Rivers and Forests Alliance News

Working with the Barbilla-Destierro Biological Subcorridor Paso del Jaguar, the Rivers and Forests Alliance (RAFA) has planted 7,965 trees since October 2021 to restore forest connectivity and wildlife habitats in the Pacuare River Basin. The Pacuare River Basin is part of the Barbilla-Destierro Biological Subcorridor Paso del Jaguar, a habitat for jaguars, wild peccaries, three […]

Thank you to all the incredible students and staff of the Verto Education Costa Rica program who helped us plant 1,500 trees on December 6 to reforest the Pacuare River Basin. We are very grateful to the Costa Rican electrical company ICE for donating the native species trees. The project is the second reforestation by […]

We are thrilled to announce that RAFA has been chosen to participate in the 2023 3M Local Impact Costa Rica program. This program, led by the American multinational corporation 3M Company, aims to bring together local 3M employees with nonprofit organizations, social enterprises, educational institutions, and government agencies to develop solutions for social and environmental […]

The Rivers and Forests Alliance (RAFA), together with the Macaw Recovery Network (MRN) and the Citizen Water Observatory (OCA) Rio Pacuare Turrialba-Siquirres held a grand reforestation event on October 28 to restore the connectivity in the Barbilla-Destierro Biological Subcorridor and the Pacuare River Basin. With 92 volunteers ranging from 2 to 71 years old, we […]

On October 6, RAFA celebrated the first Festival of Spheres with the Citizen Water Observatory (OCA) Rio Pacuare Turrialba-Siquirres, under the umbrella of the National Alliance of Rivers and Watersheds of Costa Rica and the Guardians of the Pacuare program. The event marked Rafa Gallo’s birthday and his passion for preserving the Pacuare River with […]

We recently received fantastic news from Dylan Stiegemeier, the Verto Education environmental history professor who initiated and led our reforestation project in November 2022 to plant 1,000 trees. His master’s thesis on “Assessing transformative learning impacts on first-year university students using large-scale conservation projects on students’ environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviors” has been published in […]

To celebrate the founding meeting of the Guardians of the Pacuare, a “dream team” of volunteers planted 360 trees on May 27, 2023, to restore the rainforest and biological corridor in the Pacuare River Basin. When I say “dream team,” I mean it! In only one hour – yes, you read that right, ONE HOUR […]

We are delighted to announce that the Citizen Water Observatory Rio Pacuare Turrialba-Siquirres has been officially accepted into the National Network of Citizen Water Observatories of the National Alliance of Rivers and Watersheds of Costa Rica. Our OCA (using the acronym in Spanish) is the 94th in Costa Rica! It was formed under RAFA’s Guardians […]

Last month, we told you about the launch of our new program, Guardians of the Pacuare (Guardianes del Pacuare in Spanish), uniting the Pacuare tourism community and key conservation and municipal actors to work together to preserve the Pacuare River Basin, the forest and biodiversity, and stimulate community involvement. Our first meeting on May 26 at […]

We extend a heartfelt thank you to our first big donor, the Wayne Grey Wilson Foundation in the U.S., for their very appreciated donation at the end of last year to fund our administrative costs for part of 2023. The gift helps us forward our conservation programs and goals toward protecting and preserving the Pacuare […]