Frank Paladino Ph.D. has devoted years to the study of Leatherback sea turtles in Costa Rica and all over the world. He now adds his voice to the many conservationists strongly opposed to downgrading Las Baulas National Park and threatening the survival of these magnificent creatures. Frank is a distinguished professor in the Department of Biology at Purdue University. He has been an integral part of The Leatherback Trust for years as well. Many of the people we have highlighted on Nature Blog have literally committed their lives to preserving and protecting our natural world. Theirs are voices that speak on behalf of nature and our debt to them is priceless.

The following is an excerpt of an open letter recently written to all Costa Ricans by Dr. Paladino:

I have worked for over 20 years on beaches in Costa Rica on research involving marine issues mostly with turtles but also with large pelagic fishes. Over 45 graduate students have participated and completed important scientific studies on marine issues. These students are from the USA, Costa Rica, Argentina, Spain, Australia, Colombia, Peru, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa, England and Greece. The scientific research of these brilliant young people, coming to Costa Rica from all over the world, have led to the publication of over 55 reviewed scientific papers in the leading international scientific journals.

The results of these properly authorized and conducted studies, led to the conclusion that Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas is an essential and important national and international marine park that protects the largest nesting population of the critically endangered leatherback sea turtles in the Eastern Pacific. This research of 20 years has been well documented and very open and transparent as has been the work with local communities, the Costa Rican Government, NGO’s, many collaborating scientists, and the National Park Service to help protect and understand this international treasure protected by your Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste.

This new law introduced by President Arias will be the death of the Costa Rican National Park System and the protection it provides to your environmental national treasures. The world has looked-up to Costa Rica as an example of how to shape an ecotouristic economy; yet this action by the Arias administration will open Pandora’s box to the elimination and attacks on all the other national parks.

The Leatherback Trust is an NGO and has been audited in both the USA and in Costa Rica. All donations have been used to support the educational, scientific and conservation goals of TLT. We have donated funds to the government through the courts to acquire undeveloped open land within the park boundaries. We have purchased one building that now serves as the Goldring Marine Biology laboratory, the only Marine Laboratory in the park. It serves as an educational facility where scientists, students and volunteers have come to work with the park administration, all with the proper scientific permits from Costa Rica, under the umbrella agreement with MINAE that established this facility as an educational and research institution. This facility has been used by MINAE and NGO’s also for workshops and training courses in the area of marine conservation and protection.

The government sanctioned management plan was conducted by Costa Rican scientists who concluded that this park and the fragile area are critical; furthermore, that it would not support the type of development planned by developers, as has now been confirmed by technical criteria issued by the government’s institution administrating subterranean waters and irrigation, SENARA.

The rest of the world and I now doubt the commitment of the Arias administration to protect your national treasures including aquifers, preserve your ecotouristic economy based on them and respect your own scientists and findings that demand you protect these important places and animals for all time.

To view a fascinating National Geographic video featuring Dr. Paladino and the Leatherbacks, please click here.

Dr. Richard LaVal received an email from Alvaro Ugalde with the Voice of the Leatherback Turtles attached. He read the magazine and immediately sent a letter to the Legiislative Assembly on behalf of Las Baulas National Park and the Leatherbacks. In addition, he forwarded the magazine to colleagues and friends and provided his own introduction. We will share both his letter and his introduction with you.

To download a copy of Voice of the Leatherback Turtles click here.

First, it is important for you to know a little about Richard because it adds credibility to his sincerity. Dr. Richard LaVal first visited Costa Rica in 1967 as a graduate student in the Organization for Tropical Studies tropical biology course. He moved to Costa Rica in early 1980 and lives in Monteverde. He is a member of the Tropical Science Center in San Jose, owner of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve  and a leader in conservation efforts within the country. He has been doing extensive research and giving lectures and field experiences on bats. He has found time to write a book (Murciélagos/Bats de Costa Rica) and many articles in scientific journals. More recently he opened a state-of-the-art live bat exhibit in Monteverde, the Bat Jungle, that is unique in the world and one of the leading natural history exhibits in Costa Rica.

