Description

ASVO (Association of Volunteers for Service in Protected Areas)is a Costa Rican organization that is dedicated to maintaining and preserving national parks, communities and beaches throughout Costa Rica. The organization was started in, was founded on January 27, 1989 in the response to the growing realization that although Costa Rica is renowned for their natural resources and biodiversity, there was very little awareness around environmental protection by many people who lived in Costa Rica. Originally focusing on the preservation of national parks, the program eventually expanded to include sea turtle conservation, community education and habitat identification.

ASVO is a non-profit and non-governmental organization whose mission is to promote the importance of preserving the environment by operating a number of grass-root conservation projects and conducting a variety of educational workshops throughout the country. Over the years environmental issues such as deforestation, species extinction, forest fires, and climate change have been addressed by the members of ASVO as they have worked to expand their programs through the country.

ASVO places volunteers in national parks and other areas protected by the Ministry of Environment and Energy all over the country. The organization currently has stations in twenty-eight different locations all over Costa Rica, from Corcovado in the south to Guanacaste in the north. These projects are divided into four categories: Wildlife Refuges, Education and Communities, Sea Turtle Projects and National Parks.

This organization has agreed to partner with BaseCamp International Centers to help to ensure that sufficient volunteer energy can be provided to support the project at all times. In addition to the conservation and preservation of endangered species of turtles, a large part of the organizations emphasis is on promoting worldwide environmental awareness. This process is facilitated by having international volunteers contribute their energy and share what they have learned at home.

Currently ASVO and the Romelia Sea Turtle Conservation Project are facing several central challenges which volunteers will be helping them to face. One central challenge is ensuring that there are sufficient volunteers at all times to keep the project running. The project requires a minimum of six volunteers at all times to function. Another challenge is an increased volume of poachers for both the turtle eggs and the turtles themselves, despite awareness campaigns in Costa Rica and increased effort by the National Coast Guard to deter poaching activities. Volunteers are actively participating in the saving of thousands of turtles lives each year by participating in poacher patrols and reporting sitings.

Another challenge that the project is facing is the increased risk for newborn turtles when they “free hatch” or emerge from their nests into the open beach. When this occurs, they are vulnerable to predators, hot sun, and poachers. The project is meeting this challenge by constructing controlled hatcheries, and having volunteers assist with nest relocation. This way, volunteers can ensure that the eggs are hatching in a monitored setting, and assist the turtles to the ocean safely.

One last challenge the project is facing is that there is minimal research completed as to when, where and how hatching happens, what the survival rate is, and how many nests a turtle will lay in her life. Volunteer energy is helping them to meet this challenge by assisting with date recording: measuring and weighing baby turtles, documenting nest size and location and tagging mother turtles.

Volunteers are promoting positive change at this project through assisting the organization to meet the various challenges they face in their effort to ensure that sea turtles live on for future generations.

Depending on the season that volunteers come to assist at this placement they may be helping with monitoring and documenting the species and frequencies of turtles laying their eggs on the beaches of Romelia. Volunteers may need to assist with the construction and maintenance of the turtle hatcheries by completing such tasks as carrying driftwood up the beach to make fences, filling and placing sand bags, maintaining the roof the of the structure and keeping the beach surrounding the hatchery free of debris. Volunteers may be asked to assist coordinators and staff members in documenting the size, weight and other biological information of both laying and hatching turtles.

Volunteers may assist with turtle hatchling release by ensuring that baby turtles are released during low tide, when there is not too much sun, and by walking with turtles to the water and remaining on watch until the last turtle has swum away. Volunteers may need to lend a hand with the construction and maintenance of the public paths and walkways to and from the project site.

URL: http://www.basecampvolunteerabroad.com/sites/bc-volunteer-abroad/place_details.cfm?pl_id=819
Tags: conservation, Costa Rica, volunteer, volunteering
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