The great green macaw (Ara ambiguus) has a limited distribution in the Atlantic wet lowlands of Central America, from Honduras south to northern Colombia, with a small isolated population in the Pacific in Esmeraldas and Guayaquil, Ecuador. The world population is about 7.000 individuals. In Costa Rica, this species is currently limited to approximately 600 km2 of tropical very wet forest in the northern part of the country, in the border area with Nicaragua. It highly depends on the Almendro tree (Dipteryx panamensis) both for feeding and nesting substrate. This endangered species, which is listed in Appendix I of CITES, is in serious danger of disappearing from Costa Rica in the near future.
THE CONSERVATION PLAN The survival of the great green macaw depends on the availability of adequate, intact forest habitat. For this reason, together with local and national stakeholders, we proposed in 1998 the implementation of a conservation plan that could protect enough habitat to maintain a small and viable breeding population in Costa Rica. This integral conservation plan is known now as “San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor”, and included the creation in 2005 of the “Maquenque National Wildlife Refuge”, with an extension of 54,000 ha of natural ecosystems embracing the breeding range of the great green macaw.
With this perspective, we managed to restrict or prohibit the cutting of forest in the critical nesting zone of the macaw as well as to partially prohibit the harvest of almendro. To promote sustainable development in the Northern Zone and the conservation of the great green macaw, we encourage local farmers and communities to manage their lands in a sustainable manner by way of the extraction of non-timber products such as medicinal plants, fruits and seeds and to support reforestation initiatives with native trees that are both commercially important and benefit the great green macaw through incentives from the Government.
To resolve nest poaching, we developed an intensive environmental education program at the beginning of the Project for 18 months in different communities within the influence area.
THE BIOLOGICAL CORRIDOR The zone of humid Atlantic tropical forest of the north of Costa Rica maintains the only viable lowland habitat able to maintain the continuity of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the greatest breach in the route of the corridor between Honduras and Colombia. The San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor (246.608 ha) promotes restoration and preserves the connections between remnants of forest in the Central Volcanic Mountain range and the La Selva Biological Station (125.691 has) in the north of Costa Rica, united with the Barra del Colorado National Wildlife Refuge (102.165 ha) and Tortuguero National Park (29.068 ha) in the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. At the same time, the connection becomes more important with the extensive conservation complex that includes Indio-Maíz Biological Reserve (306.980 ha), Punta Gorda (54.900 ha) and Cerro Silva (339.400 ha) in Southeastern Nicaragua. The San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor will consolidate these six protected areas into a single biological unit, which sums up 1.204.812 ha.
The central conservation unit of the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor is the Maquenque Mixed National Wildlife Refuge, located to the south of Indio-Maíz Biological Reserve and contiguous with the westernmost limits of Barra del Colorado. This new protected area will conserve the corridor portion with the highest percentage of forest cover. The humid tropical forest of the Atlantic included within the proposed protected biological corridor and adjacent protected areas that will be connected, are biologically diverse, considered the home of 6.000 (36) species of vascular plants (number of vulnerable and endangered species between parenthesis), 139 (32) species of mammals, 515 (64) birds, 135 (35) reptiles and 80 (45) amphibians.
Por: Guisselle Monge Arias y Olivier Chassot. Proyecto de Investigación y Conservación de la Lapa Verde. Corredor Biologico San Juan - La Selva
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