Working at research or teaching in and on the tropical rain forest in Costa Rica.  Nature project in the field of research and local education.

Organization

This Costa Rican Rainforest Center is a non-profit organization, created to preserve an area of tropical wet forest in Costa Rica by means of environmental education to the local community and scientific research, which can help us make decisions regarding conservation issues. The reserve has 345 ha of forest and belongs to the National System of Protected Areas under the Private Wildlife Refuge category. It is an opportunity to work in the different investigation projects it leads.

Project

There are 3 main projects that volunteers can apply for; 
The organization has an environmental education program for the local community with the mission to promote values, knowledge and attitudes in the local community that will contribute to conserve the biodiversity of the reserve and its area of influence. This program is directed towards students from 4th to 6th grade, high school students and their parents in 16 communities surrounding the reserve. The program offers educational trips, workshops, lectures and support to teachers with various school projects and other activities. The volunteer can have a first-hand experience with a long-term educational program, which focuses on the promotion and stimulating values and knowledge, which contribute to the conservation of the biodiversity of the reserve.

 The organization is developing and implementing a Geographic Information System (GIS) database of the rainforest. It is an interdisciplinary field that unites different areas such as biology, computation, geography, cartography and planning, amongst others. It forms a tool of applied science that integrates and analyzes spatial information and generates important information for other disciplines such as Conservation Biology. Included is also all the abiotic, biotic and anthropogenic information in our area of influence.

The main objective of this project is to generate a data base (spatial and temporal) of the phenology of the Ficus species. At least 10 species of the genus Ficus have been registered in the reserve. They are dispersed by a large number of animals, including many species of birds, monkeys and bats. This will enrich the biological base to better study the ecological process of dispersion in this genus. Additionally, this information will allow us to make better decisions about which species should be of priority use in forest restoration. Volunteers will be collecting database by walking different areas in search of marked or unmarked trees. They will proceed to make fruit and flower estimations and observations of bird species visiting the trees.

Required skills and attitude

• For the teaching project good knowledge of Spanish
• Flexible and enthusiast
• Good condition, enterprising and tenacious

Accommodation and facilities

(Shared) accommodation for volunteers costs $15 US per night (include breakfast). The closest village is a 25 minute walk away or 5 minutes by taxi. The budget for food for one person is about $100 US per month. Volunteers can eat at the restaurant for $8 US for lunch or dinner

Period

Throuhout the year. During school holidays no education, but still preparations. In consultation