Parataxonomists, education, reforestation, land
Click to enlarge and display photo captions
The GDFCF exists to promote the long-term survival of Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) — its land, its species, its ecosystems, its people, and its knowledge.
We train, fund and guide the parataxonomist program of Costa Rican biodiversity managers. These are local men and women whose careers center on understanding what ACG biodiversity exists, in which places and what it does there, and of transmitting that information to the rest of the ACG conservation community, the scientific community, and the world at large. [SEE: BIOINVENTORY OF ACG]. ACG is also a test bed for innovative methods to identify and understand wild biodiversity through the use of DNA barcoding.
We contribute to ACG’s biological education program (PEB) for neighboring schools, to a Bio-awareness activities program for children in a small coastal community, to the construction of the ACG website, and to active sharing of biodiversity knowledge. [SEE: EDUCATION FOR BIODEVELOPMENT]
We have supported the growth of the ACG’s size from the original Parque Nacional Santa Rosa to its modern 169,000+ hectare continuous sweep from the Pacific Ocean waters through dry forest to cloud forest to Caribbean rain forest, including a mosaic of ecosystem and landscape restoration. We continue to buy and conserve strategically important parcels. [SEE: HABITAT RESTORATION]
The ACG is a complex effort to achieve long lasting conservation through the social integration and non-damaging biodiversity development of a large complex tropical wildland. It contains thousands of small moving parts that unexpectedly need repair or replacement — a new boat motor, a failed water pump, or a novel tourism initiative. We specialize in helping ACG meet these demands on time and with no government budget. We also support a burgeoning sea turtle and jaguar conservation effort and neotropical migratory bird research. [SEE: ASSISTING ACG BIOMANAGEMENT]
The ACG is an exercise in learning by doing, shaped by its conservation mission.