In the introductory note to his friends, he encourages them to send their own letters protesting the legislation to downgrade this national park to a wildlife refuge, which effectively opens it up to commercial development.

He writes,“ I have seen these magnificant turtles many times laying eggs on this beach. It is an unforgettable sight! I also saw, on an adjacent beach, one of the results of development, which always has brilliant lighting - a street light was actually on the edge of the beach, and confused hatchling leatherback turtles were walking in endless circles under the light trying to get to the ocean. No doubt they were picked off by predators before they ever reached the sea. Turtle biologists tell us female turtles will turn back if they encounter lights on a beach, so development anywhere near Playa Grande beach is simply out of the question.”

His letter to key members of the Legislative Assembly, which are provided in the magazine, is very compelling and it follows:

I strongly recommend that you reject the bill now pending before the Environment Commission of the Legislative Assembly (Expediente No. 17.383 “Rectificación de Límites del Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas y Creación del Refugio de Vida Silvestre Las Baulas de Propiedad Mixta.”) This proposed legislation is not necessary and has been rejected by legal, political, and environmental experts in Costa Rica and around the world.

Leatherback turtles return each year to make nests and lay their eggs on the beach where they have hatched. Costa Rica’s Las Baulas National Marine Park is their home and has been for thousands of years. The Leatherback turtles in the Pacific Ocean are at extreme risk of extinction. There are today probably fewer than 1,000 individuals remaining in the entire eastern Pacific. The downgrading of the Park’s protection of the turtles puts them at imminent risk.

The Leatherbacks are magnificent animals completely deserving of all the respect humans can give them. If these turtles become even more threatened and disappear as a result of this careless and unnecessary legislation, all humans will be the worse for it. Ethically and morally, it is unconscionable; economically it is unwise, because Costa Rica’s green image will be forever sullied; and politically it is monumentally absurd since the reputation of Costa Rica as a country that pretends to lead the world with Peace with Nature will be shown to be a charade.

Reject this bill. Save the habitat of the Leatherback turtles, and save Costa Rica the shame and embarrassment of shoddy, anti-environmental legislation

Richard LaVal

What is it about preserving nature in its most pristine state that is important to us? The world existed long before we ever laid our eyes upon a magnificent crimson sunset. The geysers of Yellowstone bellowed forth their molten hot water a million years before it was declared the first national park anywhere in the world in 1872. Leatherback sea turtles obeyed the millennial ritual of nesting on the shores of Playa Grande long before Costa Rica had a name.

We humans are guests here on this planet and nature is our silent host. The creation of national parks is the only way we can protect nature from our insatiable desire to remake the world in our image. They help anchor us in an otherwise impermanent existence, reminding us of life’s eternal mysteries and inspiring us to be more.

Las Baulas National Park must be preserved. Nature is mute and defenseless and we are its only hope. Who will speak on its behalf if we remain silent?

The Voice of the Leatherback Turtles is an ezine, a relatively new web based format that looks like a magazine, has pages like a magazine, but you read it on your screen and turn the pages with your keypad. We have provided a tutorial to help you get acclimated. Stephen Duplantier is responsible for the overall design, graphics and for editorial contributions as well.

The ezine features contributions from an extraordinary array of people who have dedicated their lives to the conservation movement within Costa Rica and around the world. There are news stories and open letters; all with one goal in mind and that is to preserve this little slice of heaven on earth. It takes the voices of many individuals and weaves them together into a written symphony in defense of Peace With Nature.

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The Comptroller General of Costa Rica has submitted a report to the Special Standing Committee on the Environment which fires an explosive broadside into the government plan to downgrade Las Baulas National Park to a wildlife refuge, thereby threatening the existence of the critically endangered Leatherback sea turtle.

According to Article 183 of the Constitution, “The Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic is an auxiliary institution of the Legislative Assembly in its surveillance of the Public Finances; but it has full functional and administrative independence in the performance of its duties.”

