128Canopy Blog

Photo courtesy of La Nacion

The Herbarium Department of the Costa Rica National Museum has organized its itinerant plant exposition names “Plants and their Use”.  The Plant Expo will travel throughout Costa Rica within the next 12 months in order to present the public with popular species and their many uses.

The Plant Exposition’s curator, Sylvia Lobo, mentioned that the idea of organizing an itinerant exposition was to transmit a sense of respect towards nature and what it has to offer humankind.  In a very simple yet thorough setup, the public will learn about the many uses of a variety of the most popular species found in Costa Rica.

Currently, the exhibition is available to the public at the San Ramon Campus of the University of Costa Rica and will continue to travel around the country in the following months.  Lobo mentioned that a total of 20 plant species were picked out for the exhibitions that are considered among the most popular in the country.

Aside from displaying the variety of plant species, each exhibition will also count with printed material and an educational interactive tool named the “Trunk about Biodiversity”.

The public will be presented with plants that are used for distinct areas such as ornamental, edible, medicinal and for the use of arts and crafts such as the estococa (Carludovica drudrei) and the “ox eye” seed found in Guanacaste.

After its exhibition in San Ramon, the Plant Expo will move on to Nicoya in Costa Rica’s North Pacific Coast.  Costa Rica hotels in this area are conveniently located allowing visitors easy access to all major beaches and attractions in the region.

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The 22nd Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Championship will be held in Cuba from Friday July 3rd to Sunday July 5th, 2009.  Costa Rica will be represented by a total of 15 athletes among which sprinter Nery Brenes will be taking part.

The Costa Rican athletes will be traveling with renowned trainer Walter Salazar next Wednesday July 1st to Havana, Cuba.  Athletes from a total of 35 Central American and Caribbean countries will be competing at this event making it a top level competition.

From Costa Rica, the most outstanding athlete is sprinter Nery Brenes who has gradually and steadily made a name for himself within the track and field niche.  Brenes received instant stardom in Costa Rica when he was able to easily classify for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

However, trainer Salazar mentioned that Brenes will only be at his 90% capacity as he is still recovering from a paratenonitis of his right knee.  Brenes has been in active recovery over the past 5 months and his participation in the Central American a nd Caribbean Track and Field Championship will be focused on his full recovery more than winning medals.

Among the other athletes that will be traveling with Salazar and Brenes are sisters Sharolyn and Shantelly Scott, Mariela Leal, Jolyde Solis, Stefani Zamora, Tatiana Zamora, Wendy Zuñiga, Bryan Brown, Victor Cantillano, Arnoldo Monge, Marco Perez, Jose Gonzalez, Henry Linton and Roberto Sawyers.

The athletes will be staying at an undisclosed Costa Rica hotel in the San Jose before their departure.

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Several specialists from some 25 Universities in Central America are currently in Costa Rica to create an online network that will hold all the information regarding this region’s animal and plant species.

The event has invited members of the Mesoamerican Network of Biotic Resources (Redmeso) and is being hosted by an also member, the National University located in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Redmeso director, Manuel Vicario from the Autonomous University of Morelos, Mexico, mentioned that the website will not be public and will be available mainly to researches, teachers and environmentalists who wish to specialize in the area.  Making the website available to the public may result in the mishandling and wrong use of the information according to Vicario.

As an example, Vicario mentioned that among the information that will be uploaded to the network will be the region’s in which the endangered Jaguars still inhabit.  If this information falls into the wrong hands, say poachers, the sole purpose of the project will be compromised.  In Costa Rica for example, the Jaguar is close to becoming extinct and is protected by law.

In addition, the information will also guide decisions regarding development projects in crucial regions.  For example, Costa Rica hotels and tourist projects must first carry out an environmental study of the area before commencing development in this country.  Similar situations are required in the rest of Central America or will soon be enforced.

The Mesoamerican region holds 7% of the entire world’s biodiversity in an area that spans from Mexico to Panama.  Participants in this workshop being held in Costa Rica will begin to upload the information currently available in each university’s database starting this week.

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