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We work against environmental disasters and ecological illegal actions.
Costa Rica is the country with more variety of flora and fauna in Latin America. Approximately the 46.8% of its total area is covered by forests and jungles, 25% of it’s territory has a protection category.
However, the country has high levels of deforestation. Around the world Dozens of species disappear from earth and wildlife trade is ranked as the third largest illegal business in the world.
Every year over 30,000 animals are inserted to the pet market. Environmental disasters such as forestall fires still happen in Costa Rica. They consume thousands of natural hectares each season threatening the communities around the affected area. Only in 2008 the flames raced over 23,000 hectares.
Through the Control and Protection Unit and the Volunteer Forestall Fire Brigade we support the work of park rangers and officials responsible for the conservation and sustainable promotion of the country's biodiversity. We work with the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (by its Spanish acronym MINAET), the National System of Conservation Areas (by its Spanish acronym SINAC), and the National Wild land Fire Council (by its Spanish acronym CONIFOR).
In Costa Rica more than 200 volunteers are involved in prevention, control and protection activities in protected areas. They support the national authorities who work against wildlife trade, poaching and deforestation.
In addition, our volunteers participate in special activities such as: protection of the scarlet macaw, tourism control at National Parks, seizures of illegal timber,orchid extraction and other illegal fauna extractions .
The volunteers are trained to do, patrols to avoid illegal hunting, forest fire management and suppression, act as witnesses of illegal activities in protected areas, patrolling turtle nesting beaches to avoid egg extraction, among others activities.
Since 2003, our Forestall Fire Brigade has formally trained volunteers. They are involved in prevention, control and settlement of disasters detected within protected areas. The volunteers work according to the requests from the officials of the Fire Management Program of the Conservation Areas.
ASVO and the contribution to the State of Costa Rica
The contribution of the Permanent Volunteer Program of ASVO to the protected areas, in hours of qualified labor is 6,000 hours per year approximately. Thanks to this support the National System of Conservation Areas (by its Spanish acronym SINAC) saves around $ 72,578 calculated on the basic of the minimum wage of a semiskilled worker.
Get Information about our national and international volunteer programs.
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