Image above is sonar of the under water city near Cuba This article was published on National Geographic in 2002, though many people have never heard of this story. We have decided to republish it as it serves to be a very interesting topic. Ancient stories of massive floods pass from generation to generation and in many places in the world are integral to a people's spoken history. The...

The forest of towering, dead mangrove trees stretches along the beach as far as the eye can see. As the crashing waves rise and fall, short stumps emerge and vanish beneath the Pacific Ocean. Climate change has come early to the Bajo Lempa region of western El Salvador. A tiny rise in the sea level has, according to local people, seen about 1,000 ft of the mangroves on which they depend van...

In Guatemala, the policy of enclaves and extraction of natural resources fomented by the current development model and by the transnational corporations has a tremendous impact on the life of the communities, particularly on indigenous peoples and women. With the aim of sharing experiences and analysis among women who lead organizing in defense of rights to land, territory and natural resou...

The proposed project seeks to enhance the climate resilience of investments in Nicaragua's rural water supply sector. The project is closely aligned with relevant national policies, strategies, plans and legislation. In particular, the project would support the implementation of the National Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for 2010-15. The SCCF grant ($6 million, ex...

Jaguar conservation has received a huge boost in the past few months both in Latin America and in the U.S. An historic agreement signed between the world's leading wild cat conservation organization Panthera and the government of Costa Rica in addition to a new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposal bring renewed hope to the efforts to revive the iconic Jaguar in its current habitat...

Mangroves are crucial nurseries. Schools of small fry shift away through the Moorish architecture of arched roots, each school a pale cloud of translucent fish. The palest clouds are hardly there at all, composed of hatchlings no bigger than the smallest mosquito wigglers. These living motes are too small to name. Are they destined for adulthood in a sea grass bed, or coral reef, or open ocean...

Last week, the Worldwatch Institute’s Central America team – together with our partners from the INCAE Business School – convened a working group of nearly 40 renewable energy experts and decision-makers in Managua, Nicaragua. The emphasis: access to energy for marginalized communities through sustainable energy options. With presentations and participation from the government’s renewable ener...

Experts from Latin America and the Caribbean will meet in Panama from October 3 to 5 to analyze policies and mechanisms to promote the decrease of gases harming the ozone layer. The meeting, promoted by the UN Program for the Environment, includes issues such as the enforcement and ratification of the Amendments of the Montreal Protocol, the most successful and most recognized international...

Cuban experts who will collaborate with Nicaragua in seismological and volcanological research are ready to start their work with experts from the Territorial Study Institute (Ineter) and other bodies. Upon arriving in Nicaragua, the four scientists expressed their willingness to cooperate in the complex situation the country is going through since late August, with quakes registered in coa...

It would obviously be adaptive for some animals to be able to distinguish between natural phenomena, like wind, and phenomena that have similar effects but are caused by hidden agents like predators. One example (used in the paper below) is the rustling of trees in a tropical forest canopy. We know how to distinguish between the rustling caused by wind, which is general, and the rustling tha...

Costa Ricans may be forgiven for wondering who is bullying whom in a long legal battle over their nation’s ban on IVF. As the only country in the world which bans in vitro fertilisation, supporters of legalised IVF claim that “At stake is nothing less than the future of reproductive rights in most of the Western Hemisphere.” But defenders of a 2000 decision by Costa Rica’s constitutional co...

It is no secret that chocolate can have a powerful effect; comforting, calming or even energizing, depending on your sweet tooth. But more than just inducing various emotional states, chocolate can also contribute to social change – and no one recognizes this more than the innovative team behind Maya Mountain Cacao, Alex Whitmore and Emily Stone. Everything changed for Whitmore when he too...

A new initiative aimed at universities in Latin American countries has been launched by the World Environment Center (WEC), a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable development. Called "Pathways to Cleaner Production in the Americas: Educating Future Professionals" , the initiative is supported by the U.S. Department of State in partnership with Higher Education for Development (HED...

While scientists increasingly name new species after celebrities in order to gain much-needed attention for the world's vanishing biodiversity, researchers describing a new snake species from Panama have taken a different route. Dubbing the new serpent, Sibon noalamina ('no to the mine!' in Spanish), the scientists are hoping the multicolored snake's unusual name will draw attention to mining ...

