Costa Rica is located on the Central American Isthmus, surrounding the point 10° north of the equator and 84° west of the prime meridian. It has 212 km of Caribbean Sea coastline and 1,016 on the North Pacific Ocean.
Guanacaste is a province of Costa Rica located in the northwestern region of the country, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Alajuela Province to the east, and Puntarenas Province to the southeast. It is the most sparsely populated of all the provinces of Costa Rica. The province covers an area of 10,141 km2 (3,915 sq mi) and as of 2010, had a population of 354,154, with annual revenue of $2 million.
Enterolobium cyclocarpum, commonly known as guanacaste, caro caro, monkey-ear tree or elephant-ear tree, is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas, from central Mexico south to northern Brazil (Roraima) and Venezuela. It is known for its large proportions, its expansive, often spherical crown, and its curiously shaped seedpods. The abundance of this tree, especially in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, where it is prized for the shady relief it provides from the intense sun, coupled with its immensity, have made it a widely recognized species. It is the national tree of Costa Rica.
Liberia is a district and the largest city in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica, located 215 kilometres (134 mi) northwest of the national capital, San José, in the canton with the same name, of which it is the head city or capital.
Daniel Hunt Janzen is an American evolutionary ecologist, and conservationist. He divides his time between his professorship in biology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is the DiMaura Professor of Conservation Biology, and his research and field work in Costa Rica.
National System of Conservation Areas or SINAC,, is part of the Ministry of Environment and Energy or MINAE of Costa Rica. It is the administrator for the nation's national parks, conservation areas, and other protected natural areas.
Guanacaste National Park, in Spanish Parque Nacional Guanacaste is a National Park in the northern part of Costa Rica. It is part of the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site, and it stretches from the slopes of the Orosí and Cacao volcanoes west to the Interamerican Highway where it is adjacent to the Santa Rosa National Park. It was created in 1989, partially due to the campaigning and fund-raising of Dr. Daniel Janzen to allow a corridor between the dry forest and rain forest areas which many species migrate between seasonally. The park covers an area of approximately 340 square kilometers, and includes 140 species of mammals, over 300 birds, 100 amphibians and reptiles, and over 10,000 species of insects that have been identified. It was this high density of bio-diversity that encouraged the Costa Rican government to protect this area. The Guanacaste National Park weaves the neighboring Santa Rosa National Park with the high altitude forests of the two volcanoes, Orosi and Cacao, and the rainforest of the Caribbean in the country's north.
Palo Verde National Park, is a national park of Costa Rica, part of the Arenal Tempisque Conservation Area, that contains much of the area of the valley of the Tempisque River and covers an area of 45,492 acres in Guanacaste Province, 30 km west of Canas. The surrounding region is mostly tropical dry forests, and the park concentrates on conserving vital floodplain, marshes, limestone ridges, and seasonal pools from the encroachment of civilization which was putting the ecology of the area at risk.
Santa Rosa National Park, is a national park, in Guanacaste Province, northwestern Costa Rica, it was created in 1966 by decree 3694.
The Area de Conservación Guanacaste is a network of protected areas and a World Heritage Site in Guanacaste Province, in northwestern Costa Rica. The World Heritage Site contains an unbroken tract of tropical dry forest and important habitat for several vulnerable species, including the Central American tapir, mangrove hummingbird, and the great green macaw. Over 7,000 plant species and 900 vertebrate species have been located in the park.
The Diriá National Park, until 2004 the Diriá National Forest Wildlife Refuge, is a National Park of Costa Rica south of Santa Cruz in the Guanacaste Province, and forms part of the Tempisque Conservation Area. It protects both dry and at higher elevations humid tropical forest in the central highlands of the Nicoya Peninsula, including the watersheds of the Diriá, Tigre, Verde and Enmedio rivers which have been created a terrain of deep valleys with steep slopes.
The Corobicí River, or the Rio Corobicí, in Costa Rica is a tributary of the Tempisque River. Originating from the southern slopes of the Tenorio Volcano in the Guanacaste Mountains, the river flows southerly, descending through tropical dry forest and pastures before joining the Tenorio River which winds its way to the Bebedero River and the Tempisque among the mangroves.
Guanacaste Conservation Area is an administrative area which is managed by the Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion (SINAC) of Costa Rica for conservation in the northwestern part of Costa Rica. It contains three national parks, as well as wildlife refuges and other nature reserves. The area contains the Area de Conservación Guanacaste World Heritage Site, which comprises four areas.
Junquillal Bay Wildlife Refuge, also called the Bahia Junquillal National Wildlife Refuge, is a 4.38 km2 (1.69 sq mi) wildlife refuge in Guanacaste Province of northwestern Costa Rica.
Iguanita Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge, part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area, in Guanacaste Province, northwestern Costa Rica.
Jacó is a district of the Garabito canton, in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. Jacó has a black sand beach that is 4 km (2.5 mi) long and is popular among surfers.
The Palo Verde Biological Research Station is located in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica, and is one of the three research stations operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS). The Biological Research Station is located inside Palo Verde National Park. Palo Verde Biological Research Station is one of the foremost sites for ecological research on tropical dry forests, which constitute one of the most endangered forest types in the world.
Winifred Hallwachs is an American tropical ecologist who helped to establish and expand northwestern Costa Rica's Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG). The work of Hallwachs and her husband Daniel Janzen at ACG is considered an exemplar of inclusive conservation.
The Costa Rican seasonal moist forests ecoregion covers the Pacific Slope of the volcanic mountain range of northwestern Costa Rica and the extreme south of Nicaragua. The area has a distinct dry season during which the characteristic deciduous trees drop their leaves. The forests themselves have been highly degraded in the past by human conversion to agriculture and settlement. The Costa Rican capital city of San Jose is in the middle of this ecoregion.
