Costa Rica’s Corcovado Park Fights Plastic Pollution with Volunteer Effort

In the Osa Peninsula, home to 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity and declared by National Geographic as “the most intense place on the planet,” volunteers will fight against pollution. From June 5 to 8, 200 volunteers, supported by the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), the Puerto Jiménez Chamber of Tourism, local and international organizations, allied companies, the media, and UN Costa Rica, will mobilize to clean 27 km of coastline and trails invaded by waste from areas of the country far from the park and even from nations in South America, Africa, and Asia.

The initiative, called “Casita Limpia” (Clean House), commemorates the 50th anniversary of Corcovado National Park but also aligns with World Environment Day (June 5) and World Oceans Day (June 8). It also aims to prevent dozens of tons of plastic from endangering the lives of jaguars, tapirs, harpy eagles, and hundreds of other species that coexist in this natural paradise.