This week in Peace Corps: Protecting national parks and endangered species

Last Friday was National Parks Day in Costa Rica, a day instituted with the intent for people to reflect and actively participate in conservation actions and respect for the environment. Many Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) have the opportunity to live and work near national parks.

PCV Jackie in the South Pacific, works at a national park that protects varied tropical ecosystems and is considered one of the world’s most biodiverse regions.

She works at the tourism office and helps them develop new tour ideas, as well as following up on a grant she helped develop to implement a biological monitoring program. The program’s goal is to get the necessary training to collect scientific data about key species to know whether they are going extinct or not.

The Peace Corps photo series in The Tico Times Costa Rica Changemakers section is sponsored by the Costa Rica USA Foundation for Cooperation (CRUSA), a proud financial supporter of Peace Corps Volunteer projects nationwide. Learn more here. To donate to support the Peace Corps Costa Rica, visit the official donation page.  Volunteers’ last names and community names are withheld from these publications, per Peace Corps policy.

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Brought to you by the Costa Rica USA Foundation (CRUSA). Courtesy of CRUSA