Paola will present on deforestation and forest fragmentation in Costa Rica, and how conservation efforts such as creating protected areas, biological corridors, and buffer zones, as well as governmental programs to conserve forest carbon stocks (REDD+) and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) have reversed the trend and increased Costa Rica’s forest cover dramatically.

Pao Muñoz is a Costa Rican biologist specialized in environmental project management and currently a Masters of Science student in Environmental Studies at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University. Among other projects, she has worked with the Council on International Educational Exchange(CIEE) to provide environmental education in Costa Rica to high school and undergraduate students from all over the United States. Currently she is involved in a socio-economic and environmental project in southeast Nicaragua.

Host: Athens Area Birders