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Roger Leiva Calderon, President of AQUA and co-founder of FUDEBIOL Biological Center of Quebradas, led this year’s campaign to plant 500 new trees near and bordering the Quebradas River of Costa Rica’s Southern Zone. The last of the of the 500 trees was planted on Sunday, in celebration of El Dia del Arbol (The Day of the Tree), celebrated annually on June 15th, as signed into law by President Alfredo Gonzalez Flores in 1915, and celebrated every year since then.
Why is planting trees important? Here’s the short list of whys: Trees fight climate change. Trees help keep our air clean. Trees help cool the air temperature. Trees save water by reducing evaporation. Trees help prevent water pollution. Trees help prevent soil erosion. Trees produce oxygen and capture carbon dioxide. Trees Rule.
FUDEBIOL Biological Center has been doing amazing things for the environment for many years. Founded in 1989 as a private organization, FUDEBIOL was created as an answer to the problems of deforestation in the area, and a way to preserve and protect the basin of Las Quebradas River which supplies all the drinking water for San Isidro de El General. As San Isidro has grown, efforts to protect water resources have become even more crucial to the wellbeing of the residents of this agricultural hub of the Southern Zone.
Leiva’s tree planting brigade consisted of school children from the Quebradas School, firemen, ICE workers, AYA water workers, neighbors, farmers, and those just along for fun. As the saying goes, “It takes a village,” and really the whole village turned out to help plant the 500 saplings.
Spearheading the program for local schoolchildren was Denia Barrantes Mora, the Quebradas School Principal, a person devoted to the protection of the environment and to the education of kids about its importance to the future of our planet. The Quebradas School has even won the coveted Blue Flag Award for its environmental awareness and efforts.
Tree Day is celebrated on different days in different parts of the world, but thanks to the efforts of those like Roger Leiva Calderon and Denia Barrantes Mora, Every Day is Tree Day in the Southern Zone.
Quoting an old Chinese proverb, “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is NOW.”