Simply stated, this is an extraordinary development in the effort to maintain the status of this national park and the Leatherback. In addition, it makes a powerful case for protecting all of Costa Rica’s parks. This is the first time a high-ranking official within the government has spoken against this pending legislation.

This story was first reported in El Diaro and written by Betania Artavia. An unofficial translation and invaluable commentary has been provided by Stephen Duplantier, the designer and contributor of the soon to be published ezine, Voice of the Leatherbacks.

The single most important line to be culled from this piece is that according to the Comptroller General there is “no technical justification to change the park’s status.”

The Comptroller General’s report stated, “The proposed measure lacks an adequate and proper technical justification, which seems to be enough to question its conformity with the law, since [the proposed measures] are involved in a comprehensively-protected area that ensures that all people have the use of its ecosystems. Without the existing safeguards, these ecosystems may be immediately threatened by the negative impacts the proposed measures can have on our growth and involvement as human beings in our global environment.”

The Comptroller General’s finding that the Constitutional Court on repeated occasions has been clear in stating that the lack of financial resources or technical personnel are not excuses for the inaction of public bodies in obeying the law. The cost of the expropriation of the lands held in private hands was one of the reasons given by the Executive Branch for the necessity of changing the park’s status. Neither the Court, nor now the Comptroller, agrees with this.

The report continues, “any precautionary measures in constitutional principles such as In dubio pro natura [“In case of a doubt, defer to nature”] would apply to the guarantee that since 1991 has tried to ensure compliance within the framework laid down in Articles 50 and 89 of the Constitution.” The principle declares that unacceptable environmental and health risks should be anticipated, and should be prevented before any damage becomes irreversible even if there is incomplete scientific understanding of the risks or dangers involved.

In 1993, Tamarindo was declared a Ramsar site– a designation of global importance, notes the Comptroller. A Ramsar site designation is intended to preserve wetlands to stop the encroachment of human destruction and subsequent loss of wetland. Wetlands have fundamentally crucial ecological functions in addition to their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value. Costa Rica was a signatory (along with 158 other nations) to this convention in 1971.

In addition to the Leatherback turtle subspecies that nest in this area, the marine zone of the park is the habitat of several species of threatened flora and fauna plus endangered ecosystems such as mangrove swamps.

According to the Comptroller, Costa Rica has signed several international conventions that require it to protect the Las Baulas Marine Park. These treaties include the International Sea Turtle Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity Biological and its additions, the Convention for the Protection of Flora, Fauna and Natural Scenic Beauty of the Americas, signed by Costa Rica on 24 October 1940.

Costa Rica also signed the Convention for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage Convention. This agreement signed in 1992 calls for the conservation of biodiversity and wilderness protection priorities in Central America. Costa Rica signed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. 

The Rio Declaration consists of 27 principles intended to guide future sustainable development around the world. Principle number 10 of the Rio Declaration calls for public participation by all concerned citizens in the handling of environmental issues. People should have appropriate access to environmental information held by public officials, and they should have the opportunity to participate in the decision-making processes.

The Comptroller General concludes that any legislative provisions that are under the status of the Political Constitution and also under the international conventions signed and ratified by Costa Rica must revert to respectfully treating the real and effective protection of the area that now constitutes the park. 

An extraordinary thing happened in Costa Rica on December 1, 1948 after a successful revolution against anti-progressive forces. José Figueres Ferrer abolished the Costa Rican Army. The photograph of Costa Rica’s Man of the Century, Don Pepe, taking a hammer to the wall of the Cuartel Bellavista became the symbol of an act that changed this small country forever. He boldly stated,  “The army hands over the keys to the barracks, to be converted into a cultural centre. We are the sustainers of a new world in America. Little Costa Rica offers its heart and love to civilian rule and democracy.”

Central America had a history of being the opportunistic playground of empire-building nations and corporations from other continents. It was being plundered for its resources and its people were incidental pawns in the games of these power brokers. Their own governments were often run by ruthless dictators who carried out the wishes of their invaders. When one looks at the political landscape of the time, both within Costa Rica and the other countries of the region, this single act of Figueres is without parallel.

