Option 1
Grounded Projects
Grounded is a series of short documentaries filmed in rural Costa Rica around issues of rural environmental sustainability, biodiversity conservation, health, and human well-being, with the idea of revealing structural elements that constrain the pursuit of social and ecological wellbeing, as well as the opportunities that these grounded experiences offer for the construction of alternative ways of living.
Amphibians and Reptiles Project
This project emerged in 2016 after a fortuitous encounter during a walk with students of the Las Nubes field course with a considered 'extinct' species (Atelopus various) and as an attempt to identify and locate the so-called ‘lost amphibians’ or those species that have disappeared from the scientific radar for a significant amount of time (sometimes decades). Since then, several endemic and endangered species of amphibians and reptiles have been spotted by local communities in Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor. The development of this citizen science project can help track endangered species populations whilst creating new meanings within the community in order to support the conservation. We invite you to participate in ARCA, sharing your photographs (On our Facebook page)
Ecology of Plant-Hummingbird Interactions
Led by Catherine Graham of the Swiss Federal Research Institute with the support of the European Research Council, and in Costa Rica by María Alejandra Maglianesi of the State Distance University (UNED), this project seeks to determine how the interactions between plants and hummingbirds vary at different elevations. The project area extends from 700 m to 3,000 m a.s.l. in the Talamanca Range. Within this gradient in the south-central area of the country, there are four altitude bands with three sites in each one, for a total of 12 sites distributed from Cerro de la Muerte to Pérez Zeledón. The Las Nubes Biological Reserve is one of the study sites. To collect the project data, the visits that the hummingbirds make to the plants are observed, the flowers they feed on are counted, and the hummingbird species are noted. These data are collected along a 1.5 km transect at each study site and interactions are recorded using time-lapse cameras. Read the latest report
Mammal Monitoring Project
This project continues to generate valuable information about biodiversity in the region, including the confirmation of at least 13 species of mammals, including armadillos, wild boars, ant-eaters, white-collared peccaries, coyotes, ocelots, pumas (mountain lion), and the endangered river otter among others in the biological corridor. This project has already provided evidence of the presence of endangered species in the corridor, key information that continues to confirm the vital importance that the corridor and its ecological connectivity have for species conservation.
With the SINAC, MINAE & Tropical Science Centre, we currently have 8 cameras in the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor.
Transdisciplinarity in Rural Wellbeing
This new project is a collaboration between the Las Nubes Project in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change and the York University Libraries at York University in Canada with the Brandenburg University of Technology in Germany, that connects interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in the context of human and non-human wellbeing in rural environments.
Emancipatory Autonomies
The objective of this project is to review and assess multi-level emancipatory autonomies in Central America and the obstacles and challenges to their exercise through the exchange of information about the different dimensions or manifestations of self-determination in national contexts. The project will also provide an innovative forum that will both enable the sharing of information on local responses and engagements with the Inter American Commission of Human Rights’ thematic report on self-determination in the Americas, as well as supporting its dissemination within the participating Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations.
Las Nubes Student Association (LNSA)
The Las Nubes Student Association (LNSA) is an organized student group at York University that was initiated to promote sustainable ecological conservation and social sustainability practices in the biological corridor of the Las Nubes region of Costa Rica.
At the LNSA, we aim to create awareness about the Las Nubes project, and to get students excited and involved in our various activities and events! Keep your eyes out for our general meetings and emails, as there are plenty of upcoming opportunities to get involved!
My name is James and I'm 27 years old. My educational path has been very circuitous; I started in aquatic rescue, moved into therapeutic recreation, and now find myself in environmental studies. I am also training to be a commercial pilot, so it goes without saying that I have a passion for travelling and experiencing other cultures. In the summer of 2022, I had the privilege of participating in York's Las Nubes program. I stayed with a host family that treated me as one of their own, and I was lucky enough to participate in the Alexander Skutch Festival (ExpoCobas). I had such a wonderful time that I decided to return the favour by helping to spread awareness about the Las Nubes program. It is the experience of a lifetime!
