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<title><![CDATA[costa rica news from mongabay.com]]></title>
<link>http://www.mongabay.com</link>
<description><![CDATA[costa rica news.]]></description>
<language>en-us</language>
<copyright>Copyright 2006 mongabay.com</copyright>
<pubDate>Sun, 15 Oct 2008 12:58:39 -0800</pubDate>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Discovery of new leatherback migration route may help save species]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Scientists have discovered a new migration route for the world's largest turtle, the leatherback.  The route takes the 2,000-pound marine turtle from the Playa Grande beaches in Costa Rica to an area deep in the South Pacific.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0715-sea_turtles_hance.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0715-sea_turtles_hance.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Birds face higher risk of extinction than conventionally thought]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Birds may face higher risk of extinction than conventionally thought, says a bird ecology and conservation expert from Stanford University. Dr. Cagan H. Sekercioglu, a senior research scientist at Stanford and head of the world's largest tropical bird radio tracking project, estimates that 15 percent of world's 10,000 bird species will go extinct or be committed to extinction by 2100 if necessary conservation measures are not taken. While birds are one of the least threatened of any major group of organisms, Sekercioglu believes that worst-case climate change, habitat loss, and other factors could conspire to double this proportion by the end of the century. As dire as this sounds, Sekercioglu says that many threatened birds are rarer than we think and nearly 80 percent of land birds predicted to go extinct from climate change are not currently considered threatened with extinction, suggesting that species loss may be far worse than previously imagined. At particular risk are marine species and specialists in mountain habitats.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0714-cagan_interview.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0714-cagan_interview.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforest recovery after deforestation can be enhanced by artificial bat houses]]></title>
<description><![CDATA["Bat boxes" could help in the recovery of tropical rainforest after deforestation, reports research described in <i>New Scientist Magazine</i>.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0423-bats.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0423-bats.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Regrowing the rainforest]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Half a century after most of Costa Rica's rainforests were cut down, researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute took on a project that many thought was impossible - restoring a tropical rainforest ecosystem.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0331-costa_rica.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0331-costa_rica.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Three salamander species discovered in Costa Rica]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Scientists from the Natural History Museum of London have discovered three new species of salamander in south-eastern Costa Rica.  This brings the nation's total to forty-three species, meaning that this small tropical nation contains approximately nine percent of the world's salamanders.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0107-hance_costa_rica.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 06 Jan 2008 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0107-hance_costa_rica.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Study shows that sea turtles can recover]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[conservation of sea turtle nesting sites is paying off for the endangered reptiles, reports a new study published this week in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography. A team of researchers led researchers from IUCN and conservation International found that green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting on four beaches in the Pacific and two beaches in the Atlantic have increased by an four to fourteen percent annually over the past two to three decades as a result of beach protection efforts.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1219-sea_turtles.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1219-sea_turtles.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Global warming will significantly increase bird extinctions]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Where do you go when you've reached the top of a mountain and you can't go back down? It's a question increasingly relevant to plants and animals, as their habitats slowly shift to higher elevations, driven by rising temperatures worldwide. The answer, unfortunately, is you can't go anywhere. Habitats shrink to the vanishing point, and species go extinct. That scenario is likely to be played out repeatedly and at an accelerating rate as the world continues to warm, Stanford researchers say.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1205-birds.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1205-birds.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Large-scale agriculture 'compromises' forest's ability to recover]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[As deforestation of tropical forests continues unhindered, one of the future hopes for these damaged ecosystems is regeneration in secondary forests.   Some areas that were once slash-and-burned for cattle ranching or subsistence agriculture have been abandoned, allowing scientists to study the possibility of recovery in the rainforest.  If anyone has a clear idea of the potential of secondary forests it is Robin L. Chazdon.  Dr. Chazdon, a full professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut, has been studying the regeneration of secondary forest for over twenty-five years.  She has published over 50 papers on tropical ecology, currently she serves as an active member of the Biotropica editorial board and is a member of the Bosques Project, which measures secondary forest recovery in Northern Costa Rica. ]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1119-interview_chazdon.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1119-interview_chazdon.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Physicists join fight to save amphibians from extinction]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Physicists have joined the fight to save amphibians from extinction by using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) to investigate the properties of frogs skin.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1120-frogs.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1120-frogs.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Scientists find treatment for killer frog disease]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[New Zealand scientists have found a treatment for a disease blamed for the death of millions of amphibians worldwide, according to a report from BBC News.  However, at best, the cure would only be applicable to captive populations.  The disease is killing many amphibians in apparently pristine habitats.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1029-frogs.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1029-frogs.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[As colorful frog leaps toward extinction, experts look for clues]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[A brightly coloured tropical frog under threat of extinction is the focus of a new research project hoping to better understand how environment and diet influence its development and behaviour.