During an interview with the New York Times in 1973, he said, ”I am what you might call a farmer-philosopher.” Nature was frequently the metaphor for his discourses and that was certainly the case in his thoughts in his book about the revoliton of 1948,  El Espiritu del 48.

 “I did not plant all the trees in the forest. I set out like the sower of seed from early dawn for the landscapes of my country to plant ideas, inspiration, ideals and enchantment. There took root the noble soul of this country and the honest groundedness of our people. That was the revolution. That was the spirit of 48! “

Over 50 years later, another seed was planted and it has the promise of equaling that historic moment for Costa Rica. On May 8, 2002. The newly elected President, Abel Pacheco delivered his inaugural address:

“We will compete without destroying Nature because, beyond the events of the moment, our rich bio-diversity will always be a great wealth and we will preserve it. Before we declare peace among ourselves and we declare peace among all nations; now we should declare a peace with Nature.”

It took about five years for this seed to grow into an initiative authored by the next President, Oscar Arias and aptly entitled, “Peace With Nature”.

Peace and nature are irrevocably linked together in this country, clearly enunciated by the new President in his initiative. He wrote,  “In addition to having a long tradition of democracy, peace and respect for human rights, Costa Rica has been internationally recognized for its pioneering efforts to protect the environment.”

Armies of nations, warlords, and terrorists still champion violence as a means to peace, or achieving their selfish needs, and it is impossible to separate the two. Nature is the battleground for these armies and the battles and casualties have been fierce. But a new battalion has joined their international ranks—the insatiable forces of greed. Our natural world has finally fallen victim to the relentless onslaught of the soldiers of avarice. They have depleted our resources, polluted our streams and oceans, killed off thousands of species, and poisoned our air and bodies with their pollutants.

Once again, Costa Rica must lead by example. Violence against man and nature come from the same seed. It is time to defend peace and nature. It is time for the voice of the Leatherback to become the voice of the people. Please save Las Baulas National Park and send another message to the world that, “Little Costa Rica offers its heart and love” to nature.

If Costa Rica fails in this final battle, the world will be a much more dangerous place to live in.

Another voice and another threat to Costa Rica’s Leatherback sea turtle has been added to the chorus of opposition to the proposed plan to downgrade Las Baulas National Park to a wildlife refuge. Todd Steiner is the Executive Director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network and he warns about the dire effects of climate change on the sea turtle’s Las Baulas habitat. They have had an ongoing relationship with Costa Rica’s own PRETOMA in  preserving the marine life around the Cocos Island.This twenty year old organization is an international marine conservation association headquartered in California whose 10,000 members work to protect sea turtles and marine biodiversity in the United States and around the world.

In addition to an Op Ed piece that ran in the Tico Times on October 2^nd, which is printed in its entirety below, these stewards of the sea turtle are gathering the support of one hundred key scientists as signatories to an open letter in direct opposition to the government’s plan. They are assisting seeturtles.org with a letter of support from Costa Rica’s eco-tour operators. There will be a forthcoming press release supported by the top NGO’s in the world conservation community. Todd will be sharing these with Nature Blog as soon as they are available.

Climate Change Affects Sea Turtles Nesting Sites

President Oscar Arias spoke eloquently at the United Nations about the need for action on global warming.  

Scientists have warned that, even if we were to immediately stop emitting all greenhouse gases, we cannot reverse some of the consequences we are already witnessing.   Melting polar ice caps and rising seas could spell doom to seaside resorts and homes, as well as one of Costa Rica’s flagship species, the sea turtle.

As sea levels rise, sea turtle nesting beaches will be flooded and the turtles will have to find nesting sites further inland from today’s shoreline. Yet, President Arias has proposed to downgrade Las Baulas National Park to a wildlife refuge, although the park includes one of the most important nesting beaches for the critically endangered Pacific leatherback turtle.

This proposed downgrading would allow new beach houses and condominiums right behind nesting habitat, preventing the leatherbacks from finding higher ground to lay their eggs as sea levels rise.

