The sense of belonging is one of the factors that always involve both specialists and the general public of Costa Rica. They share the common goal of creating organizations to generate greater involvement in the caring of Costa Rica’s natural environments, like the National Botanical Gardens.
There are innumerable gardens located in this beautiful Central American country. Here we mention some of the most notables: The Botanical Garden of the Bougainvillea Hotel, the Zoological Park, and the Simón Bolívar National Botanical Garden. All of them have a variety of colors that amaze the visitors. Aside from being research centers for investigating the conservation of plant species in danger of extinction, and even some that are no longer in nature.
Organizations such as Fundación Pro Zoológicos (Fundazoo) have been doing an admirable job, regarding what has to do with the education and conservation of wildlife.
2 meetings of the coordinators of the different Botanical Gardens of Costa Rica have already taken place; the 1st was in November 2017 where participation in the Central American and Caribbean Network of Botanical Gardens was activated and the 2nd was in June 2018, which was directed by Fundazoo and the Lankester Garden. The 3rd is scheduled for the early next year 2019, at the facilities of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) in Turrialba.
So far, there are 17 groups united for a common purpose. In addition to attracting national and international visits, there is promoting the exchange of plants, seeds, and information to give greater impact to these wonderful places.
It is interesting that all these organizations have achieved and have presented workshops and books addressed to the various national communities. Books such as “Plants of the Zoological Park” and “The Simón Bolívar National Botanical Garden”, also showed current materials about orchids and their presence in almost all the planet. Among other issues, they make us want to know more about the species that are within the Costa Rican biodiversity spectrum.
By means of these activities, it is evident the desire of most groups to walk across those gardens to enjoy observing scientific research, obtaining an environmental education, or hands-on conservation in botany.
The Network of Botanical Gardens in Costa Rica is formed by the 17 groups, with proven capacity to meet international objectives such as having a full registry of the plant species in the gardens, in accordance with the standards for the 4th Congress of the Botanical Gardens Network of the Caribbean and Central America to be hosted here in 2022.
Some of the Botanical Gardens of Costa Rica that you can visit are the following:
- Santa Ana Conservation Center
- Simón Bolívar National Zoo and Botanical Garden
- Wilson Botanical Garden and Las Cruces Biological Station
- Ethnobotanical and Medicinal Guácimo Garden
- Africa Safari Park
Each of them has their respective characteristics but, at the same time, they all have the potential of captivating the eyes of the visitors through the beautiful species of both plants and animals.
