REVAMPED FOOTBALL STADIUMS AND REMOTE ANDEAN ESCAPES ARE AMONG THE NEW ATTRACTIONS AND EXPERIENCES SHAPING TRAVEL ACROSS LATIN AMERICA
WORDS: DANI EL STAB L E S
Costa Rica’s forests are learning to sing again
A new study shows Costa Rica’s scheme paying landowners to let farmland regrow into forest is bringing wildlife back, too. Researchers in Zurich analysed 17,000 hours of rainforest soundscapes across 119 sites on the Nicoya Peninsula, comparing pastures, regenerating forest and untouched reserves. They found naturally regrown forest sounds almost identical to pristine forest — especially at dusk, when frog and insect choruses peak. It’s evidence that Costa Rica’s payments-for-nature model is restoring real biodiversity. If left alone, it seems, a pasture remembers how to be a rainforest. usys.ethz.ch