Today, I started the day bright and early at 5:30 to do yoga outside. Soon after, we started our journey to the amazing cloud forests in Monteverde.
The cloud forest reserve offered multiple trails leading to different and incredible natural sights. We were able to see a waterfall and the continental divide!
The cloud forest also had amazing wildlife. We were able to see a toucan, monkeys, and other various birds and insects!
When observing the cloud forest, it’s important to recognize what this rare biome offers for Costa Rica, as we had the pleasure of learning different aspects of this at the Monteverde Institute today. In order to protect these forests, it’s important that people work with them in aspects such as productivity, sustainability, and conservation, especially when dealing with climate change.
Monteverde houses about 2% of the world’s species, and the cloud forests are changing with climate change. The rain patterns have been changing (e.g. later start to the wet season), and on the trails, there are not as many clouds as there used to be. Changes in an environment, even the smallest thing like frog populations decreasing, can greatly affect an ecosystem. Since small changes can change so much, it’s important to take the correct steps productively to benefit the environment. Monteverde now can make and approve their laws (like zoning) because it’s a county. This allows for a more sustainable approach as well!
One conservation effort that Monteverde uses to protect these forests is use biological corridors, which connects different protected lands to generate connectivity for the wildlife. This can be difficult, however, because working with locals is required. They need to be worked with, not kicked out. This is a specific challenge for Monteverde, as many people did and still continue to live on their farms.
Another effort taken is allowing people to earn land titles and medals for their good land. When people show the land is taken care of, they can be awarded. This incentive motivates people to take good care of their land, which benefits the overall area.
When looking at productivity, sustainability, and conservation, conservation is definitely something that needs a lot of attention. Once a species is gone, there is no way to get it back. Therefore, we need to take the steps in order to protect and conserve the wildlife in these forests.
We ended the night with a fancy dinner!
Can’t wait to keep exploring!