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1029-frog.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1029-frog.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Costa Rica gets $26M debt-for-nature swap]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Under an agreement signed Wednesday by the governments of the United States and environmental groups, $26 million of Costa Rican debt will be forgiven in exchange for tropical forest conservation.  The debt-for-nature swap comes under the Tropical Forest conservation Act of 1998, legislation intended to allow eligible developing countries to forego paying back debt owed to the U.S. in exchange for supporting local tropical forest conservation activities.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1017-costa_rica.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/1017-costa_rica.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Do Costa Rica's payments for environmental services work?]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[While Costa Rica is now known as a world leader for conservation policies and ecotourism, the Central American country had some of the world's highest deforestation rates prior to establishing its reputation.  Clearing for cattle pasture and agriculture destroyed much of the country's biodiverse rainforests in the 1960s and 1970s.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0917-cr.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0917-cr.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Two new species of salamander discovered in Panama]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Scientists have discovered two new species of salamanders from the mountainous Costa Rica-Panama border region.  The findings, published by David B. Wake, Jay M. Savage, and James Hanken in the journal Copeia, push the number of salamanders known in the region to 24, making it a hotspot in terms of salamander biodiversity.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0909-salamanders.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0909-salamanders.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA["Virgin" rain forests of Costa Rica a misnomer]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Radiocarbon dating of montane forest soils in Costa Rica uncovered evidence of charcoal that shows its otherwise "virgin" tropical  forests are less than 200 years old.  The findings, published in the journal <i>Biotropica</i>, have implications for the re-establishment of rain forests after clearing.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0725-fire.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jul 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0725-fire.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Poverty and corruption reduce effectiveness of rainforest parks]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Poverty and corruption are linked to higher incidence of fire in tropical forest reserves, reports a new study published in the journal Ecological Applications.  Poor, corrupt countries -- like Cambodia, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Sierra Leone -- have the least effective parks when measured in terms of the incidence of fire relative to surrounding "buffer" areas.  The findings have significant implications for rainforest conservation efforts.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0709-wright_fires.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0709-wright_fires.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Coffee plantations may preserve tropical bird species]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Agricultural areas offer opportunities for conservation in deforested landscapes in the tropics, reports a study published in the April 2007 issue of the journal conservation Biology by Stanford University biologists.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0618-cagan.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jun 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0618-cagan.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[An interview with author and eco-lodge pioneer Jack Ewing]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[In 1970 a young man went to Costa Rica, a place he initially confused with Puerto Rico, on an assignment to accompany 150 head of cattle.  37 years and several lifetimes' worth of adventures later, Jack Ewing runs a eco-lodge that serves as a model for a country  now considered the world leader in nature travel.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0613-interview_ewing.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jun 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0613-interview_ewing.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Stephen Colbert's sea turtle second in race to Galapagos]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Nearing the end of Great Turtle Race, Stephen Colbert's sea turtle Stephanie Colburtle was in second place, 18 miles behind Billie, a turtle sponsored by Offield Center for Billfish Studies.  Billie is just 31 miles from the finish line of the 500-mile race.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0425-turtles.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 25 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0425-turtles.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[AES Corp seeks to flood rainforest World Heritage site]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[American power company AES Corporation seeks to flood sections of Panama's La Amistad World Heritage site, alleges a coalition of more than 30 environmental groups that today filed a petition against the electric utility.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0423-panama.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 23 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0423-panama.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Frogs avoid damaging UV-B radiation, reducing extinction risk]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Poison arrow frogs appear to make special effort to avoid exposure to damaging ultraviolet-B radiation, according to research published in the journal Biotropica. The findings are significant in light of increasing levels of UV-B radiation due to ozone depletion.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0418-frogs.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 18 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0418-frogs.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Bad news for frogs; amphibian decline worse than feared]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Chilling new evidence suggests amphibians may be in worse shape than previously thought due to climate change. Further, the findings indicate that the 70 percent decline in amphibians over the past 35 years may have been exceeded by a sharp fall in reptile populations, even in otherwise pristine Costa Rican habitats. Ominously, the new research warns that protected areas strategies for biodiversity conservation will not be enough to stave off extinction. Frogs and their relatives are in big trouble.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0416-frogs.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0416-frogs.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Racing sea turtle named in honor of Stephen Colbert]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[An eleventh turtle named Stephanie Colburtle has joined competitors Yahoo!, Travelocity, Plantronics, West Marine, Dreyer's Ice Cream and other sponsors in The Great Turtle Race, a unique international sea turtle conservation event that will take place online from April 16 to April 29 in a global bid to raise awareness and funds for the critically endangered leatherback turtle.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0413-ci.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 13 Apr 2007 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0413-ci.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Starbucks, Earthwatch team up to improve eco-friendly coffee]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Earthwatch Institute, a leading environmental volunteering organization, and Starbucks Coffee Company announced they will team up to support environmentally-friendly coffee plantations in Costa Rica..]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0201-earthwatch.html</link>
