Person Shares Satellite Images Of The Recovered Forest Covers of Costa Rica

Amidst all the unfortunate information circulating around the internet regarding climate change, a Redditor shows the world a ray of hope by sharing satellite images from two different periods of time of various regions in Costa Rica, reports The Cool Down. The pictures had a difference of four decades.

Costa Rica, like many other places in the world, went through severe deforestation. According to a report by earth.org, by 1987, Costa Rica had lost half its forest cover. The lumber harvesting by loggers and the farmers taking over the forest covers to farm and raise animals are said to have caused this.

As the situation further deteriorated, the government sprung into action and decided to come up with a law. The law was passed in 1996 to protect the forest cover. The law prohibits the clearance of forests without a permit. The government also started to pay its residents to stop cutting the trees and instead protect them.

The four gifs shared have satellite images rotating between 1987, 2000, and 2015. The increase in forest cover is very clearly visible in the pictures. The person who posted the pictures wrote: "For all images, the least green is 1987, then 2000, and the most green is 2015."

Costa Rica is known for its luscious green forests, and the country’s tourism contributes a major chunk to its economy as well. The report mentions that there are thousands of tourists who come to visit the country every year. The money generated from tourism sustains about 200,000 people. Conservation efforts are also funded by the income from tourism.

Talking about tourism, former vice minister for the environment Patricia Madrigal-Cordero said: "People come to see the mountains, the nature, the forests, and when they are stunned by a monkey or a sloth in the tree, communities realize what they have here, and they realize they should care for it." Taking care of the forest cover in Costa Rica becomes more important because of its sheer scale. Green forests in Costa Rica and the Amazon are called the ‘lungs of the planet.’ These forests absorb the carbon dioxide that traps heat in the atmosphere and release oxygen into the atmosphere.

The trees here also absorb the rainwater and evaporate it into the atmosphere, causing rainfall. Chopping down these rainforests can be damaging to the lives that depend on them and the environment. Conserving these could undoubtedly improve the entire ecosystem around them.

This successful environmental restoration in Costa Rica sends a message to the world that it is very possible to conserve the environment and that it is never too late to take the right measures to do so. Many users on Reddit shared their happiness and said that this is a giant leap towards tackling the severe climate change issues that we’re facing. One user wrote, "This makes me happy." Another user was impressed by the efforts and wrote: "I wish all Mediterranean climate regions across the world would do the same."