On September 7, 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a report that tracks the deterioration of coral reefs in the Caribbean over the past 39 years. The report indicates that live coral cover over some reefs in Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Florida Keys and the US Virgin Islands has dropped to less than 10%. These losses are thought to be driven by a combination o...

The authorities of El Salvador declared an emergency in the area of Lake Coatepeque, in the northwest of the country due to an algae bloom that has changed the color of its waters. The decision was adopted by the National Red Tide Commission, made of the Ministries of Environment, Health and Agriculture, because of the unusual phenomenon, which gives the water an intense turquoise color. ...

The accord between the Nicaraguan Telecommunications Institute (Telcor) and the Chinese firm Great Wall, which has manufactured satellites for several Latin American, African and Asian countries, could be signed in October. "In mid-October of this year, the two parties are going to conclude the negotiations on all aspects of this contract," said the Chinese firm's vice president, He Xing, ...

Even though over 1,000 aftershocks have been recorded since the ‘big one’, last week, many of us on the peninsula are suffering the shock of the resulting damages, many of which we are still becoming aware. The quake hit on Wednesday, but the heavy rain that came in on Saturday night brought unwelcomed water into many homes, hotels and other businesses that were unaware of their roof damage u...

Nosara Wildlife Rescue (NWR) is asking for volunteers to assist in the development of a Proof of Concept program designed to temporarily deter the howler monkeys from coming into contact with the uninsulated power leads of transformers. Of course, the main goal is to insulate these "hot" leads to the transformers. However this takes both time and money, and both are in short supply. NWR believ...

The week of 5-11 September was a relatively quiet period seismically. The United States Geological Survey’s interactive map, showing the week’s earth tremors, recorded a relatively modest 414 tremors of greater than M2.5 – of which just 35 were above M5.0, and just four larger than M6.0. Significant Earthquakes The largest earthquake recorded in the week was the M7.6 event which took pla...

The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) programme now has a two-star certified operation that farms and processes tilapia in Costa Rica. The Terrapez S.A. processing plant, which is associated with Aquacorporación Internacional, S.A. group under Rain Forest Aquaculture, was certified in August as BAP's first tilapia plant in Costa Rica. Located in Cañas, Guanacaste, the state-of-the-art, purpo...

The drought-parched harvests around the world this year, along with the season’s hottest archeological finding, offer a cautionary tale. Benjamin Cook, who sifts through mountains of computerized data rather than dusting off shards of pottery like old-fashioned archeologists, has developed a climate model that explains one of the great mysteries of Western hemisphere history – the sudden co...

Nicaragua’s volcanoes are returning to “normal levels of activity for active volcanoes” after registering a dramatic decrease in gas emissions over the past 24 hours, according to the most recent report by Nicaragua’s emergency response authorities (SINAPRED). San Cristóbal Volcano in Chinandega, which erupted three times on Saturday, is still emitting gasses, but much less so than yesterda...

The client for this project, The Sea Turtle Conservancy, asked the Conservation Clinic to examine the effectiveness of domestic and international legal instruments related to the protection of sea turtles in Costa Rica. Despite numerous reports of violations, non-governmental conservation organizations believed there had been no enforcement cases brought under sea turtle protection legisla...

*Pictured updated thanks to reader feedback, the posting author made an error selecting the picture to accompany the article. The picture above is the University of Costa Rica showing damage after the earthquakes. Costa Rica authorities have registered to date about a thousand aftershocks after the strong earthquake struck the North West coast measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that hit the...

Nicaragua’s tallest volcano belched an ash cloud on Saturday, sending hundreds of nearby residents scrambling to evacuate. Reuters reported the 5,725-foot San Cristobal volcano, which is about 100 miles north of the capital Managua, sent ash nearly a mile into the atmosphere. Residents said they could hear explosions emanating from its crater. Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo told ...

Yesterday, The Costa Rica Star was the first news media website in Costa Rica to report on the 7.6 Richter earthquake, below is a comprehensive over view from AFP. A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck Costa Rica's Pacific coast Wednesday, killing two people, briefly knocking out power and phone lines, and triggering tsunami warnings, authorities said. Residents reported trees toppl...

