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.

Corcovado National Park encompasses 44,484.56 terrestrial ha and 5,375 marine ha and contains a variety of ecosystems including forests, beaches, coral reefs, and mangrove and freshwater swamps.

Corcovado has an unusually high level of biological diversity, which provides essential habitat for a number of endemic and endangered species, and which makes Corcovado, Costa Rica’s most biologically important protected lowland area, according to the Ministry of Environment .

The area includes around 25-30 ecosystems. These various habitats support an incredible number of species of plants and wildlife, including a number of animals that are globally endangered, including jaguars, tapirs, and peccaries The fact that Corcovado contains significant populations of large predators such as jaguars and pumas reflects the overall ecosystem integrity of the area.
Corcovado represents one of the world’s most important sources for future knowledge about rainforest ecosystems and the conservation of biological diversity.

About a third of all tree species in Costa Rica and half of its endangered species are found in Corcovado, plus the recent construction of roads, the area has been invaded by farmers, loggers, miners and tourists. Deforestation for agriculture and logging poses the main threat to Corcovado. The Osa Peninsula was conducted gold mining for centuries but only recently with the rise in gold prices, improved access roads and heavier machinery, has become a serious threat to the park. Gold mining causes water pollution and soil erosion, and increases as mining, much of the park’s financial resources are diverted to deal with this threat. Therefore, these serious threats, require constant monitoring by park rangers, for this reason, we need the help of volunteers to meet the demands of work falls on the rangers.

As a conservation volunteer you will be responsible to help maintain the beautiful national park. One of the primary task the a conservation volunteer will do is maintain and construction the trails throughout the park. This is important because the park has several trails that are required for park rangers and a wildlife volunteer to do daily patrols. With this task you may be helping the rangers to construct new trails to areas that need to be patrolled because occasionally there are hunters that illegally go onto the back areas of the land and try to capture animals that are endangered because the meat and skin from the animals are very valuable.

As a conservation volunteer you will also be asked to participate in the following activities:

1. General infrastructure maintenance: Support the rangers with the maintenance of the main building by painting and fixing damages cause by the weather.

2. Tourist attention: as the rangers are local people, they did not have the opportunity to learn a second language, so the attention of the tourist will help them to guide the people about what they can or can allow to do during a visitor stay.

3. Control Walks: Short patrols with the rangers may be required of a conservation volunteer. Park rangers patrol the national park both during the day or night, however, a conservation volunteer does not have to participate in nightly patrols. Also, the rangers and a wildlife volunteer students may need to help with the assistance of any injured animal that is found on the patrol walks.

URL: http://www.basecampvolunteerabroad.com/sites/bc-volunteer-abroad/place_details.cfm?pl_id=1025
Tags: conservation, Costa Rica, volunteer
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