Proyecto Campanario (Escazú, Costa Rica)

Proyecto Campanario

Escazú, Costa Rica

Website: http://www.campanario.org/

Mission Statement

Proyecto Campanario, a multifaceted conservation effort of its founders and supporters, is dedicated to preserving tropical eco-systems, both terrestrial and marine, through protecting a tract of tropical lowland rain forest and its coastal zones in Costa Rica, offering environmental education programs for national and international students of all ages, promoting tropical research and studies, and working with the local communities.

Issue Areas – Action Issues

Since Proyecto Campanario’s creation in 1990, with the Campanario Biological Station as the central focus, different programs and activities have emerged to put the mission into action. Proyecto Campanario is engaged in 10 different programs:

• Protection of a tract of tropical lowland rain forest and its coastal zones in Costa Rica, maintaining the eco-systems with a minimum of human impact.
• International tropical ecology courses and camps offered to university and secondary school student groups as the “intense field trip” to give first-hand experience in field studies in tropical eco-systems and in living off-the-grid.
• National environmental education programs for Costa Rican students to study their tropical forests through in-country exchange programs and sponsorship by local companies.
• Eco-tourism adventures for visitors looking for a vacation with an educational focus.
• Volunteer and internship programs exchanging part of room and board for work in the Station and/or in the San Jose office.
• Research and species inventories in terrestrial and marine eco-systems carried out by national and international investigators and Campanario volunteers.
• Local community involvement and service projects to support nearby schools, to offer short courses to the local community, to promote sustainable tourism, and to work with park officials.
• Regional involvement in development associations and other conservation NGOs to continue conservation efforts of the Osa Peninsula.
• National level involvement through the Costa Rican Network of Private Nature Reserves which promotes and supports  private conservation in Costa Rica and throughout the Central American Isthmus.
• Expansion of the Campanario Biological Station through acquiring nearby tracts of land under pressures of “development”.

Student Name and Class Year: Nancy Aitken, MS ’06; Steven Wilcox, MS ’05

If you are interested in getting in touch with this student/alum, please contact Caroline Ramaley, [email protected]