the Pacuare River Basin / Barbilla-Destierro Biological Corridor. In 2022, we planted 1,500 trees, and we plan a similar amount for 2023. The event is open to the public.
Our second project is creating and implementing a participatory water quality monitoring program to promote and achieve sustainable management practices in the Pacuare River Basin.
This will be a long-term program focusing on analyzing water quality parameters throughout the Pacuare Basin. It aims to understand the environmental health and status of the river and its tributaries. Monitoring across space and time can help to identify new threats to the riverine ecosystem and the life it supports.
To that end, we propose to carry out quarterly water analyses in 10 to 13 selected sampling sites along the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the river and its major tributaries by using the Holland Quality Index for physical-chemical parameters, as well as the Biological Monitoring Working Party (BMWP-CR) for water quality testing based on the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.
The program will be led by hydrologist Christian Golcher Benavides of the Water Research Center for Central America and the Caribbean at Costa Rica's National University.