Hundreds of scientists and more than 30 conservation groups throughout the world, including some of the largest and best known (Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, etc.), have called on the government of Costa Rica to provide maximum protection for this critical nesting site and defeat the down-listing proposal.

Mr. Arias has tried to build on his Nobel Prize “Peace President” legacy, even starting a Peace with Nature Commission. Yet, his encouragement of the downgrading of this national park makes a mockery of his rhetoric to protect nature, and it questions the sincerity of his commitment to address the impacts of global climate change.

We ask President Arias to withdraw his proposal and join with the world that is trying desperately to rescue this magnificent species from extinction.   In so doing, he would help cement his legacy as the “Peace With Nature” president.

Todd Steiner 
Executive Director
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Olema, California, USA

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For All Time is a twenty year old, award-winning documentary, addressing the urgency for creating the Las Baulas Marine Park. This video is timeless, primarily because absolutely nothing seems to have changed in the two decades since. Inaction is a co-conspirator with time, and both are mortal enemies to the preservation of the natural environment. 

The Leatherback sea turtle has silently witnessed the demise of the dinosaur and somehow managed to survive over a million years, enduring every natural threat imaginable. In the blink of fifty years, we have brought these creatures to the very brink of extinction because we have confused stewardship of the natural world with ownership.

The three principals in the video have a long history with Las Baulas and are no less committed to its survival today. Mario Boza, one of the architects of Costa Rica’s national park system is now a conservation authority, involved with countless projects and is still an outspoken advocate on behalf of the country’s wildlife. Dr. Peter Pritchard is a world-renowned expert on turtle species. We have recently published his incredibly powerful plea on behalf of the preservation of Las Baulas and the entire national park system. It is a stunning bookend to his appearance in the video twenty years earlier. Mario Boza recalls, “Baulas Park was created in 1991 based on the research and recommendations by James Spotila, Frank Paladino and Peter Pritchard.”

No one has been closer to this situation than Maria Teresa Koberg Gutierrez, who briefly recounts her story:

The very same threats to the Leatherback sea turtles in Playa Grande that we encountered in the late eighties, rampant urban development and the destruction of the Leatherback’s nesting effort, their eggs and hatchlings, are present today.  Unfortunately, now only a few Leatherback’s nest in Playa Grande every season because the spoilage of their eggs during several decades, has taken its toll.

In the early eighties, empowered by the First Lady, Margarita Penón de Arias, who had accepted, at my request, to be Godmother of the Sea Turtles of Costa Rica; I approached the protection of sea turtles along both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

Together with Alicia Vega Rojas, Margarita’s personal assistant, Mario Boza, Director of the National Parks Foundation wherein the Sea Turtle Rescue Program created by myself was administrated, and Peter C.H. Pritchard, scientific advisor of the program; we were able to inspire the Girl and Boy Scouts Association of Costa Rica to help us protect the sea turtles. It worked, and under the firm and wise guidance of Stanley Rodríguez Méndez, more than 3,000 youngsters patrolled the beaches at both Matina and Playa Grande. The results were amazing and included the creation of Las Baulas de Guanacaste Marine National Park and the inspiration for creating two Leatherback sea turtle reserves along the Caribbean coast, at Pacuare, north of Matina:  The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Pacuare Reserve, founded by John Denham and administrated for more than two decades by John, and Carlos Fernández Alfaro, along with Estación Las Tortugas, founded and administrated by Stanley Rodriguez Méndez.

The Girl and Boy Scouts’ program also brought sea turtle conservation, up to then the domain of government officials and foreign scientists, to the Costa Rican middle class. At present, Costa Rican sea turtle beaches are protected by both Costa Rican and visiting volunteers.

The story behind the production of For All Time is one of overcoming all sorts of challenges, plus a fair amount of serendipity. You are encouraged to visit the web site of the Honu Project.

