Tropical Forests as Carbon Sinks

Tropical forests store a fifth of the world’s carbon emissions, making our conservation efforts in Central America a particularly important climate change solution.

Last month, we partnered with Nicaraguan NGO FUNDENIC to host a well-attended forum on the Climate Change-related Challenges and Opportunities for Biodiversity in Nicaragua. Our Executive Director, Sarah Otterstrom, presented on “Components for Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts. Other presenters included Tim Lattimer, the US Department’ of State's Environmental Director for Central America; Tito Sequeira, from the Coalition of Rainforest Nations. and Dr. Jaime Incer Barquero of Fondo Natura and FUNDENIC. 

Nicaragua is already vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, and the frequency and severity of extreme storms is likely to increase with climate change in coming years. In fact, Nicaragua is considered the third most vulnerable country globally to extreme weather events, according to the 2009 Global Climate Risk Index, thus the need to protect the country's natural resources is becoming ever more critical. Forums such as this are important for increasing dialogue and developing adaptive responses to climate change impacts.

Visualizing Climate Change

Our friend and colleague, Teresa, blogs at Project Groundswell about  Visualizing Climate Change on the Ventura Boardwalk:

SLAP stands for the Sea Level Awareness Project, and it is one of a number of initiatives from the group Kids versus Global Warming, founded by 15 year old Alec Loorv. Alec and volunteers constructed and installed SLAP sticks all along Ventura’s Boardwalk back in 2008 to mark the point to which sea level is expected to rise with climate change.

Visit the Kids versus Global Warming website to learn more about the Sea Level Awareness Project and what they are doing to educate youth about the science of global warming, and empower them to take action.

Sea turtles in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Paso Pacifico Board Member Rick Smith just forwarded the latest article from the National Parks Traveler:

Creature Feature: The Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Faces an Uncertain Future

The Kemp's ridley may be little as sea turtles go, but its got big problems. It was already the world's most endangered marine turtle before the mammoth Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico threatened to wreak havoc on its vital habitat.

These are perilous times for the Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempi). Having been reduced to a small fraction of its historic population, and now assailed by the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the slowly recovering L. kempi population remains too close to extinction for comfort. Much will depend on continuing efforts to save it. It's the most sweeping campaign yet mounted in behalf of a marine turtle species.
...

All of this is certainly not to say that the Kemp's ridley is doomed. In fact, things have been looking up for the species. Over 6,000 nests were counted in 2000, and while that's nowhere near the 40,000+ of the historic arribadas, it's 30 times the number recorded in the 1970s and 1980s. The total population of mature Kemp's ridleys is now thought to be in the neighborhood of 8,000. Full recovery is no longer just a dim prospect.

News from Pelican Eyes Hotel and Resort

From this month's Pelican Eyes newsletter:

Stones and Waves Vet Clinic continues to thrive, under the leadership of Elvis Cortez, and the financial support of World Vets. The next clinic is scheduled for this week at the Escuela Agricultura in Rivas. In addition, great progress has been made with the animals that previously lived at the hotel. All of the dogs and the majority of cats have been adopted out to good homes, thanks to the tireless effort of Katie Horn, now with World Vets, Paso Pacifico, and Elvis of Stones and Waves Vet Clinic. The 8 spider monkeys that once resided at Pelican Eyes have all been relocated to a spacious wildlife reserve in Nandaime. The removal of cats has already cleared the way for Nicaragua's natural wildlife to return to Pelican Eyes. Numerous bird species, butterflies, and iguanas have all begun to return to their natural habitats here among the Pelican Landscape. Hummingbird feeders have been installed throughout the property, as well.

Solar Handbags: A Powerful Accessory

"High fashion is going high-tech with designers creating this season's must-have accessory: a handbag that recharges your cell phone or Blackberry." ELLE magazine will be running an eBay auction on these high end handbags. Money will go to Paso Pacifico and our work with the Portable Light Project. Reuters has the video.

Survivor: Nicaragua

La Prensa has a preview of the newest installment of Survivor, filmed in the Paso del Istmo where we work:

"Las playas en la costa sur del Pacífico de Nicaragua se convertirán en el nuevo escenario de Survivor...

"El programa consiste en filmar la vida cotidiana de 20 concursantes que competirán por sobrevivir en las playas de San Juan del Sur, en el departamento de Rivas..."

