This is our presentation at the 9th World Conference on Ecological Restoration.

The Refugio Tinti is a conservation project based in the south of Costa Rica.

Located near the Piedras Blancas National Park, 40km from the border to Panama, the Refugio Tinti was founded in 2016.

What used to be a rice monoculture contaminated by agrochemicals was turned into a wildlife sanctuary for an ever-increasing number of species. The Refugio is built on 24 hectares of swampland, the most endangered type of habitat worldwide.

Our aim is to guide communities to operate in harmony with nature.

The development of modern technologies over the last 200 years has led to an ongoing exclusion of humans from natural cycles. This has disastrous consequences for our biosphere, which is why we dedicate our work to reconcile human societies with natural environments.

In this excerpt from our presentation at the 9th World Conference on Ecological Restoration, we summarize our view of this challenge.

 

We observe and mimic
natural systems to restore habitats.

In recent decades, interdisciplinary research has succeeded in getting closer to explain the principle of life as a network of relationships. This systemic approach forms the basis of everything we do in the Refugio.

To illustrate how we implement this approach, we developed an interactive map for you to explore the Refugio. Have fun!

Using these methods, our soil has been restored in record time. The failure rate of young trees in our reforestation is not more than 3%. The ever-increasing biodiversity on our land is also considerable. Not only plants but also numerous endangered species of anials have found new homes and are breeding in the Refugio.

Meet our team.

Alexander Tinti

Alexander was born in Vienna, Austria. After studies in art and natural sciences in Vienna he worked as a director and stage designer in Austria, Germany and New York City. Concerned by the rampant destruction of the environment he changed course and studied soil biology and permaculture. 1998 he moved to Asia, where he was involved in various environmental and artistic projects. After Thailand, Cambodia, Bali and Sri Lanka, he eventually moved to Costa Rica in 2016 where he developed the Refugio Tinti, a wildlife sanctuary and permacultural farm. Apart from that, he develops concepts for the diversification of monocultures into profitable food forests and participates in the government project AMISTOSA, the biological corridor between the Osa Peninsula and La Amistad National Park. In his free time he likes to paint and write. You can find more about Alexander in this post about his background and his interview with the Stanford University’s MAHB.

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