Our Vision: Connecting the Fila Cruces with the Golfo Dulce

The Esquinas Rainforest used to be connected with the Fila Cruces, a 5000-feet high, forested mountain ridge.  The Fila Cruces is part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, stretching from Mexico to Panama. Today, the forest cover is interrupted by farmland and pastures. The plant and animal life in the remaining "forest islands" is becoming isolated.   Since 2010, our work has been focussing on three main goals:

  • Remaining forests outside the national park will be purchased and thereby saved from being logged. This in turn guarantees the permanent storage of carbon dioxide (CO2).
  • Pastureland and farmland will be reforested with 800 trees per hectare. Each hectare of new forest will store an additional 10 tonnes of CO2 each year.
  • The creation of a permanent, forested Biological Corridor between Fila Cruces and Piedras Blancas National Park will enable animals to wander and plant life to spread between the previously isolated patches of forest.
A biological corridor will connect the Fila Cruces with the Rainforest of the Austrians

Reduction of Carbon Dioxide through Land Purchase and Reforestation

The steady growth of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere leads to the "greenhouse effect" and to global warming.   We are all challenged to take measures to reduce CO2 and prevent a further warming of the atmosphere. Apart from energy saving measures or the use of alternative energy forms, the capture of carbon in biomass is another option to reduce CO2. Each newly planted rainforest tree binds 750 kilograms of CO2 during its average lifespan of 60 years. The reforestation of pastures and farmland are an important strategy to alleviate climate change, because reforestation captures an additional 600 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare.  

 

 

Alexis Zamora and Michael Schnitzler on the farm that will be purchased in 2011 and 2012 and reforested with 11.000 trees startzing in 2014.


Our most costly project since 1991

The purchase of almost 150 hectares of land and the reforestation of 22.500 trees will cost more than one million Euros.  Altogether, 90.000 tonnes of CO2 will be stored over a period of 60 years.  Unfortunately, land prices are around three times as expensive as within the national park, because they are no longer determined by the government.  Besides, there are high costs for growing and planting the trees, skilled personell and unskilled labourers, maintenance, fertilization and cropping of the trees, and the  management and scientific  supervision of the project by the University of Vienna. As of February 2012, 750.000 Euros were still needed to complete Phase One of the project as planned.