Today we went to the Cloud forest in Monteverde and explored multiple trails within the reserve. We went on a guided tour and saw many types of wildlife such as monkeys, toucans and lots of Coatimundi. After the tour a few us went to explore a trail that led to a waterfall! It was beautiful. While the rainforest was amazing, we learned that it is changing due to climate change and not for the better. The Cloud forest got its name due to the amount of clouds that lay over it. However as the years go on, the humidity increases and the cloud rises into the sky ,this causes direct changes to the ecosystem. Another change is the emergence of different types of animals into the rainforest. Birds are appearing that have never been in the Cloud forest before.All of these changes are very real for Monteverde and provide multiple challenges.

Costa Rica is aware of these changes and is known for their efforts in stopping climate change. However, this is a tricky balance for the country as their economy relies heavily on tourism. Ecotourism has become a huge money maker for Monteverde and Costa Rica as a whole. They section off parts of Costa Rica’s forests, preserve it and create touring companies in order for people to experience the nature. This is ideal in theory as it knocks out two birds with one stone but Costa Rica has to do more than just create reserves as they are still a working country and all the land can not be preserved forests. A new thing that has been introduced are Biological corridors which were created to make connections of different areas of land in order to help preserve the nature. This allowed for animals to safely move around the country. The matter of climate efforts is tricky as people who live in these corridors don’t have any restrictions when it comes to sustainability and conservation but they have the opportunity to receive financial aid for contributing to the efforts. A lot of the time this financial support is very crucial for families.

I personally would prioritize sustainability out of all three of them because sustainability is focused on the future and making things last longer through less waste and other efforts. Something that the institute was doing was having compostable toilets that required no water or electricity and it created a lot less water waste.This is a great form of sustainability because it is using what we have and not creating excess. The present is the only part of climate change that we can focus on now and sustainability allows us to do so, while also looking into the future.

Today was a really fun day with lots of information. We spent the rest of our day hanging out at the hotel pool and enjoying a nice dinner together. Can’t wait for tomorrow!