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Guardianes de la Naturaleza – Costa Rica
On August 24th, National Parks Day, Guardianes de la Naturaleza presented awards to 155 educational centers in Guanacaste that demonstrated environmental excellence during 2025, as part of the innovation pilot of the Blue Flag Ecological Program, co-led with the Ministry of Public Education. Each center received between one and five stars for its performance.
But the real change wasn’t just in the awards — it was in how impact was measured. Guardianes de la Naturaleza introduced three innovations that transformed the program: a technology platform that captures environmental impact in real time and quantifies it for the first time in the program’s history; a gamification system with eco-challenges and eco-points that turned sustainability into a motivating experience; and partnerships with the private sector — companies like Dos Pinos, Ferrería Grupo Nosara, and Composteras 360 — that provided incentives to recognize the effort of educational communities.
The numbers from the 2025 pilot are surprising:
- 6,313 trees planted,
- 75,512 kilograms of solid waste collected
- 100 community cleanups
- 81 gardens and 73 pollinator-friendly gardens
- 57 composting stations
- 108 eco-educational outings
- 21 eco-entrepreneurships that generated more than 2.5 million colones.
In 2026, the model is being replicated across 8 regional offices in Costa Rica with 704 educational centers, and has already reached 10 centers in Honduras and Guatemala through the Mancomunidad Río Lempa. Guardianes de la Naturaleza is demonstrating that Costa Rica’s educational communities can be one of the country’s most organized networks for caring for nature — and that this model can become a reference for all of Latin America.