Another international conservationist speaks out against the Costa Rican government’s plan to downgrade Las Baulas Marine Park, home to the critically endangered Leatherback sea turtle. Julian Bakker is a retired Dutch lawyer who has spent the last ten years on environmental conservation projects in Colombia and later in Costa Rica. He represents the Environmental Association for Latin America, EALA, which works at times with  APREFLOFAS, APS Domincal, and other Costa Rican environmental ngo’s. As EALA is duly registered in Costa Rica, it is able to present, and has done so on various occasions, charges against perpetrators of environmental law  violations and/or authorities that fail to take action against them.. 

In addition to involvement with Leatherback preservation, the English web site of EALA is dedicated to informing foreigners about current environmental challenges in Costa Rica such as the new airport in Sierpe, the Golfito Marina, the open-pit gold mining projects of Bellavista and Las Crucitas, and the risks from large scale pineapple and oil palm cultivation, They also own a 30 hectare nature reserve at La Gamba, near Golfito.

What follows is the English translation of a letter EALA wrote to the Costa Rican Ambassador to the Netherlands:

His Excellency the Ambassador of Costa Rica

in The Netherlands

Amsterdam, 2 September 2009

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

Recently, the Government of President Oscar Arias has proposed to convert the National Park Las Baulas into a national wildlife refuge. In the current parliamentary session, the proposal is being studied by the Environmental Commission under nr. 17.383.

We are deeply concerned about this proposal. The present park is of vital importance for the Leatherback turtles, the biggest turtles in the world, to lay their eggs. The Leatherback turtle is in serious danger of extinction due to the destruction of its habitat and the large-scale fishing on the high seas.

The majority of the lots situated in the National Park Las Baulas belong to private companies and persons, many of whom are foreigners. Several of these companies and persons have acquired their lots with the knowledge that they were located within the park and that development would be prohibited, thus at their own risk. Under these circumstances the values of these lots are low and the cost of expropriation for the Government of Costa Rica is not very high.

If the Government should not clear the lots and should allow construction in the area with direct influence to the nesting beaches, there are great risks of destruction of nesting areas and removal of eggs while illumination of future houses will have a catastrophic effect on the orientation of the turtles at sea. Moreover, the gardens, swimming pools, septic tanks, pavements, streets, the passing of vehicles, etc. will change the ecosystem and negatively affect the aquifer underneath the park.

The Attorney General of the Republic has determined that the Government can expropriate the lots within the park. A few months ago, the Constitutional Court ordered the Government to suspend the granting of construction permits and urged the authorities to continue the expropriation procedures.

It would be a very negative signal to international tourism and for the reputation of Costa Rica to conserve its valuable natural resources if the Government should degrade the National Park Las Baulas to a mixed wildlife refuge just to please some national and foreign investors.

Sincerely,

Julian T. Bakker

EALA

Amsterdam, The Netherlands                                    

La Gamba, Costa Rica

www.latinambiente.org�

International conservationists continue to protest Costa Rica’s plan to downgrade Las Baulas Marine Park, threatening the very existence of the ancient, Leatherback sea turtle. The country’s national park system anchors the billion dollar a year tourism industry and compromising it will undermine this vital economic sector, not to mention its global status as a bastion of wildlife and ecosystem protection.

On Sept 2^nd, Carl Safina, Ph.D. wrote an opinion piece in La Nacion, voicing his opposition to the proposed plan for Las Baulas, which we have translated and printed below. Dr. Safina is a member of the Blue Ocean Institute at Stony Brook University in New York. He wanted me to add the following to his editorial, “You can say I was there for 12 days in 2003 in the course of writing my book Voyage of the Turtle, but more than that I visited leatherback turtle nesting and feeding and migration areas in Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean, California, Mexico, Costa Rica, and New Guinea. I got a really good feel for the importance of Baulas Park.”

While you read Dr. Safina’s opinion piece, please spend a moment with the incredible photograph of the subject of this outcry from conservationists around the world. Who will speak for these exquisite, timeless beings if we don’t?

