Help 30 persons and save 2025 hectares of forest

We hope this small report reaches you in health and good spirits. 

Around the globe, countries are suffering from COVID. Some are more affected than others, and internally, some people are much more vulnerable than others- and for different reasons.  Costa Rica is a country that depends on tourism for part of its income. Costa Rica has been very clear about protecting the population, so our borders and many businesses have been closed since the 18th of March. 

Of the 5 families we are helping in this project, one especially depends on tourism since they have been very successful with the reproduction of butterflies. Now this extended family is challenged to find ways to survive. 

Thanks to this project and your generosity, this month, we were able to distribute $315 to each of the five families. This amount represents 57% of our minimum wage ($548).  This is the second time we distribute the donations (which we accumulate until we have a lump sum). It was much appreciated, in a time when small businesses have been hard hit, and unemployment has reached the highest in the last 100 years: 12.5%. 

So we thank you, who have donated to this project at some point. Your recognizing and honoring those who protect forest for the global Earth community does go directly to these people, and becomes well- being for them. This is exactly the way it should be.  

Jane Segleau

ASIREA 

The fires in Australia left the world reeling, with a sense of indignation, sadness, and anguish. Yet other countries have tried to avoid such disasters by purposely creating opposite scenarios. For example, Costa Rica promotes conservation on one hand, with tough laws against deforestation on the other.

In Costa Rica, it is illegal to cut down the forest. In this way, we have reforested our country up to 52% of our landmass, as can be seen in images taken by Nasa (see https://ticotimes.net/2019/09/05/nasa-image-shows-how-well-costa-rica-has-prevented-forest-fires). Yet this has been done, mainly by private farmers. ASIREA has selected 5 families from our region who have done spectacular efforts to protect the forests they own, even at the expense of their family. Mireya, for example, with her elderly mother, brothers, and sisters, continues to care for over 600 hectares which protect many tropical animals, including the jaguar.

Also, these families continue to petition the Costa Rican government for its support-having met in February with the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of the Environment. On the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, where humidity comes in from the ocean, these forests are not only important because of the biodiversity they protect, but also because they contribute to a stable climate in the whole country.

Still, we are far from our goal. Of $121,500 dollars we proposed, we have $119,069 to still raise. These resources are allocated directly to the families, who can reinvest in the protection of their forest or in urgent, basic needs such as health or education. We thank all the donors for their continued support for this cause that helps humans and the environment!