Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

[Introduction]: Part of the success of conservation programs is focused on the economic sustainability that they provide to the people who own the forests, within an increasingly aggressive productive landscape matrix. However, currently the economic relationship between land uses and their respective productive activities lacks empirical data to explain it. [Objective]: This study designed a model to evaluate the opportunity cost of forest management in natural forests, taking as a reference the primary productive activities that take place in its surroundings. [Methodology]: A data set of 24 sites with a forest management plan in natural forest, approved by the forest authorities of the Arenal-Huetar Norte Conservation Area, Costa Rica, was used. Likewise, geographic and productive information on alternative land uses was used. [Results]: With these data, an opportunity cost map was generated, which shows a marked segregation of the forests into 2 main zones: a) high opportunity cost zone, located to the south of the study area, with a range of $1,000.0 to ≥ $4,000.0 ha-1 yr-1; and b) medium zone and zone of low cost of opportunity, to the center-north of the site of interest, with a range of ≤ $0 to $1 000.0 ha-1 year-1. [Conclusions]: It is concluded that, at present, the ideal areas for timber harvesting are restricted to places far from the market and characterized by their low opportunity cost.

[Introduction]: The theoretical relationship between economic growth (measured through some income indicator) and the generation of pollutants explains that at a certain level of growth, a decrease in them begins, a process known as decoupling and that possibly indicates the presence of an Environmental Curve of Kuznets (CAK). [Objective]: A possible decoupling of municipal solid waste in Mexico was studied for the years 2010 and 2015 in 2 183 municipalities. [Methodology]: For this purpose, the independent variable used was the annual municipal income per capita in dollars expressed as purchasing power parities. In addition, the model was controlled by municipal population density and average municipal schooling. [Results]: The results of models estimated by random effects, fixed effects, and cluster robust standard errors in fixed effects show the probable existence of decoupling between income and municipal solid waste in the 2 183 municipalities studied. [Conclusions]: Although there is a possible CAK, new research is needed to contrast this hypothesis considering a long-time horizon at the national, regional, and sectorial levels in Mexico and Latin America too, as well as considering the effect of variables related to the collection of urban solid waste and recycling.

Several points of the Laudato si' Letter clash head-on with the hegemonic economic doctrine and with aligned politicians who defend it. It is the most notable pontifical document that deals systematically with ecological issues, presenting an articulating analysis of the main dimensions of the problems that afflict “our common home”. One of its most outstanding characteristics is the overcoming of reductionist and unidisciplinary excluding approaches, with the proposal to build an integrative approach. From this perspective, it sees all the problems diagnosed, which affect life on planet Earth, as consequences of the dominant technocratic paradigm ‒dominant to the point that it constitutes a paradigm of understanding that conditions people’s lives and the functioning of society, where finance continues to drown the real economy. For Francisco, it is a fabricated conception of the market, because it tends to think that problems are solved only with the growth of the profits of companies and individuals. It is tremendously risky that the techno-scientific power of this paradigm resides in a small part of humanity. An alternative paradigm would imply, among other things: redefining the concept and practice of progress, proposing solutions from the perspective of all those affected, establishing insurmountable limits to the protection of ecosystems, creating jobs by promoting an economy that favors productive diversity and entrepreneurial creativity. It requires changing the mentality, the global development model and questioning the logic underlying the current culture, moving towards a courageous cultural revolution.

Rafael Lucas Rodríguez Caballero was a humanist, botanist, and conservationist. He graduated simultaneously with a Bachelor of Science, from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) and with a Master of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1948. And he graduated with a Ph. D. in Botany, also from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1953. He founded the School of Biology of the University of Costa Rica. There he carried out a monumental work: with a great genius for teaching science, he trained several generations of top-level biologists; he trained and recruited world-class teachers to increase the quality of the School; and he conducted research that draws attention to the present, both for its scope, and for the quality of his illustrations. He was the founder or co-founder of the UCR University Choir, the College of Biologists, and the Organization for Tropical Studies (OET). He supported the Revista de Biología Tropical for decades, and enthusiastically supported the Central American Institute for Cultural Extension (ICECU) and the Costa Rican Institute for Radio Education (ICER), as well, for decades. In addition, he orchestrated the creation of the Lankester Garden, which initially rescued Charles Lankester's magnificent living collection of orchids, and is now a center of international caliber for orchidology. He won numerous and diverse national and international distinctions, some of them even after his death in 1981.

