Volunteers reconnect fragmented rainforest one property at a time to help sloths cross gaps
The Connected Gardens Project is tackling rainforest micro-fragmentation in Costa Rica by planting trees and installing wildlife bridges across private land. Micro-fragmentation happens when buildings and roads create small canopy gaps that block arboreal species like sloths from moving between forest patches. Unlike clear-cut deforestation, this gradual thinning often escapes satellite monitoring and goes unreported. The project trains landowners as citizen scientists who select native trees for their properties based on ecological benefits. So far, the initiative has reconnected 8,000 hectares of fragmented rainforest and achieved an 82 percent reduction in wildlife conflict in target areas.
Small canopy gaps add up to fragment rainforests as severely as large-scale deforestation, leaving sloths and other tree-dwelling animals stranded. Community-led reconnection restores movement corridors property by property.
Source: Connected Gardens | Join Conservation Efforts Today — The Sloth Conservation Foundation (slothconservation.org). Spotted via Good Good Good.
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