The Costa Rican government is launching a pilot aquaponics program in hopes of offering an alternative to farmers hit by drought. Agriculture and Livestock Ministry...
Now that the afternoons are getting soggy again, we thought we’d revisit this video homage to “the green season,” a time of breathtaking clouds, verdant renewal and resourceful attempts to keep dry.
Rainfall along the Pacific coast has gradually returned to normal levels following last year's decrease in rainfall of up to 65 percent in Guanacaste and 30 percent in Puntarenas.
“If it doesn’t start to rain more soon, it likely would mean that next year’s rainy season will be delayed,” said Juan Diego Naranjo, a meteorologist with the IMN. “You could say that this indicates the dry season next year will be extended.”
Central America's recent drought may be causing losses in the country's agriculture sector and the drinking water supply, but the unusually dry rainy season has also meant fewer mosquitoes and a significant drop in the number of cases of dengue in both Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
After months of drought, President Luis Guillermo Solís declared a national emergency in the province of Guanacaste and other cantons across the country on Tuesday. The drought in the northwestern province has been the worst in more than 50 years, according to the National Meteorological Institute.
Faced with the threat of continued heavy rains and a dramatic weekend of landslides that left thousands of motorists stranded, Costa Rican highway officials decided to play it safe and close the main route linking San José with the Caribbean coast on Wednesday. But transit has returned to normal today, after officials reopened the route at 6 a.m. this morning.
