Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica Progress Report 2020

Squirrel monkeys are just one of four monkey species in Corcovado.  

Corcovado National Park is a brilliant patch of emerald rainforest on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, only divided from the vast Pacific Ocean by a thin sliver of sand. Wide rivers run through this primeval forest, where bright green tree frogs with red eyes perch in trees that stand on great buttressed roots. Scarlet macaws gather in the highest branches to roost in large numbers, some of them peering out from nests in tree hollows. This is one of their last strongholds. 

It’s not for nothing that National Geographic dubbed Corcovado National Park “the most biologically intense place on earth”: this forest sustains 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity in just 0.001% of its land area. It’s the largest park in Costa Rica, protecting about one-third of the Osa Peninsula, and widely considered the crown jewel of this country’s impressive system of protected areas. The park encompasses 42,750 land hectares and 5,372 marine hectares; though small compared to the great Amazonian jungles further south, this is one of the last refuges for jaguars in Central America. 

Corcovado National Park contains one of the most important remaining jaguar populations.

Alongside the jaguar live a number of other species that rely on their ability to roam an unfragmented forest. Other cats like pumas, ocelots, and margay call this home, as do a wealth of other mammals like silky anteaters, sloths, all four of Costa Rica’s monkey species, and highly endangered Baird’s tapirs and white-lipped peccaries. Four species of sea turtle, all of them declining and one of them critically endangered, nest on the beaches. This is one of the few remaining tracts of unbroken lowland tropical rainforest left in the world, and among the most unique. 

Sea turtles need quiet stretches of beach, like those in Corcovado, to lay their eggs.

Saving Corcovado National Park

Though Corcovado has been protected since 1975, it has struggled with destructive illegal activity since the beginning. Osa was a wild frontier until gold fever swept the country in the 1970’s and thousands of miners converged on the peninsula. As the gold became scarcer, many people left. Those who stayed began entering protected areas like Corcovado to illegally extract the precious metal. An estimated 400 illegal miners still operate inside the park.

Gold has been mined for over a century inside the national park. When Corcovado National Park was created, it was estimated that there were only 10-15 people extracting gold inside the park, and at that time they were not thought to cause any significant environmental damage. By 1985 the number of people extracting gold within Corcovado National Park had increased to an estimated 500 to 2200 people.

Large sections of riverbed are destroyed by illegal gold mining in Corcovado, leading to destruction of aquatic ecosystems and erosion of the rainforest.

In 2017, the Costa Rican Supreme Court ordered effective protection for Corcovado, but hundreds of miners still work in the park today. Using dynamite and heavy machinery, they destroy huge patches of rainforest rapidly in their quest for gold. Enforcement has been sparse; in the recent past, only ten rangers were available at any given time to patrol the park’s area, which spans more than 45,000 hectares. 

Equipment confiscated from illegal miners in Corcovado.

Poaching, too, plagues this park. Illegal hunters invade Corcovado with AK-47s and highly trained hunting dogs, primarily seeking paca and endangered white-lipped peccary for sale as game meat and often taking dozens at a time. Sometimes, they will also hunt jaguar to sell their skins. But even when the jaguars are spared by the poachers, the decline in paca and peccary means that the forest doesn’t hold enough prey for those big cats.

Consequently, jaguars have been in decline in Corcovado since the park was created, and only 30 remain. That this is regardless one of Central America’s last jaguar strongholds is a testament to the alarming decline in this big cat across its range; protecting unfragmented forests like Corcovado and their populations of prey species is becoming ever more important.

A proposed Corcovado Marine Reserve would also protect the rich waters off the coast of the park.

Illegal timber confiscated from loggers.

To help curb illegal mining, poaching, and logging, Global Conservation is investing in surveillance technology and operations in Corcovado. We began threat assessment, planning, and mission support in 2016, and supported two SINAC/MINAE (Costa Rican Parks Authority/Ministry of the Environment) patrolling missions involving Ministry of Security and Border Police in 2017.

Illegal camps found inside Corcovado National Park, used by miners, poachers, and others carrying out illegal activities.

To eliminate illegal gold mining and wildlife poaching in Corcovado National Park, Global Conservation is supporting SINAC/MINAE in park protection including:

• Threat Assessment: using expert analysis and reporting
• Aerial Surveillance: using UAVs/drones and light aircraft
• Ground Surveillance: river inspection teams to locate and geo-reference illegal gold mining activities within the park
• Identification of Violators: establishing an enforcement database of illegal miners and wildlife poachers within the park
• Detailed Mapping: of locations of illegal activities within the park for targeted joint patrols by police/park rangers

Park rangers detain illegal miners in Corcovado.

We are also funding aerial surveillance and environmental inspectors (COVIRENAS), local intelligence experts who navigate the rivers and forests to document illegal activities. Already, 114 people from local communities have been trained and certified as COVIRENAS. At the same time, 37 young people from communities around the park have been trained as community rangers, who assist with park maintenance and supporting official rangers during daily activities.

COVIRENAS working with rangers during patrols.

Meanwhile, our Cellular Trailcams stand guard at the park’s many access points, reporting illegal entries by trail, road, and river in real time. These upgrades have already resulted in regular arrests of illegal gold miners and commercial hunters. 

Because of the park's remoteness, patrols often require 5-6 days of camping in the forest. Rangers hike long distances, sleeping in tents and preparing their own food.

Rangers on patrol in remote areas of the park.

2020 Progress in Numbers

In 2020, our partners:

• Conducted 129 terrestrial patrols and 5 marine
• Arrested 31 people for illegal activities inside the park, such as hunting and mining
• Reported 11 crimes for environmental prosecution
• Trained and certified 114 COVIRENAS
• Responded to 9 alerts of drug trafficking inside the park, and found 2 trafficking boats on the shore
• Mounted and maintained 24 trail cameras
• Trained 21 community rangers in management of the national park, who now support official rangers in daily activities and assist with maintenance

Ranger training in Corcovado.

Next Steps:

1. Continue rigorous patrols to keep illegal activities under control.
2. Train rangers in legal issues
3. Conduct maintenance at ranger stations
4. Obtain necessary field equipment for rangers and COVIRENAS
5. Present reports for environmental persecution
6. Continue monitoring wildlife using camera traps and tracking methods.
7. Evaluate compliance with the Costa Rican Supreme Court's mandate to protect Corcovado.
8. Support for community involvement through the COVIRENAS.
9. Evaluation of the conservation status of the jaguar population in the park.