Firefighting drones could help save Costa Rica’s tropical forests
In Sector Pocosol, an administrative section of Costa Rica’s Santa Rosa National Park, there’s a wide, open field of browned grass. Its perimeter is guarded by towering trees, branches barren of their leaves, which cover the ground after falling in the dry season heat. Shade is a stranger, and by 3 p.m. it’s already 106 degrees. In the field, part of the vast Área Conservación de Guanacaste (ACG), I stand beside Arturo Cortés Angulo, a volunteer firefighter. Sweat covers his forehead as his thumbs hover over the controller of a drone.
Costa Rica shark finners fly fins to U.S. en route to Hong Kong, documents reveal
Conservation groups Turtle Island Restoration Network and PRETOMA have found evidence that the fins of hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) are being flown from Costa Rica to Hong Kong by way of stop-overs in the United States, violating U.S. law.
Latest eruption of Turrialba Tuesday morning produced ash column 2,000 meters high
Costa Rica’s Turrialba volcano erupted again at 2:07 a.m. Tuesday morning, producing a column of ash that reached 2,000 meters high over the volcano’s crater, according to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI).
Damaged marine ecosystems will take thousands of years to recover: study
Several studies have already shown that anthropogenic climate change has pushed marine life toward the brink of a major extinction event. Now, a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has found that while disruption of marine ecosystems occurs very rapidly, their recovery from the effects of abrupt climate change might take thousands, not hundreds, of years as previously believed.
Costa Rica’s coffee growers have two years to phase out dangerous pesticide
A decree signed by President Luis Guillermo Solis as well as the ministers of agriculture, environment, health and labor will give Costa Rica’s coffee growers the next 24 months to phase out the use of a highly toxic pesticide known as endosulfan over the next 24 months. The decree took effect on Monday.
Morning earthquake produced more than 70 aftershocks
An early morning earthquake that struck two kilometers north of Vara Blanca, Heredia, produced more than 70 aftershocks, according to the National Seismological and Volcanological Observatory (OVSICORI).
Court dismisses lawsuit by Harken Energy against Costa Rica
Email this page December 17th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) After more than nine years, the Administrative Disputes Tribunal has dismissed a lawsuit against Costa Rica brought by Texas oil firm, Harken Energy. The company, which at the time was closely linked to former U.S. president, George W. Bush, had obtained a 1998 concession to search for […]
Deadlock persists at Peru climate summit; protests take spotlight
Email this page By Zlatica Hoke December 17th, 2014 (VOA) A top U.S. negotiator at global climate talks in Peru warned deadlocked delegates Saturday that failure to reach a compromise on carbon pollution standards could doom chances for a global pact next year in Paris. U.S. climate change envoy Todd Stern issued his warning after negotiators from […]
