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 Building Local, National, & Binational Networks
La Amistad, Costa Rica and Panama
“Personally speaking, PiP has been an opportunity to grow as a person, grow as an organization, and to feel we are partners with such an important organization as TNC, which speaks and understands our sense of conservation. PiP made us feel strongly supported by someone who understands and supports our work in the communities.”
Damaris Sanchez, Director of partner group FUNDICCEP
 Stretching from Costa Rica to Panama, PiP’s La Amistad/Bocas del Toro site contains a rich mosaic of ecosystems—ranging from cloud and lowland forests to coastal wetlands, mangrove islands and coral reefs—spanning 2.5 million acres. The region is also home to a unique blend of indigenous Cabecar, Bribri, Ngöbe-Bugle, and Naso-Teribe, as well as Afro-Caribbean and Latino cultures. The heart of this area is La Amistad International Park (PILA) with one of the largest remaining tracts of undisturbed forest in Central America.
Photo: La Amistad International Park/Bocas del Toro © Sergio Pucci
Recognized as both a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site, this area provides shelter for numerous species, such as the three-wattled bellbird (Procnias tricarunculata), the resplendent quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) and bare-necked umbrella bird (Cephalopterus glabricollis). These species migrate altitudinally—that is, instead of moving laterally over vast expanses of land, they take a vertical route, moving seasonally from the lowlands to the highlands and vice versa to feed, mate and nest. Yet, a series of hydroelectric dams, power plants and roads planned for the area threaten to disrupt this habitat, jeopardizing these migrations and the survival of these species.
After using TNC’s Conservation Action Planning methodology to assess the “state of the site,” PiP—in collaboration with another USAID project called PROARCA—promoted a participatory management approach in La Amistad/Bocas del Toro aimed at creating coordination mechanisms among government agencies and civil society, empowering local communities, and engaging private sector industries in conservation efforts.
PiP created a Binational Commission of the four government institutions directly responsible for the area’s management: Costa Rica’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MINAE) and Panama’s National Environmental Authority (ANAM), each of which has a separate office and independent jurisdiction for the Pacific and Caribbean sides of the area. The commission enhances responsibility and accountability, sets policy, raises funds, and coordinates planning and management of this binational area. These offices now collaborate on the annual development and implementation of a shared workplan.
PiP has also worked closely with local communities to help them create a common vision for alternative means of livelihood. In Costa Rica, seventeen community groups on the Caribbean slope have come together to form the Indigenous Tourism Network, while on the Pacific slope, four local communities organized themselves under the Quercus Network. In Panama, PiP has also supported the strengthening of the Alianza para el Desarrollo Ambiental de las Tierras Altas (ADATA) in collaboration with Fundación Vida, Salud, Ambiente y Paz (FUNDICCEP). These three networks coordinate 34 different community-based groups living on both slopes of the site. With a special focus on ecotourism, PiP is working with these networks to establish community businesses, provide tourism training and develop compatible economic activities, such as handicraft production and tour guiding.
Costa Rica’s National Institute for Biodiversity (INBio) and Asociación ANAI have also complemented existing capacities with activities such as biological monitoring and environmental education.
In collaboration with Fundación Cuencas de Limon (FCL), PiP engaged private sector industries in the Banano, Bananito and Estrella watersheds in conservation solutions. Through mechanisms such as water use fees, industries dependent on the region’s watersheds support community development and natural resource management.
Effective coordination amongst strong communities, government agencies, NGOs and private industries is necessary for conservation success in a site as ecologically, culturally and politically complex as La Amistad/Bocas del Toro. | 