<pubDate>Thu, 01 Feb 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0201-earthwatch.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Pesticides threaten cloud forests in Costa Rica - new study]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Pesticides from coffee and banana cultivation are accumulating in Costa Rica's biodiverse cloud forests according to research published earlier this month in Environmental Science &amp; Technology.  The findings have implications for conservation efforts in both the Central American country and in other parts of the world.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0121-cr.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0121-cr.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Avoided deforestation could send $38 billion to third world under global warming pact]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Avoided deforestation will be a hot point of discussion at next week's climate meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.  Already a coalition of 15 rainforest nations have proposed a plan whereby industrialized nations would pay them to protect their forests to offset greenhouse gas emissionsm.  Meanwhile, last month Brazil -- which has the world's largest extent of tropical rainforests and the world's highest rate of forest loss -- said it promote a similar initiative at the talks.  At stake: potentially billions of dollars for developing countries. When trees are cut greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere -- roughly 20 percent of annual emissions of such heat-trapping gases result from deforestation and forest degradation.  Avoided deforestation is the concept where countries are paid to prevent deforestation that would otherwise occur. Policymakers and environmentalists alike find the idea attractive because it could help fight climate change at a low cost while improving living standards for some of the world's poorest people and preserving biodiversity and other ecosystem services. A number of prominent conservation biologists and development agencies including the World Bank and the U.N. have already endorsed the idea.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1031-deforestation.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 31 Oct 2006 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1031-deforestation.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Brazil proposes compensation plan for rainforest conservation]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Last month Brazil proposed the establishment of a fund to compensate developing countries that reduce deforestation, a move that follows a similar initiative by a coalition of developing countries led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica.  The scheme could help cut greenhouse gas emissions that result from forest clearing and conversion.  Deforestation currently is responsible for 20-25 percent of such heat-trapping emissions.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1016-brazil.html</link>
<pubDate>Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1016-brazil.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Protecting sea turtles in Costa Rica]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Travel account -- monitoring sea turtle nesting sites on the beaches of Costa Rica.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0928-dunn.html</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 27 Sep 2006 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0928-dunn.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Scientists endorse plan to save rainforests through emissions trading]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[The Association for Tropical Biology and conservation (ATBC), the world's largest scientific organization devoted to the study and wise use of tropical ecosystems, has formally endorsed a radical proposal to help save tropical forests through carbon trading.  Under the initiative proposed by an alliance of fifteen developing countries led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, tropical nations that show permanent reductions in deforestation would be eligible to receive international carbon funds from industrial nations who could purchase carbon credits to help them meet their emissions targets international climate agreements like the Kyoto Protocol.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0519-atbc.html</link>
<pubDate>Fri, 19 May 2006 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0519-atbc.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Rainforests worth $1.1 trillion for carbon alone in Coalition nations]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[If a coalition of developing countries has its way, there could soon be new forests sprouting up in tropical regions. The group of ten countries, led by Papua New Guinea, has proposed that wealthy countries pay them to preserve their rainforests. The Coalition for Rainforest Nations argues that all countries should pay for the benefits -- from carbon sequestration to watershed protection -- that tropical rainforests provide.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1129-rainforests.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2005 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1129-rainforests.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Developing countries: pay us to save rainforests]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[At this week&#39;s United Nations summit on climate change in Montreal a coalition of tropical developing countries plans to propose that wealthy countries pay them to preserve their rainforests. The group of 10 countries, led by Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica, will argue that they should be compensated for the services rainforests provide the rest of the world.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1127-rainforests.html</link>
<pubDate>Sun, 27 Nov 2005 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1127-rainforests.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Sea turtles protected in Costa Rica are killed in Nicaragua]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[Sea turtles that receive the highest protection in Costa Rica and other neighboring countries are dying by the thousands at the hands of unregulated - and unsustainable - commercial fishing in Nicaragua, according to a study by the Bronx Zoo based Wildlife conservation Society.]]></description>
<link>http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0726-wcs-sea_turtles.html</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jul 2005 05:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0726-wcs-sea_turtles.html</guid>
</item>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Costa Rica: Environmental Profile]]></title>
<description><![CDATA[An overview of tropical rainforets found in Costa Rica.  Includes forest cover and deforestation statistics.]]></description>
<link>http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20costarica.htm</link>
<pubDate>Tue, 15 Feb 2005 06:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
<source url="http://www.mongabay.com/">Mongabay.com</source>
<guid>http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20costarica.htm</guid>
</item>

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