Asociación Ecológica de Paquera, Lepanto y Cóbano (ASEPALECO)

ASEPALECO is a Costa Rican non-profit environmental association founded in 1991 by residents of the districts of Paquera, Lepanto and Cóbano on the Nicoya Peninsula. Since 1996 it has owned and managed the Karen Mogensen Reserve, today 1,005 hectares of tropical forest regrown on former cattle land, bought in twelve acquisitions with support from, among others, Nepenthes (Denmark) and Forests Forever (Italy). The reserve is named after the Danish-born Karen Mogensen, who co-founded Cabo Blanco, Costa Rica's first nature reserve, in 1963. It protects the water sources of five local communities and is part of the Peninsular Biological Corridor. ASEPALECO's main activities are environmental education for local schools (Guardians of the Forest), volunteer fire brigades, waste management and recycling, scientific research at the Italy–Costa Rica Bio-Meteo-Climatic Research Station in the reserve, and community ecotourism at the Cerro Escondido lodge. In ECO, ASEPALECO works with young people from the communities around the reserve, whose stories and recordings are shared with Danish schoolchildren.