ExpoCOBAS
Every year we celebrate the Alexander Skutch Festival on the weekend closest to his birthday, May 20th. This date coincides with the Summer Abroad program, and so the Festival serves as a space that gathers together York students and local communities.
The Festival began in 2013 and was started by Professor Felipe Montoya as a space that would showcase the wealth of the Corridor, in terms of agricultural production, scientific and academic production, artistic and cultural production, as well as the natural ecological wealth that the corridor embraces. The two-day festival provides a space for local artisans to show and sell their wares, and for local artists, musicians and dancers to perform. It is a space for environmental education, and above all, an opportunity to consolidate identity around the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor, and around the legacy of Alexander Skutch, a renowned naturalist and ornithologist who made his home in what is now known as the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor. The Festival is now being organized by local stakeholders who have continued to add new elements, such as a mountain bike race around the corridor, traditional horse races, inter-community soccer matches, and much more. The sale of food and beverages is a source of funding for the local school. This Festival has now become a tradition within the Corridor.
Casita Azul
La Casita Azul is an education and learning resource centre that supports York’s increasing socio-environmental research, education and community outreach within Costa Rica. Situated in the midst of the local communities in Costa Rica, La Casita Azul supports and enhances York’s Eco-Campus in Costa Rica while playing an important role in research intensification, knowledge mobilization, community engagement, citizen science, research dissemination, engagement and outreach. Working closely with local community members and organizations, Diandra Arias-Vasquez oversees the day-to-day operations of the centre and plays many other roles such as organizing patron-driven courses.
La Casita Azul offers access to the internet, online and print resources, printing and a place to study. It will continue to grow and develop relevant print and online resources in English and Spanish as well as continue to provide equitable access to relevant resources. Updates and weekly schedules are available on their Facebook page.
Please contact York librarians, Dana Craig and Tom Scott, with your questions and suggestions as well as to plan your visit.
Option 2
Grounded Projects
Grounded is a series of short documentaries filmed in rural Costa Rica around issues of rural environmental sustainability, biodiversity conservation, health, and human well-being, with the idea of revealing structural elements that constrain the pursuit of social and ecological wellbeing, as well as the opportunities that these grounded experiences offer for the construction of alternative ways of living.
Amphibians and Reptiles Project
This project emerged in 2016 after a fortuitous encounter during a walk with students of the Las Nubes field course with a considered 'extinct' species (Atelopus various) and as an attempt to identify and locate the so-called ‘lost amphibians’ or those species that have disappeared from the scientific radar for a significant amount of time (sometimes decades). Since then, several endemic and endangered species of amphibians and reptiles have been spotted by local communities in Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor. The development of this citizen science project can help track endangered species populations whilst creating new meanings within the community in order to support the conservation. We invite you to participate in ARCA, sharing your photographs (On our Facebook page)
Ecology of Plant-Hummingbird Interactions
Led by Catherine Graham of the Swiss Federal Research Institute with the support of the European Research Council, and in Costa Rica by María Alejandra Maglianesi of the State Distance University (UNED), this project seeks to determine how the interactions between plants and hummingbirds vary at different elevations. The project area extends from 700 m to 3,000 m a.s.l. in the Talamanca Range. Within this gradient in the south-central area of the country, there are four altitude bands with three sites in each one, for a total of 12 sites distributed from Cerro de la Muerte to Pérez Zeledón. The Las Nubes Biological Reserve is one of the study sites. To collect the project data, the visits that the hummingbirds make to the plants are observed, the flowers they feed on are counted, and the hummingbird species are noted. These data are collected along a 1.5 km transect at each study site and interactions are recorded using time-lapse cameras. Read the latest report
Mammal Monitoring Project
This project continues to generate valuable information about biodiversity in the region, including the confirmation of at least 13 species of mammals, including armadillos, wild boars, ant-eaters, white-collared peccaries, coyotes, ocelots, pumas (mountain lion), and the endangered river otter among others in the biological corridor. This project has already provided evidence of the presence of endangered species in the corridor, key information that continues to confirm the vital importance that the corridor and its ecological connectivity have for species conservation.
