For our final Hispanic Heritage Month Spotlight, we’re celebrating Alvaro Ugalde, a visionary conservationist and father of Costa Rica’s National Park System (NPS)! Alvaro Ugalde was born in Heredia, Costa Rica in 1946. His love for nature developed at an early age, leading him to earn a biology degree from the University of Costa Rica in 1970 and a Master’s in Natural Resource Management from the University of Michigan in 1973. Following his education, Ugalde spent a year in Georgia working manual labor jobs to help him learn English, a skill that would open many doors for him during his career.
In 1970, Alvaro Ugalde and NPS Director Mario Boza successfully lobbied for the creation of the first National Park in the country, Poas Volcano. After Boza’s resignation in 1973, Ugalde was appointed director and began his 17-year journey to build the Costa Rican National Park System to what it is today. The early parks faced several challenges, from squatters and gold panners to an excess of inholdings. Ugalde invited wealthy foundations and individuals to visit them and experience the beauty of Costa Rica’s wilderness firsthand, inspiring them to buy up the inholdings and generate millions of dollars for the NPS. His internationally recognized efforts led to former President Ronald Reagan awarding him and Mario Boza the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize in 1983 for their work to build the park system.
Despite this success, the local community in Costa Rica still didn’t see the use for a National Park System. Things didn’t begin to shift until then-President Oscar Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987, turning all eyes toward Costa Rica and its landscape, and attracting millions of tourists to the parks. This influx of visitors made tourism the primary source of foreign exchange income for the country and increased local interest in preserving the parks. In 1999, Ugalde founded the Nectandra Institute, an organization dedicated to environmental education, research, and community outreach centered around watershed protection and cloud forest conservation. This reflected his belief that environmental education would empower people to take more responsibility for the protection of the resources around them. He served as the group’s President until his death in 2015.
Alvaro Ugalde dedicated 45 years of his life to advancing conservation efforts in Costa Rica. Today, it is home to 29 national parks and 166 protected areas, both public and private. Thanks to his contributions, Costa Rica was the first tropical country to reverse deforestation and is now a global conservation leader. His legacy continues to inspire conservationists worldwide, demonstrating the impact that one person’s passion and perseverance can have on a global movement.