Tortugas de Osa | One Planet

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COPROT Tortugas de osa

The last hidden Eden of Costa RIca, the Osa Peninsula is home to 2.5% of the worlds biodiversity. Situated on the Pacific coast of the country, the Osa boasts incredible rainforests, bountiful lagoons and an untouched coastline with thousands of sea turtles nesting along its beaches.

Laura Exley fell in love with this tropical paradise and was inspired to create COPROT in order to protect the globally important sea turtle populations nesting on the beaches. Working side by side with the local communities, Laura and her team have been able to study and prtect tens of thousands of sea turtle nests over the years, as well as working with the community on other issues such as ocean plastics, sustainable growing and reforestation efforts.

Scroll down to see some of the amazing programmes being run by COPROT Tortugas de Osa

Laura Exley

Founder and Director

Plastics

Ocean plastics are one of the biggest threats to our ocean ecosystems. COPROT has been working in partnership with IN MOCEAN to collect and re-purpose the ocean plastic they collect from the beaches of the Osa. The team spend hours each week collecting plastics from the beach to then bring them back to the camp to sort and clean them. They can then use their plastic upcycling machines to shred the plastics and melt them down to repurpose the plastic into items they can sell to tourists like jewellery and bowls. The money made from these sales is put back in to the community to encourage locals to get involved with cleaning their beaches whilst also making a sustainable living from them.

The Osa is a special place for many reasons, but it is hard to ignore the stunning beaches that act as perfect nesting beaches for thousands of sea turtles each year. Both Olive Ridley turtles and the very special Pacific Green Turtle nest on the Osa's beaches in their thousands every year. The team at COPROT patrol the beaches every night in order to record and mark the nests of the mother turtles as they nest, as well as having a presence on the beach to deter poachers. In the mornings the team conduct a census on the beaches to count exactly how many nests where laid that night. This data allows the team to monitor the health of the population and showcase the areas importance for the two species.

sea turtles

Community

The community is at the heart of all the work being done at COPROT. In the beginning the project was directly working with ex-gold miners who would patrol the beaches for the team. As the project has grown, several community members now work for the project either helping to patrol beaches or cook for the research team. COPROT also boasts an amazing education program which includes English lessons for the local women's group, environmental lessons for local primary schools and internship opportunities for students at the universities in San Jose.

Get Involved

There are so many amazing opportunities for people to get involved in the work going on at COPROT. If you are visiting the area you can visit the project for a tour, going out on to the beaches with the team to observe their work. For those with extra time on their hand, you can volunteer with the project and fully immerse yourself in their work and life in the jungle. If you have some experience or are looking to step up in your biology career, you could join the project as a intern or a research assistant, becoming an important part of the team as they continue their great work.

How you can help

There are many ways you can support the COPROT Tortugas de Osa, by donating to their work or even better, come and visit the project yourself as a volunteer and directly get involved in the amazing work being done in their magical jungle camp.