Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve covers 35,000 acres of mountainous forest and is privately owned by the Tropical Science Center (TSC), a Costa Rican NGO dedicated to conservation, ecotourism, and sustainable development. TSC offers guided hikes through the Cloud Forest, but their priority is conservation and research; only 2% of the forest is open to the public and they will close trails to protect the wildlife. The 75% of all plant and animal species in Costa Rica call this reserve home. The preservation work the TSC does is vital to Costa Rica’s biodiversity, but it is all being threatened by global climate change.

Climate change is raising temperatures everywhere, disrupting historical weather patterns and causing more extreme weather events. However, the increased temperatures are more dangerous to Monteverde Reserve. The mountainous ecosystem is stratified by altitude because the average temperature decreases with altitude. However, as temperatures rise due to global warming, low altitude animals which prefer warmth are able to move up the mountain and disrupt life at higher elevation. One such example is large bats, previously constrained to lower elevations, are able to inhabit higher regions of the forest and hunt coatls.

The land for the reserve and surrounding national park was purchased from mining companies and coffee plantations, meaning the TSC and Costa Rican government chose to prioritize conservation and sustainability over productivity. Of course, TSC must make enough money from tourism to keep itself afloat, but that is very little compared to the amount that could be made from coffee or industry developed on that land.

Sustainability and conservation go hand in hand most of the time, but I believe sustainability should be prioritized over conservation and production. Costa Rica’s economy is in a decent spot except for agriculture, and moving towards a more sustainable society would help alleviate that pain, thus future-proofing the economy by making the country more self-sustaining. Increasing sustainability would also make conservation efforts easier, as resources could go from mitigating damage from unsustainable practices to restorative work.