Environmental Conservation Project (San José, Puntarenas)

• Give back to Mother Nature by sharing your love for nature
• Gain experience alongside local professionals in environmental conservation
• Immerse in the Costa Rican way of life through safe, carefully-screened homestays
• Explore nature’s best in Costa Rica, famous for its bountiful biodiversity

Love flourishing tropical rainforests and sandy white beaches with turquoise blue waters? Then volunteer in Costa Rica! Besides its legendary natural beauty, Costa Rica is also renowned for its environmental and conservation efforts. However, such efforts require a lot of manpower and resources, which is often lacking because of the fast-deteriorating environment. As a volunteer in the Environmental Conservation Project, you will be filling in the gaps for these spaces. Also known as the Pro-sucuenca Project, this program supports governmental efforts in environmental conservation. Take part in the project and contribute to the remarkably biologically dense country while enjoying nature’s best!

Volunteer’s Responsibilities

As a volunteer in the Environmental Conservation project in Costa Rica, you will be working with either the Ministry of the Environment or the national parks. Depending on the individual’s skills and expertise, and the needs of the local staff, your daily duties include but are not limited to:

• Maintaining trails in the municipal forest
• Planting trees
• Cleaning streams
• Creating new educational trails
• Assisting with new projects
• Fundraising
• Search for grant opportunities
• Assisting with administrative duties
• Assisting and educating visitors or local communities
• Assisting with projects specific to each site

How You Can Make a Difference

If you’re looking to carve out a career in environmental conservation, this is the perfect opportunity for you to gain insight. The local government needs all the help they can get in order to conserve the environment. Due to limited resources and manpower, a major issue for this program is the lack of staff. As a volunteer in Costa Rica in the Environmental Conservation project, you’ll be filling in this gap to help safeguard the exquisite ecosystem of the beautiful country. Your role as a volunteer is to halt and reverse the deteriorating situation of the environment, and helping the local government to reach its aims that much quicker. You’ll also play a part in helping the local citizens understand the importance of their natural surroundings and the value of preservation. At the same time, you’ll be working alongside other volunteers and local staff, so you can have as much hands-on experience and insight on saving the environment in one of the lushest places on earth.

Skills and Qualifications

There are no specific qualifications needed to join our Environmental Conservation Work in Costa Rica beyond a preferred basic/intermediate fluency in Spanish. If you cannot speak Spanish, we recommend enrolling in our Spanish Language Studies program. Please note that many of the projects are quite physical, therefore conservation volunteers must be in good physical shape. A volunteer should be enthusiastic and a self-starter yet able to follow directions well.

Project Location

The project is located in San José and Puntarenas. Puntarenas is a port city and a major tourist area in Costa Rica. It boasts a coastline full of unspoiled islands, pristine beaches, and beautiful natural landscapes. At the peninsula, stunning natural beach areas such as Tambor, Santa Teresa and Montezuma can be found. This area also hosts the Cabo Blanco Absolute Nature Reserve, San Lucan, Chira, Tortuga and Coco Islands. The Monteverde area, located north of Puntarenas, has both national and international significance because of its conservation efforts and the laidback lifestyles which revolve around nature. The primary attraction is the Monteverde Biological Reserve, although there are many other attractions such as mesmerizing nature sites, picturesque trails, hanging bridges, as well as butterfly and frog exhibits.

San Jose is not only the capital city of Costa Rica but also the diversified cultural core of this magnificent country. In addition to fine dine restaurants and classic taverns, dozens of historic monuments, Spanish colonial architecture and interesting museums add to the euphoric ambience of San Jose.