Canadian Role
Since 1991, the World Wildlife Fund Canada has worked in partnership
with the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE)
and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) in the
Arenal.
Developed to halt and eventually reverse the conversion of tropical
forest to low-productivity cattle pastureland, the Arenal project
secured and expanded core protected areas, demonstrated and promoted
the use of natural resources on a sustainable basis, raised public
awareness of the need for conservation, and strengthened government
laws and policies affecting the conservation of the region.
The strength and innovation of the Arenal conservation partnership
lay in the balance between protective measures and environmentally
sensitive efforts to improve the livelihoods of local communities
such as experimenting with a wide range of activities, including
organic vegetable farming, tree nurseries for reforestation, ecotourism,
and handicraft production and sales.
A significant number of local people directly benefit from the
proceeds of ecotourism through their employment as guides, small
innkeepers and suppliers of fresh farm produce. There are indirect
benefits in communities downstream from the protected mountain
areas, in the form of fresh water for drinking and irrigation,
and natural resistance to drought and floods. Another benefit
derives from secure, natural drainage into Lake Arenal, which
provides half of Costa Rica's hydroelectric power.
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Claude Tremblay
Canadian Director