The two-toed sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni) and the three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus), today considered Costa Rican national symbols, were studied for 13 years (2004-2016) in and around a cacao farm in the project “Theobroma cacao: Biodiversity in Total and Partial Forest Canopies”. This interinstitutional and interdisciplinary sloth research carried out by six departments in five institutions covered the following areas: a) spatial ecology, b) behavior, c) wildlife health, d) demography, e) genetics, and f) conservation. Twenty-six (26) scientific publications resulted, most with new information about sloths; some are summarized in this article. Sloth conservation depends on a variety of components, including: i) protection and regeneration of habitat where they live and transit, especially cacao plantations, riparian forests, live fences, and trees in pastures, ii) environmental education programs, iii) avoid extracting and selling sloths to rescue centers and private zoos, and iv) continue research and monitoring programs.  

Se realiza una breve introducción histórica sobre los factores que impulsaron la ocupación de territorios durante la colonia y cómo esas localizaciones, motivadas por intereses económicos y políticos, además del desconocimiento del medio, favorecieron la expansión desordenada de asentamientos marginales en áreas urbanas en tierras con limitaciones naturales sensibles y efectos ambientales severos. Se enfatiza, entonces, en la necesidad de implementar instrumentos de planificación como los planes reguladores.  

[Introducción]: El aprendizaje basado en estrategias lúdicas para la educación ambiental, representa una estrategia de mediación pedagógica participativa, que considera las realidades socioambientales del entorno en que está inmerso el individuo.  [Objetivo]: Promover la educación ambiental, por medio de metodologías lúdicas, participativas y flexibles, para la generación de conocimiento para la prevención de la exposición a plaguicidas. [Metodología]: Con sistemas de información geográfica se calculó proximidad entre escuelas y fincas bananeras. Se diseñó una metodología lúdica constructivista para la educación ambiental de estudiantes de primer ciclo de primaria (6 - 8.5 años), vinculando temas ambientales con la maya curricular. Además, se diseñaron actividades educativas para sus encargados. La metodología se aplicó en 37 escuelas rurales costarricenses a 2757 estudiantes y 387 adultos durante 148 encuentros. [Resultados]: Un 38 % (n=14) de escuelas estaban ubicadas a <100 m de fincas bananeras. En los talleres, la comunicación basada en el uso de diversas estrategias pedagógicas lúdicas generó un ambiente participativo, que identificó necesidades locales, construcción de saberes colectivos y conocimiento sobre efectos de la exposición a plaguicidas en salud humana y ambiental. Las personas participantes reconocieron las principales acciones preventivas para reducir la exposición a plaguicidas. [Conclusiones]: Las metodologías lúdicas, participativas y flexibles en la educación ambiental facilitaron el proceso de sensibilización a estudiantes de primer ciclo de primaria y sus madres y encargados legales de comunidades rurales sobre los riesgos de exposición a plaguicidas. La metodología usada, se podrá fácilmente adaptar para su aplicación en otros estudios de ciencias ambientales.