With the SINAC, MINAE & Tropical Science Centre, we currently have 8 cameras in the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor.
Transdisciplinarity in Rural Wellbeing
This new project is a collaboration between the Las Nubes Project in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change and the York University Libraries at York University in Canada with the Brandenburg University of Technology in Germany, that connects interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in the context of human and non-human wellbeing in rural environments.
Emancipatory Autonomies
The objective of this project is to review and assess multi-level emancipatory autonomies in Central America and the obstacles and challenges to their exercise through the exchange of information about the different dimensions or manifestations of self-determination in national contexts. The project will also provide an innovative forum that will both enable the sharing of information on local responses and engagements with the Inter American Commission of Human Rights’ thematic report on self-determination in the Americas, as well as supporting its dissemination within the participating Indigenous and Afro-descendant organizations.
Las Nubes Student Association (LNSA)
The Las Nubes Student Association (LNSA) is an organized student group at York University that was initiated to promote sustainable ecological conservation and social sustainability practices in the biological corridor of the Las Nubes region of Costa Rica.
At the LNSA, we aim to create awareness about the Las Nubes project, and to get students excited and involved in our various activities and events! Keep your eyes out for our general meetings and emails, as there are plenty of upcoming opportunities to get involved!
My name is James and I'm 27 years old. My educational path has been very circuitous; I started in aquatic rescue, moved into therapeutic recreation, and now find myself in environmental studies. I am also training to be a commercial pilot, so it goes without saying that I have a passion for travelling and experiencing other cultures. In the summer of 2022, I had the privilege of participating in York's Las Nubes program. I stayed with a host family that treated me as one of their own, and I was lucky enough to participate in the Alexander Skutch Festival (ExpoCobas). I had such a wonderful time that I decided to return the favour by helping to spread awareness about the Las Nubes program. It is the experience of a lifetime!
ExpoCOBAS
Every year we celebrate the Alexander Skutch Festival on the weekend closest to his birthday, May 20th. This date coincides with the Summer Abroad program, and so the Festival serves as a space that gathers together York students and local communities.
The Festival began in 2013 and was started by Professor Felipe Montoya as a space that would showcase the wealth of the Corridor, in terms of agricultural production, scientific and academic production, artistic and cultural production, as well as the natural ecological wealth that the corridor embraces. The two-day festival provides a space for local artisans to show and sell their wares, and for local artists, musicians and dancers to perform. It is a space for environmental education, and above all, an opportunity to consolidate identity around the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor, and around the legacy of Alexander Skutch, a renowned naturalist and ornithologist who made his home in what is now known as the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor. The Festival is now being organized by local stakeholders who have continued to add new elements, such as a mountain bike race around the corridor, traditional horse races, inter-community soccer matches, and much more. The sale of food and beverages is a source of funding for the local school. This Festival has now become a tradition within the Corridor.
Casita Azul
La Casita Azul is an education and learning resource centre that supports York’s increasing socio-environmental research, education and community outreach within Costa Rica. Situated in the midst of the local communities in Costa Rica, La Casita Azul supports and enhances York’s Eco-Campus in Costa Rica while playing an important role in research intensification, knowledge mobilization, community engagement, citizen science, research dissemination, engagement and outreach. Working closely with local community members and organizations, Diandra Arias-Vasquez oversees the day-to-day operations of the centre and plays many other roles such as organizing patron-driven courses.
La Casita Azul offers access to the internet, online and print resources, printing and a place to study. It will continue to grow and develop relevant print and online resources in English and Spanish as well as continue to provide equitable access to relevant resources. Updates and weekly schedules are available on their Facebook page.
Please contact York librarians, Dana Craig and Tom Scott, with your questions and suggestions as well as to plan your visit.