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.

Volunteers are required to help maintain the park facilities and conduct research about the various flora and fauna that can be found throughout the park. Barra Honda contains an amazing system of caverns, 19 of which have been explored and 1 of which is open for tourists. Help is needed for upkeep of this park, as well as for protection of this park\’s diverse dry forests and to help maintain and improve its infrastructure.

Volunteers assisting at Barra Honda may be asked to help with the maintenance of trails, creation of camping areas, maintenance of the park\’s facilities and attending to the park\’s visitors centre (for volunteers who speak Spanish well).

Also, volunteers may have the opportunity to help control forest fires during the dry season, and support environmental education activities.
Addition volunteers can help to clean the park and forest and also may accompany the Guard walks inside the forest and ensure that all is well. This volunteer opportunity may happen to 2 or 3 times during the week.

Volunteers will be asked to work six days a week, with one day off. If you would like to travel around parts of Costa Rica you may want to book an extra week off at the end of your program to do so as this placement needs assistance from volunteers for 6 days each week.

Each volunteer will be given a work plan that indicates the type of jobs they will be doing and the number of hours of work that is needed. Most volunteers work between 5 to 6 hours per day due to the heat. December and April are not good months for volunteers here.

Volunteers who are interested in this placement should have the desire to work with animals, improve the environment and enjoy physical work. You must also enjoy collecting data and be interested in recording the various types of flora and fauna that are located throughout the national parks.

Volunteers who are interested in working at this type of placement need to like the outdoors and like to do physical labour. Motivation is a key trait for a volunteer at this placement because at times you will working on extensive projects with other volunteers and park rangers that will require patience, dedication and the ability to work effectively within a group setting.

Volunteers that do not enjoy physically demanding work may have a difficult time on this placement. The primary reason for this is because most of the work that is required of volunteers at this placement is outdoor physical work. If you are an individual that would prefer not to work in a group setting then you may want to reconsider this type of placement.

URL: http://www.basecampvolunteerabroad.com/sites/bc-volunteer-abroad/place_details.cfm?pl_id=244
Tags: conservation, Costa Rica, volunteer, volunteering
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