Oops! It appears that you have disabled your Javascript. In order for you to see this page as it is meant to appear, we ask that you please re-enable your Javascript!


“In the 80s, the National Geographic Institute in Costa Rica set up boundary stones to mark the terrestrial maritime area. Those landmarks were put 50 meters inland from the high tide line. Landmark 55 was placed in 1989 and is now fully covered by the sea during high tide.

At 54 years old, Vicente Vargas has seen waves coming and going many times at Ballena Marine National Park, located about four hours away from San Jose, Costa Rica.

“Yes, the beach has changed. According to my calculations, the sea is covering about 150 meters more beach area than before. I am sure about this because when I was nine years old, I used to come to a minimarket that was located there (pointing beyond the entrance of the national park) and the minimarket owner had to move it because of the sea “, commented the man while he was making a hole to the coconut with his machete so that a tourist in front of him could calm his thirst.

Coastal erosion is evident when palm trees on a beach show their roots because of the waves smash. Photo: Daniela Linares

Nobody contradicts Vargas, not even José David Palacios, who is Marine Biologist and Researcher of Keto Foundation, a non-governmental organization working in the area since 2009. The only thing that differs is in the lost area.

“In the 80s, the National Geographic Institute in Costa Rica set up boundary stones to mark the terrestrial maritime area. Those landmarks were put 50 meters inland from the high tide line. Landmark 55 was placed in 1989 and is now fully covered by the sea during high tide.

Uvita beach: Gallery photos and video here. 

To take that example, then we can say that sea is getting in approximately one meter per year,” Palacios said.

This phenomenon is known as coastal erosion and is one of the impacts of climate change.

Every single beach at Ballena Marine National Park suffers this situation. But the truth is that the impact on the rest of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica is very evident. Even in the Caribbean, where Cahuita National Park lost 20 meters of beach zone in 15 years.

Catalina Molina and Luis Monge, officials of Keto Foundation, inspect a mangrove patch that could be included as part of the trail’s attractions on climate change. Photo: Daniela Linares.

Accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has triggered the increase in global temperature which, at the same time has caused ice fields melt and the expansion of saltwater molecules that end up taking more space. As a consequence, sea level increases, and then the sea waves range becomes progressively closer to coastal areas.

That increase in surface water temperature also interacts with the atmosphere. It accelerates the wind and propitiates a stronger swell that breaks with more energy when arriving to the coast, which causes the beach to lose sediment. In addition, climate change is causing an increase in frequency of extraordinary tides (higher than normal).

Colonia beach in Uvita. Click here. 

In other words, the sea is going in and it is eating away at the edges of the beaches, shortening and modifying them. It also impacts mangroves and near-shore forests.

To lose meters of beach means to lose a tourist attraction of importance for the community of Ballena Bay. People visit this protected wildlife area to observe cetaceans and to visit the islet of Uvita which, coincidentally, is shaped like a whale tail. In the absence of a dock, tourists board the boats from the beach, so tour operators are worried. The truth is, we’re all concerned, but eager to do something”, said Catalina Molina, president of Keto Foundation.

Town of whales. Ballena Marine National Park was created in 1992 in the midst of opposition from the inhabitants of neighboring communities who felt that the new protection status would limit their fishing and agriculture activities.

That changed after 1998. One day, while fishing, Julio Badilla observed humpback whales. When got back to the beach, he saw some tourists and told them about his discovery. He offered to take them on his boat to see what he just saw. From that moment on, Badilla stopped being a fisherman and became a tour operator.

“Right now there’s only one fisherman in the village”, Vargas said. He added: “Most of the people around here are dedicated to tourism. Many fishermen became tour operators when they realized that it was more profitable to take tourists for whale watching tours. Many people were benefited directly and indirectly with this activity, so tourism helped to develop the community”.

Currently, Ballena Bay district is home to 3,306 people in the area of 160 km2. Almost 90% of the economy of this place is driven by tourism, mainly related to dolphin and whale watching.

Ballena beach in Uvita, click here.

In fact, Ballena Marine National Park is one of the three most visited wildlife protected areas in the country. Upon seeing the benefit, villagers changed their perception and, rather, are now the greatest advocates of conservation.

“I have been working in tourism for about 15 years now, so I can attest to the importance of whales for this community and, in that sense, the national park has been our ally. National park turned out to be the driving force behind this area”, said Rafael Sanchez, operations coordinator of Bahía Aventuras company.

Does anybody talk about climate change in the village? “At least between us (tour operators), yes. We talk about it. Every day we see changes. The path we used to carry the boats during high tide is flooded. We see more palm trees with exposed roots. So yes, more and more people are talking about climate change”, Sanchez said.

Signs on the beach. Coast retreat is already evident at Ballena and Uvita beaches, both within the protected wildlife area.

Cristina Sánchez, marine biologist from Keto Foundation, got closer to the entrance of a disused trail which known as Centenario, which is located right after the creek and on the way to the Uvita islet. There, the palm trees have their roots exposed due to the waves smash and its consequent erosion. Some of them are already dry and some are leaned enough to fall.

For Sánchez, this is indicative of the fact that the beach has already lost its natural balance.

Ballena Marine National Park was the second marine protected area created for those purposes. Vegetation protected area is small and does not have an effective buffer zone. In other words, the park has no additional area to expand and immediately outside its boundaries there is already infrastructure.