The beaches of Nicaragua's Pacific coastline will become the setting of the newest edition of Survivor...

The show will follow the daily lives of 20 contestants as they compete to survive on the beaches of San Juan del Sur in Rivas.

We hope as the world turns to watch and see the natural beauty of Nicaragua, they'll join us in working to create a culture of conservation.

Protecting Neotropical Migratory Birds

Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced more than $4.9 million in grants for 37 projects that support neotropical migratory bird conservation throughout the Western Hemisphere. Matched by more than $14.8 million in additional funds from partners, the projects will support habitat restoration, environmental education, population monitoring and other priority activities within the ranges of neotropical birds in the United States, Canada, Mexico and 27 Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Protecting Neotropical Migratory Birds and Key Habitats in the Paso del Istmo Corridor Rivas, Nicaragua

This project aims to protect Neotropical migratory birds and key habitats across private reserves in the Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor on the Rivas Isthmus. This area provides refuge to at least 36 species of Conservation Concern and is an important land bridge for migrating swallows and raptors. Paso Pacifico will restore 400 hectares of cattle pasture to natural forest by using native tree species and facilitated natural regeneration, and will assist private reserve owners in mapping key habitats, developing and designing interpretive bird lists, and developing management plans to protect these habitat types. Additionally, Paso Pacifico will carry out year two of a long-term monitoring program established in 2009, and will increase local capacity through training workshops and by sharing monitoring results at regional conservation meetings. Finally, Paso Pacifico will reduce bird mortality through a slingshot exchange program where two hundred binoculars and bird-focused curricula will be delivered to children in rural schools in exchange for slingshots. This outreach program will culminate in the celebration of International Migratory Bird Day, a first-time event for Rivas Nicaragua.

Project Partners:

• Optics for the Tropics
• Carbonfund.org
• Red de Reservas Silvestres de Nicaragua

Partners in Flight

"In 1990, an unprecedented effort was launched to preserve the western hemisphere's bird life."

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of this collaborative effort to bird conservation.



Its mission:
To keep common birds common by protecting the core of avian diversity and maintaining the integrity of habitats and ecosystems across continents.

To promote partnerships for birds, habitats, and people by working together to create solutions and supporting partnerships at every level.

Watch the video.

Jaguar Corridors in the New York Times

In today's New York Times:

To Help Jaguars Survive, Ease Their Commute
LAS LOMAS, Costa Rica — Héctor Porras-Valverdo tried to adopt a Zen attitude when he discovered recently that jaguars had turned two of his cows into carcasses.
...
“I understand cats do this because they need to survive,” said Mr. Porras-Valverdo, 41, a burly dairy farmer.

A few years ago, he acknowledged, his first reaction might have been to reach for a gun. But his farm now sits in the middle of land that Costa Rica has designated a “jaguar corridor” — a protected pathway that allows the stealthy, nocturnal animals to safely traverse areas of human civilization.

In the past few years, such corridors have been created in Africa, Asia and the Americas to help animals cope with 21st-century threats, from encroaching highways and malls to climate change.

These pathways represent an important shift in conservation strategy. Like many other nations, Costa Rica has traditionally tried to protect large mammal species like jaguars by creating sanctuaries — buying up land and giving threatened animals a home where they can safely eat, fight and breed to eternity.

But in the past decade or so, scientists have realized that connecting corridors are needed because many species rely for survival on the migration of a few animals from one region to another, to intermix gene pools and to repopulate areas devastated by natural disasters or disease. Placing animals in isolated preserves, studies have found, decreases diversity and risks dulling down a species — like preventing New Yorkers and Californians from getting together to procreate.

“It was kind of an epiphany,” said Alan Rabinowitz, a zoologist who is president of Panthera, an organization that studies and promotes conservation of large cats. “We were giving them nice land to live on when what they were doing — and what they needed — was an underground railway.”

He said critical migration routes were especially vulnerable in rapidly developing countries, where new roads, shopping malls, dams, playgrounds and subdivisions could spring up overnight, blocking the animals’ passage.

This is exactly why we employ conflict resolution, land management, and economic development strategies to do what we do, as we work toward a Central America where well-managed conservation areas are connected by viable biological corridors that span from ridge to reef, including restored tropical dry forests and marine protected areas.