To the Editor,

Many  international conservationists are disturbed by news that Costa Rica’s Congress is considering a bill to do away with Las Baulas National Park. Baulas is not only absolutely vital to the existence of Costa Rica’s Pacific leatherback sea turtles. It is the most important remaining nesting ground of this critically endangered turtle in the entire east Pacific Ocean. 

These turtles are extraordinary; they can weigh up to one ton. A few yearsago, I traveled throughout the Atlantic and Pacific while researching a book I wrote on these creatures. I saw many of their sites and former sites, and came to understand what is needed for their survival, and how, in well-managed sites in the Caribbean, especially Trinidad, these turtles draw many tourists.

Their Pacific population is in great trouble due mainly to beach disturbance. They have declined by about 98 percent since the early 1980s. Former large nesting populations in Mexico are a tiny fraction of earlier numbers. In the west Pacific, the leatherback turtle’s largest population has apparently gone extinct in the last few years.

These creatures, and the world, need Costa Rica to do what it can to protect the remaining Pacific leatherbacks and promote their recovery. And so little is required. All that is needed is darkness on the beach at night and protection of nests. The beach at Las Baulas Park that is currently without houses should remain so, and the Park should be reaffirmed by Costa Rica’s Congress. Existing homeowners should keeps lights low and use yellow bulbs outside at night. For this little investment, Costa Rica and cooperating local homeowners would make a significant contribution to world conservation. 

Carl Safina, PhD

Blue Ocean Institute

Stony Brook University, New York, USA

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The pre-eminent scholar in the world of turtles, Dr. Peter C.H. Pritchard, has added his precious voice to the resounding chorus opposed to President Arias’ incredibly ill thought out plan of downgrading Parque Nacional las Baulas.

Dr. Pritchard has devoted his life to the study of these timeless creatures and nearly twenty years ago, he established the Chelonian Research Institute. His credentials are impeccable and his devotion unquestioned. His defence of Las Baulas is both heart wrenching and without compromise.

Countries and their natural resources are not the pawns of politicians, nor should they be cavalierly co-opted for financial gain. Costa Rica’s global reputation is based on the perception that it is different from its peers. It has set the bar very high as a country that others should be inspired to emulate. What is the message conveyed by this shining example of Peace With Nature, when it lazily capitulates to the challenge of preserving its natural heritage?

Please read Dr. Peter C.H. Pritchard’s letter to Sra. Hannia Duran of Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly. Share this with your friends and let your voice be heard.

Sra. Hannia Durán
Comisión Permanente de Ambiente
Asamblea Legislativa
San José, Costa Rica
Estimada señora Durán:

             I would like to add a brief commentary upon the current negotiations and proposals regarding the Parque Nacional las Baulas.  My point is very simple: National Parks are very difficult to establish.  They take time, money, education and involvement of local people, sustained dedication on the part of the proponents, and sustained vision on the part of agencies of government and elected officials.  They also mandate ecological research and investigation, land survey, economic projections, and much more.  Consequently, when all of this has come together and a National Park has been declared and established, there is an essential rule:

                          A NATIONAL PARK SHOULD NEVER, EVER, EVER 

                               BE DISSOLVED OR ITS STATUS LOWERED

             It can be physically extended, or the degree of protection it offers can be enhanced, and disturbed or damaged wetlands and other key ecosystems can be restored, but one should never take a backward step.  A national park should never be compromised.

          The whole process of setting aside some of the unique ecosystems of the world in perpetuity by application of the national park option will collapse if all of the coordinated work, by many parties, that initiates a national park turns out to be reversible.  The visionaries will just give up if that happens.  Human population growth, industrial growth, and land development are not bad things in themselves, but they quickly become bad things if they are allowed to bring about ruin or obliteration to natural areas that a previous generation promised to protect.  

    Believe me, the pressures on the surviving natural areas will become ever worse as populations increase; “temporary” national parks will collapse like a house of cards if vigilance is lowered even briefly.  We must be ready to defend the National Park System of Costa Rica against all such pressures.  Parque Las Baulas is for ever.  Our descendents will not forgive us for letting it go.

Peter C.H. Pritchard
Founder and Director
Chelonian Research Institute

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