Profiles in Stewardship
A small sample of Dr Umaña’s extensive Authorship:
Barnes, Peter & Costanza, Robert & Hawken, Paul & Orr, David & Ostrom, Elinor & Umaña, Alvaro & Young, Oran. (2008). Creating an Earth Atmospheric Trust. Science (New York, N.Y.). 319. 10.1126/science.319.5864.724b.
Sanchez-Sierra, Gabriel & Umaña, Alvaro. (1984). Quantitative analysis of the role of biomass within energy consumption in Latin America. Biomass. 4. 21-41. 10.1016/0144-4565(84)90033-7.
Energy, Economics, And The Environment: Conflicting Views Of An Essential Interrelationship, Herman E Daly & Alvaro Umaña, Westview Press; 1st edition (December 30, 1981), ISBN-13: :978-086531282 A 1
Dr. Alvaro Umaña
Between WWII and the mid-1980’s, Costa Rica had one of the worst records of deforestation in Central America with only 21% of its rainforest canopy left. Much of Central America had become growing fields to feed the world’s increasing appetite for illegal drugs and suffered the issues tied to that. Nicaragua to the north and Columbia to the south were poor examples — Costa Rica could have easily followed.
Alvaro Umaña believed there was a better way. With a BSc in physics and an MSc in environmental pollution control from Pennsylvania State University, along with a master’s in economics and a PhD in environmental engineering and science from Stanford University, Dr. Umaña was uniquely qualified to understand the problems and viable solutions for the environmental and economic issues in Costa Rica. He also understood that effective conservation needed the cooperation and support from the government and most of all — from the people.
In 1986 President elect Oscar Arias tapped Dr. Umaña to develop and lead the Ministery of the Environment. As minister, Dr. Umaña used his expertise in economics and the environment to create programs that transformed how the people and government of Costa Rica valued their unique environment. Decades ahead of most of the rest of the world, he developed financial incentives for small farmers and landholders to not cut trees and created soft loans for larger operations to preserve forest. In the first year 97% of the protected trees remained uncut and 15,000 acres of new trees were planted. He also developed the Debt for Nature Swaps to be used internationally. The first swap in 1987 with the Netherlands provided over $100 million used to protect and expand the rainforest.
Alvaro launched campaigns and education programs to change public opinion and teach the citizens the value of their unique ecology and the benefits of its preservation and restoration. Today the Costa Rican motto of “Pura Vida” — “Pure Life” — rings across a country rich with citizen ecologists and supporters. This transformation in cultural attitude started with Alvaro’s time in office and has grown — its fruition is his legacy. One local landholder who changed was William Camacho who founded the Pierella Ecological Gardens in 1995. Read more about his journey and success in the next PRFRP Profiles in Stewardship.
Costa Rica’s environmental progress has been extremely successful and work continues today. In 2023 Costa Rica’s rainforest has expanded to 57% coverage according to an article in The Guardian, April, 2023. Today Costa Rica is known for its eco-tourism, vast bio-diversity, green energy and strong economy. Costa Rica won the first EarthShot Award in 2021, recognizing its accomplishments in environmentalism.
Continuing as a champion for Costa Rican and global environmental causes, Alvaro now spends time both in the U.S. and Costa Rica after an impactful career as minister, leader at the World Bank and multiple environmental organizations, both large and small. He has authored many scientific papers and several books, and lends his expertise freely to filmmakers and organizations globally to help continue the spread of his important message.
He is a board member and trusted advisor to Pierella Rainforest Reclamation Project providing critical insights and generous access to his wealth of knowledge and contacts. He helped PRFRP coordinate with many environmental organizations and groups within Costa Rica like the Organization of Tropical Studies (OTS), the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) and Earth University. His relationship with OTS created the opportunity for PRFRP’s most recent tree planting at their Las Cruces campus.
Malachite Butterfly (Siproeta stelenes)
William Camacho
In 1995, almost a decade after Dr. Umaña started transforming Costa Rica, William Camacho was an enterprising young Costa Rican who started transforming one small corner of it. Through years of hard physical work, William had managed to save enough money to purchase a very small plot of pastureland. This 20m x 20m field could be used for many purposes. Raising cattle was a still sign of prosperity and wealth. Bananas, heart of palm and pineapple would all grow well there. But William knew that land used to be forest, and that maybe there was a way to both make a living and restore the land.
William started a sustainable butterfly farm, housed in the small, rapidly growing, second-growth rainforest he planted. He became a supplier to the Costa Rican Entomological Supply (CRES) company, selling them butterflies that they exported to their customers around the world. The trees he planted in a few short years would be the foundation of a second growth forest with a hundred foot canopy. He raised a number of native butterflies which were shipped all over the world to delight zoo-goers and butterfly fans everywhere. He also started giving tours of his little garden and explained to tourists and students how sustainable butterfly farming works — see more on butterflies and sustainable breeding here.
Twenty-five years later he has increased his 20×20 patch into multiple hectares of second growth rainforest. The campus now has a number of buildings where guests can stay, dine on delicious local food, and enjoy the garden. The forest draws and supports dozens of species of birds, monkeys, sloths, iguanas, bats and even ocelots. William and his wife Kristal provide educational tours to thousands of eco-tourists and students from all over the world. Many from Japan come just to see the Honduran White bats that live there. William and his brother constructed all the buildings from wood grown on the property. The two cows provide milk — used to make cheese and butter — and eat all the grass in a small area set aside for them, but won’t eat the milkweed, which works well, because that’s for the monarch butterflies. The cacao trees provide the beans they use to make chocolate on site — a favorite activity and output for most visitors.
Many of the butterflies William releases — by law he can release up to 10% of the butterflies he raises — live in the forest he grew. The butterflies attract the birds which in turn draw in snakes, raptors, ocelots and other higher level predators, further expanding the resurgent biodiversity of his forest.
William’s knowledge the of local biodiversity is vast and his passion is contagious. The garden, incredible hospitality and advice of William and Kristal were major inspirations for the Pierella Rainforest Reclamation Project. We also adopted the Pierella — a Costa Rican butterfly — as a symbol for our work in recognition of his influence on our organization. He is proof that reclaiming rainforest in Costa Rica doesn’t require millions of dollars — a small field can become much more. His garden sustains his family and provides beauty enjoyed around the globe.
