Costa Rica: compost and rail
A new study in Guanacaste warns that poorly managed organic waste boosts raccoon activity and can increase sea‑turtle predation — a concrete example of how waste practices hit conservation on nesting beaches (news.mongabay.com). At the same time, the Panama–Costa Rica Railway project is being pitched as a game‑changer for greener, faster cross‑border travel that could reshape eco‑tourism routes in Central America (travelandtourworld.com).
Keilor Cordero, the study’s lead author and a PhD student at Menéndez Pelayo International University, used satellite imagery from 1990–2024 to link exponential urban growth in the Las Baulas buffer zone to increased raccoon activity. (news.mongabay.com: ) Field work in the study area used camera traps to compare different trash‑container types and documented that food subsidies from poorly managed organic waste fuel opportunistic species growth. (data.mendeley.com: ) The same camera‑trap dataset reports raccoons depredated 100% of Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) nests in a single season at sites within the study’s scope. (data.mendeley.com: ) Las Baulas Marine National Park — established in 1991 — remains one of the Eastern Pacific’s most important leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting sites and also hosts olive ridley and green turtle nesting beaches. (wwf.panda.org: ) Panama’s government has publicized a 475‑kilometre Panama–Paso Canoas rail line with an estimated cost between $4.1 billion and $5 billion and a planned groundbreaking in January 2026. (ticotimes.net: ) Project documents and briefings list 14 stations (including Albrook, David and Paso Canoas), target passenger speeds up to 180 km/h and freight speeds up to 100 km/h, and have been presented by Incofer leadership as a backbone for regional connectivity. (newsroompanama.com: ) Trade and travel outlets describe the railway as a potential “game‑changer” expected to slash transit times between Panama City and the Costa Rican border and to open new cross‑border eco‑tourism corridors linking western Panama with Guanacaste. (travelandtourworld.com: )
