The people of Santa MarÃa de Fátima, a small Amazonian community in Peru, started an ecotourism project by turning a swamp close to their village into a bird-watchers’ paradise. The herons whose eggs they once consumed now attract tourists from all over the world.
National Police officers and Environment Ministry officials last Friday caught two poachers transporting 62 birds in the central Pacific district of Montes de Oro, in Costa Rica's Puntarenas province.
The Bill for the Development and Sustainable Exploitation of Shrimp in Costa Rica, drafted and submitted by President Luis Guillermo SolÃs’ administration, would allow shrimp trawlers to reinstate banned licenses while the government conducts economic and environmental studies.
The Costa Rican government will not sacrifice fishermen for sharks, President Luis Guillermo SolÃs said last week in response to his nomination for the unflattering Shark Enemy 2016 award.
In Mexico, conservationists say, environmental oversight is becoming as vulnerable as the wildlife, as program budgets have shrunk and scores of employees at the agency that monitors protected areas have been fired.
In a letter published as a full-page ad in Spanish-language daily La Nación on Monday, conservation group Sharkproject International announced the nomination of President Luis Guillermo SolÃs for the 2016 Shark Enemy of the Year award.
