About Us
About Us | ECV Goals | About the Region 
Exploring and implementing solutions to worldwide problems
Tom Peifer, an agroecologist from California, came to the region in 1996 with the goal to set up a research and demonstration site for ecologically sound agriculture and land use.
Environmentally sound solutions to the interrelated issues of food production, water and resource conservation, and sustainable economies are critically needed—both here in Guanacaste--and worldwide. The result of ten years of work and research at ECV is a model effort in “thinking locally and acting globally”. This non-profit institute is dedicated to sustainable land use techniques and education so that future generations in the Guanacaste region can enjoy healthful and plentiful food and water supplies.

The future of Guanacaste is—in many ways--the future of the world. 

Today in the world, 1.3 billion hungry people live on less than a dollar a day while large corporations control an ever-increasing share of food production and distribution. Food prices are skyrocketing worldwide. Chronic water shortages plague 80 countries, predominantly poor and home to 40 percent of the world’s population.

Global population growth will add 2.2 billion people to this scenario by the year 2020. Only 54 percent of the world’s original forests are intact, with more disappearing rapidly, as trees are cut to provide land for growing food and building homes. The result of this deforestation, in addition to climate change, is erosion that reduces soil and water supply and a loss of biodiversity equivalent to a mass extinction.

Tightening of the world petroleum supply has increased the price of farm inputs and diverts grains from food to bio-fuel production. Food prices have soared, and numerous studies emphasize the need for a return to local food production based upon ecologically sound practices.

Here in the Nandomojo River watershed, the impact of worldwide trends is clear. In the last 50 years, forests have been cleared to make way for cattle farms, leaving denuded hillsides that can’t hold precious rainwater or soil. We experience flooding in the wet season, and eventually, water shortages in the dry season. Un-regulated development has proliferated to serve both tourism and the second home market. Water supplies are strained, food is costly and imported, and energy use is growing at an unsustainable pace.

An awareness of global issues drives El Centro Verde to seek techniques and solutions for “the problems of tomorrow’s world.” Innovation is based on observation, respect for local knowledge and feedback, and a constant process of trial, error and synthesis.

An example is the adaptation of a Mayan raised-bed system called “chinampas” with modern sustainable farming techniques. Fish and crawdads are grown in flooded land during the six-month rainy season and vegetables during the dry season. 
Not a one man show
A wide circle of contacts and partners, from an agro-forester in the Amazon to civil engineers in India and the U.S., have aided and informed the work at El Centro Verde.
Will Raap, founder of Gardener’s Supply Co. in Burlington, VT has played a pivotal role in the last six years. In addition to providing generous financial support, tools and products, and sending a steady stream of motivated students, volunteers and interns, Will has also invested in conservation development projects locally.

Founder of the non-profit Greening Paraiso, Will has helped ECV establish local priorities as well as the visionary focus in a developing regional watershed-wide strategy which addresses critical global issues.