For Óscar Brenes, Director of Tortuga beach reserve, it is not enough to reforest the coastal strip of beach. Efforts should also focus on riverbanks to stop runoff. Photo: Daniela Linares.

Despite the small area of vegetation, the park is the guardian of the village. “The natural barrier with palm trees, almonds and mangroves contribute to avoid any situation of danger for the community in case tough weather conditions occur. The park receives the first blow and thanks to that, it protects us”, said Rodolfo Acuña, park administrator of Ballena Marine National Park and member of the National System of Conservation Areas.

For Luis Monge, who is also a staff member of the Keto Foundation, it is urgent to strengthen vegetal area near coastal strip to contain beach area loss and, at the same time, those plants would be obtaining carbon. In addition, trees and shrubs would help regulate temperature, decreasing thermal sensation thanks to the sunshade.

“Reforestation also prevents the impoverishment of the soil, which is already suffering a drastic change. Not only the impact coming from the sea, but also with the heavy rains and storms, if there is no vegetation cover, all that water comes down to the beach in the form of runoff, washing the soil and that inevitably leads to a loss of soil quality. This isn’t something that just concerns the people from the coast, it should also concern the people who live at high altitudes in the watershed, in the mountains”, added Óscar Brenes, director of the Tortuga Beach Reserve, research and conservation center that borders the national park.

Reforestation. Thanks to resources cmoing from the Adaptation Fund, Keto Foundation designed seven measures to deal with climate change at Ballena Marine National Park. Both the neighbors of the community, local entrepreneurs, local organizations and park rangers participate actively in its implementation.

One of these adaptation measures focuses on reforestation of the coastal strip. According to Monge, the goal is plant 2,000 trees in two years in the national park and Tortuga beach.

To this end, a preliminary study was carried out to identify the type of forest that existed at the site and based on that information, native species were identified. Subsequently, the strategy consists of planting coconut trees along the coastline, as well as mangrove “seeds” and tree seedlings in the forest behind the beaches.

Tortuga beach reserve facilities, a nursery was installed to provide seedlings for reforestation efforts.

Some of these native trees will be planted in urban areas to help regulate thermal stress. Also they are being planted on riverbanks so that they “tie up” the soil and thus avoid minerals runoff.

“Like any other adaptive action to climate change, beach reforestation is unprecedented, so there is no expertise. Therefore, this has been a learning process. For example, we began reforestation to recover the natural forest that had existed in the area but the advance of coastal erosion is so rapid that the species we were sowing were not helping to counteract the effect”, Monge said.

Tortuga beach, click here. 

“The plant composition that existed corresponded to the environmental conditions of that time. Near the sea we had mangroves because they resist salinity; then a little bit farther we had plants that supported salinity and also freshwater, and finally fresh water trees. What’s the matter now? Tide line has already run out and, if we follow the same logic of the original forest, we´d have to plant mangroves near the tide line. However, that soil is not suitable to withstand salinity anymore, and therefore, mangrove will not be able to survive”, Brenes explained.

Cahuita National Park also suffers from coastal erosion. Monge and Brenes contacted the biologist Julio Barquero who is working on similar efforts in Costa Rica’s Caribbean. “He recommended sowing coconut palms because they not only have the capacity to root on an easier way, but they also have a wider root system so this allows us to protect a little more,”Monge said.

The coconut tree grows on different substrates, it is less demanding and requires just a little maintenance. This allows us to consolidate a barrier facing the sea and thus save time while studying the type of soil to determine which plants to plant and see what works,”Brenes said.

Curently there are two nurseries: one in the community of Ballena Bay and another in Tortuga beach. Reforestation efforts are carried out with volunteers from the surrounding villages, universities and companies that participate as part of its social responsibility programs.

One of the priority sites is located on the Centenario trail. In fact, the idea is to rehabilitate it so it helps to inform and educate visitors about what is happening with climate change. “With these efforts, an additional attraction will be offered at the park so that local guides can show. In this way, tourism product is diversified and pressure on other economic sectors is reduced. This is why it is considered an adaptation measure”, said Molina.

Presently, volunteers are working on conditioning the Centenario trail. Later, explanatory labels will be placed to explaining both the situation of climate change and other scenic attractions that people do not know exist in the park, such as the coastal lagoon and the mangrove patch.

Beach monitoring. Another proposed adaptation measure related to coastal erosion is beach monitoring efforts. Based on data collection protocol, park rangers and reserve officials from Tortuga beach reserve will be able to measure parameters such as displacement of the high tide line, composition, sand and vegetation cover, among others.

“The methodology is very simple because it is designed so that anyone can take data and participate in the process. The idea is to see how the beach changes over time”, he said. Brenes added: “These monitoring efforts will provide us with information to make decisions”.

For Molina, even this monitoring process could serve as an early warning system. “Knowledge of the beach’s profile and the pace of coastal erosion will provide the community important information to support infrastructure decisions and will also guide reforestation efforts”, he said. “Climate change is irreversible. But we can prepare and adapt to deal with it”. Sánchez reflected.

José Pablo Alfaro

José Pablo Alfaro

Journalist and nature lover. He likes boat trips, walking through trails and living natural experiences.