[Introduction]: Drinking water is a determining factor in human health; when obtained from surface sources, it can be affected by microbiological contaminants that cause disease, which in turn could be influenced by environmental conditions. However, these effects have been little studied in Costa Rica. [Objective]: To determinate the environmental variability influence in the concentrations of pathogen microorganisms and fecal indicators in a drinking water system. [Methodology]: samples were collected twice a month for one year. Cryptosporidium sp., Giardia sp., somatic coliphages, and Escherichia coli concentrations were measure. Spatial conditions were analyzed using geographic information systems, and climate conditions analysis were performed using descriptive technics. To data analysis were used censored data technics and Poisson regression models to evaluate the influence of the rainfall on microorganisms’ concentrations. [Results]: seasonal differences were found for somatic coliphages and E. coli. Cryptosporidium sp. and Giardia sp. concentrations were more frequent with weak precipitation intensity. Meanwhile, coliphages and E. coli concentrations were higher when precipitation intensity increase. [Conclusions]: The four micro-basins presented pollution vulnerability for their spatial conditions. Besides, study microorganisms were affected differently by climatic seasonality and 24 h previous intensity of the precipitation. Therefore, it is recommended an individual evaluation of them periodically.

[Introduction]: Bioremediation is a technology that uses microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, algae) or enzymes to biodegrade oil pollutants and derivatives and other pollutants that are present in soil, air or water. In Latin America there is a high degree of pollution of its ecosystems, therefore, this technology is economically and environmentally viable to degrade these pollutants. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, such as asphaltenes and resins, are difficult to degrade, as well as polychlorinated aliphatics and biphenyls. [Objective]: It seeks to give an overview of recent publications on scientific research carried out regarding bioremediation methodologies for soils contaminated by oil and its derivatives. [Methodology]: An exhaustive search of the scientific literature of recent years was carried out, related to the proposed topic in bibliographic databases: Medline, Current Contents, PubMed, Google scholar, SciFinder, Scopus and in specialized journals: Chemosphere, Applied Microbiology, Biodegradation & Biodeterior, American Society for Microbiology, Frontal Microbiology, Sci Total Environ. The keywords used were in Spanish  or English. [Results]: Polyaromatic hydrocarbons can be biodegraded by bacterial consortia, such as phenanthrene (aromatic compound) which was biodegraded by 11 different bacterial strains (Sphingobium, Sphingomonas, Acidovorax, Alkaligenes, Actinobacteria, Burkholderia sp., Rhizobium sp., Pseudomonas sp., Pseudomonas sp., Stenotrophomonas and Sinorhizobium). In bioremediation, physicochemical variables such as pH, temperature, oxygen, and humidity are considered important, as they are factors that influence the success of the treatment. [Conclusions]: With this bibliographic review, we seek to provide viable solutions to various hydrocarbon pollution problems in Latin American ecosystems.

[Introducción]: Diferentes prácticas agrícolas implementadas durante la fase de producción de la caña de azúcar (Saccharum officinarum) generan gases con efecto invernadero (GEI), existiendo gran interés en cuantificar y en identificar su origen para determinar las prácticas que emiten las mayores cantidades. [Objetivos]: Utilizar el análisis de ciclo de vida para identificar las principales fuentes de emisión de GEI en el proceso de producción de la caña de azúcar, proporcionar información base para desarrollar alternativas de mitigación y, conocer la eficiencia de emisión del cultivo. [Metodología]: Se consideraron todas las labores de campo y el transporte de tallos al ingenio. Se determinó el uso de maquinaria y de agroquímicos, fertilizantes, así como el transporte de la caña al ingenio. Para el cálculo de la emisión de metano y óxido nitroso, se utilizaron factores de emisión nacionales y, sugeridos por el IPCC. Cada gas se transformó a CO2eq, forma en que se reportan los resultados. [Resultados]: La mayor fuente de emisión (73.6 %) lo constituyó la fertilización nitrogenada, seguida por la quema efectuada previo a la cosecha (13.2 %). La eficiencia de emisión varía con la región productora, siendo el promedio nacional de 26.9 kg CO2eq t-1 de caña y, de 247.5 kg CO2eq t-1 de azúcar. Se presentan y discuten algunas opciones de mitigación. [Conclusiones]: Se demuestra que la actividad cañera costarricense tiene una eficiencia mejor que otros países productores de caña, y que de implementarse opciones de mitigación se podría reducir la emisión GEI y ello podría contribuir a diferenciar la producción nacional en los mercados.