Wildlife Conservation Insights | Paso Pacifico Blog

The Science of Changing Oceans

"The ocean is a dynamic and rapidly evolving environment, a long-appreciated truth which becomes increasingly apparent as we observe it ever more carefully." Last month, Science magazine ran a special issue on ocean science and ocean conservation. We especially liked the updates on new technologies for studying the ocean. Two such examples are buoys and fiber-optic cables. Buoys: There are now over 4000 science buoys in the world's oceans, gathering temperatures, wave...

ICAPO in Nicaragua

Paso Pacífico’s sea turtle program is made possible through collaboration and information sharing with scientists around the world. Our work with the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO) focuses on the Hawksbill turtle, one of the rarest, most endangered sea turtles in the Eastern Pacific. Last year, Paso Pacífico and scientists from this network successfully placed the first satellite tag on a Hawksbill Sea Turtle in Nicaragua, allowing us to track the...

Survivor: Paso del Istmo

News that CBS’s hit reality television show Survivor is filming its Fall 2010 season in the Paso del Istmo dominated Nicaraguan headlines this past month. Filming is taking place south of the popular beach town San Juan del Sur, in a section of the Paso del Istmo Biological Corridor which Paso Pacifico is striving to preserve. For those unfamiliar with the show, Survivor contestants are left to “survive” unfamiliar terrain,...

Meet the Forester

As our Community Forester, Miguel Melendez plays a lead role conserving forests in the Paso del Istmo by assessing the status of tree seedlings and coordinating the teams of workers that clear weeds and brush. A lifetime farmer, Don Miguel’s leadership and years of experience have helped the trees in our reforestation projects thrive. Don Miguel is also a leader in his community, helping catalyze improvements to schools, roads, and...

Tradeoffs: Baby Turtles and Beach Clean Ups

FireDogLake posts on the continuing challenges of the gulf oil spill: The Pensacola News Journal states that heat indices of 114 have regularly been observed on the beach there. It should not be surprising then, that with the health of cleanup workers in mind, the efforts are being moved to nighttime, when conditions are much more tolerable. Sadly, however, lighting Florida beaches at night is a huge mistake, because hatchling...

New International Coalition for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

From the AAAS Policy Alert:Representatives from 90 countries have joined together to approve the formation of an Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) by the UN General Assembly. IPBES will carry out high-quality peer reviews of the science on biodiversity and ecosystems to provide gold standard reports to governments and will outline policy options and responses making sense of reports and assessments conducted by United Nations...

Pelican Eyes & Green Iguanas

We're pleased to be working with Pelican Eyes Hotel and Resort to reestablish populations of native Green Iguanas in the natural habitats surrounding San Juan del Sur, educate visitors and local population about the valuable role that these reptiles play, and the importance of wildlife protection.

Turtles and the Oil Spill

Our friends at SeaTurtle.org remind us that there are a number of sea turtles that are being actively tracked by satellite in the Gulf of Mexico. They are also aggregating news on the oil spill: http://www.seaturtle.org/news/

Tropical Forests as Carbon Sinks

Tropical forests store a fifth of the worlds carbon emissions, making our conservation efforts in Central America a particularly important climate change solution.Last month, we partnered with Nicaraguan NGO FUNDENIC to host a well-attended forum on the Climate Change-related Challenges and Opportunities for Biodiversity in Nicaragua. Our Executive Director, Sarah Otterstrom, presented on Components for Adaptation to Climate Change Impacts. Other presenters included Tim Lattimer, the US Department of State's...

Visualizing Climate Change

Our friend and colleague, Teresa, blogs at Project Groundswell about Visualizing Climate Change on the Ventura Boardwalk:SLAP stands for the Sea Level Awareness Project, and it is one of a number of initiatives from the group Kids versus Global Warming, founded by 15 year old Alec Loorv. Alec and volunteers constructed and installed SLAP sticks all along Ventura’s Boardwalk back in 2008 to mark the point to which sea level...

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