The government of Guatemala has promised to support power projects promoted by cooperatives in rural areas. Over 10 projects for small hydroelectric facilities are being encouraged by the Confederation of Guatemalan Cooperatives Federation, with the support of the U.S. Federation of Cooperatives for Electricity Generation. There are now three such projects which are operating in Huehuete...

Young men have hurled fireballs at one another in the streets of El Salvador as part of a hundred-year old tradition. Local residents in the town of Nejapa gather every year on August 31 and throw fiery, gasoline-soaked rags in honour of a huge volcanic eruption in 1658, Reuters reports. 'We commemorate the eruption of San Salvador volcano in 1658 which wiped out the population of Nejapa...

The Whale Festival will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 7/8/9 & subsequently on the 14/15/16. The whale & dolphin boat tours will take place every hour out of the main entrance; sector Punta Uvita of the Ballena Marine National Park. The tour lasts about an hour and a half and costs 16,000 colones (approx. $32 USD) per adult and 10,000 colones (approx.. $20 USD) for ...

This summer, Stanford medical students contributed to projects in communities around the globe as part of the Medical Scholars Research Program. In this special back-to-school Q&A series, five students share their experiences developing preventive medicine strategies, gaining hands-on clinical experience and conducting field research. The Osa and Golfito Initiative (INOGO) is an ongoing eff...

Don't forget to read all of the articles published about Paul Watson on The Costa Rica Star. Radical ecologist, founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Captain Paul Watson, made an online statement Tuesday, claiming his innocence on charges of being an ocean marauder who'll do everything to stop whaling. “After 35 years of intervening against illegal whalers, seale...

The Worldwatch Institute and the INCAE Business School's Latin American Center for Competitiveness and Sustainable Development (CLACDS) are co-hosting two workshops on "The Way Forward for Renewable Energy in Central America" in Managua, Nicaragua and Alajuela, Costa Rica tomorrow and on September 3, respectively. The participative dialogues aim to promote the exchange of ideas and experie...

Mexican archaeologists discovered a nearly 2,000-year-old sculpture of a jaguar in the Izapa archaeological zone, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said in a communique. The one-ton piece - which measures 1.38 meters (53 inches) long by 87 centimeters (34 inches) high and 52 centimeters (20.5 inches) wide - "is only engraved on one of its sides with the form of a jag...

A group of US archaeologists may have uncovered a section of hull and coral-covered chests that privateer Henry Morgan lost during his 1671 raid of Panama. The team from Texas State University is led by underwater archaeologist Frederick Hanselmann. He led last year's discovery of cannons at the mouth of the Chagres River that may also have belonged to five ships Morgan is believed to have ...

A drill team with Primero Agua (Water First) returned from Honduras earlier this month. They drilled two wells and completed installing a hand pump in a remote village where, at best, people only have access to water about every three days and for only two hours. That brings the number of wells drilled this year to four, said Jay Quattlebaum, Primero Agua president and co-founder. “The ...

A strong magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck off the coast of El Salvador followed an hour later by a magnitude-5.4 aftershock, authorities said early Monday. There were no immediate reports of damages or injuries. A tsunami warning was put into effect for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico after the quake struck at 10:37 p.m. Sunday. The warning was late...

What is garbage for many, can be useful to others; the contaminated plastic which is recycled in Costa Rica is exported to Japan where it is used as raw material to manufacture parts for cars, pipe lines and sleepers from the train tracks. The Foundation Limpianos Nuestros Campos works together with municipalities, to give proper treatment to the packaging of agrochemicals. So far this ...

Renewable World recently visited our programme sites in Nicaragua, the first stop of which was Kahka Creek Nature Reserve in the Rio Wawashang area of the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS), accessible by a 3-hour boat journey from the Caribbean hub of Bluefields, followed by a 40-minute walk from the riverside community of Pueblo Nuevo. Managed by local NGO - Foundation for Autonomy ...

A new international agreement between U.S. National Park Service and Costa Rica’s Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion will step up cooperation for planning, development, management and operation of protected natural parks and cultural sites. The two agencies will also share information in fire management and control, climate change adaptation, marine protected areas and the developmen...