Our River's Story
Costa Rica is a beautiful country full of adventure. It is a country that values the mother earth and seeks to protect it. The origins of the Naranjo River Biological Corridor began in 2001, when it was created by the Alliance to Regenerate the Habitat of the Manuel Antonio National Park along the Naranjo River Basin. It belongs to the National Network of Corridors and the Mesoamerican Network of Corridors. The corridor comprises an area of approximately 55,350 acres, encompassing a forest cover of 45% of primary and secondary forests.
In 2019, the government of Costa Rica passed Law 9683, officially protecting the Rio Naranjo and the Manuel Antonio National Park outside of Quepos, Costa Rica. This law essentially made it illegal to extract material and outlawed hydroelectric dams allowing for the river to remain in pristine condition and therefore protect the ecosystem of the national park where the Rio Naranjo empties into the ocean. Unfortunately, there was a provision in the law that indicates any current concessions to extract materials from the river can remain, thereby undoing the protection for the river and the national park.
The one remaining concession is not following the rules intended to limit the inevitable environmental damage caused by this type of activity. This concessionaire has operated without oversight for several years on this river breaking the rules, cutting down trees, leaking oil and gas into the water, and changing the course of the river, which threatens all who call the Rio Naranjo home. Since 2021, we have been engaged in legal and procedural processes to compel better oversight and ultimately, the stoppage of the mass destruction of the ecosystem on the river and of the national park.
