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https://www.theverge.com/24137380/forest-restoration-costa-rica-guanacaste-conservation-tree>
"Ecologist Daniel Janzen wades into the field, clutching a walking stick in one
hand and a fist full of towering green blades of grass in the other to steady
himself. Winnie Hallwachs, also an ecologist and Janzen’s wife, watches him
closely, carrying a hat that she hands to him once he stops to explain our
whereabouts.
Together with other conservationists who have dedicated decades of their lives
to this place, the couple has brought forests back to the Area de Conservación
Guanacaste (ACG). It’s an astonishing 163,000 hectares of protected
landscapes — an area larger than the Hawaiian island of Oahu — where forests
have reclaimed farmland in Costa Rica.
The grass isn’t supposed to be here. Janzen and Hallwachs only keep this small
field around as a reminder of — and to show visitors like me — how far they’ve
come since the 1970s, when pastures and ranches still dominated much of the
landscape.
Across from the field, on the other side of a two-lane road that winds through
the ACG, is one of the first stretches of young forest that Janzen and
Hallwachs started nursing back to life. Tree limbs stretch out over the road,
as if trying to reach the remaining patch of grass left to seed on the other
side.
ACG is a success story, a powerful example of what can happen when humans help
forests heal. It’s part of what’s made Costa Rica a destination for ecotourism
and the first tropical country in the world to reverse deforestation. But now,
the couple’s beloved forest faces a more insidious threat."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
