Highlights:

• Costa Rica’s cloud forests harbor exceptional biodiversity, but they face urgent risks from deforestation, poaching, and tourism.
• In partnership with the Monteverde Conservation League, we will add 324 acres of intact habitat to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest Reserve, securing a crucial corridor for seasonal and climate-related movement of wildlife.
• The region is home to more than 500 species of orchids as well as endangered species like the Central American Spider Monkey and Baird’s Tapir.
  

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As a geographical bridge between North and South America, Costa Rica hosts a broad variety of wildlife. More than half a million plant and animal species populate the country’s tropical landscapes. In the western mountains, the exceptional biodiversity of the Monteverde region ranges from rare amphibians and bountiful orchids to wide-roaming mammals and unique birds.

This region boasts one of the highest concentrations of orchid species on Earth, with more than 500 species represented. The rainforest provides crucial habitat for endangered species like the Central American Spider Monkey and Baird’s Tapir along with unique, endemic birds like the Resplendent Quetzal. The ecological value of this area is undeniable, yet critical gaps in protection leave threatened species and their habitats vulnerable to deforestation.

Header video: Resplendent Quetzal ©Dudarev Mikhail

Help Secure a Tropical Migration Corridor

With our local partner, the Monteverde Conservation League (MCL), we will add 324 acres of highly intact cloud forest habitat to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest Reserve, a 57,000-acre refuge that we created together in 1993. In the buffer zone around the reserve, road expansion and infrastructure projects related to the booming tourism trade threaten to destroy critical habitat and expose rare species to poaching.

The reserve’s expansion will protect wildlife corridors between lower and upper elevation forests in the Tilarán Mountains. This lush stretch of intact forest supports the seasonal migration of several species, and it is essential as they adapt to climate change.

Expand a Global Model for Protecting Biodiversity

Eventually, the Children’s Eternal Rainforest Reserve may be incorporated into the national biological corridor initiative, building on Costa Rica’s leadership in protecting biodiversity. Costa Rica has set a global model for achieving the 30×30 pledge: The country has protected 31% of its marine zone, and the National System of Conservation Areas preserves 25% of its land.

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