Date: June 13, 2024
Author: Pilar Santidrián Tomillo & Red Laúd OPO Communication.
Postulated by: Pilar Santidrián Tomillo.

Laura Jaen Rosales and Luzgardo Rosales Gutiérrez are natives from Matapalo, in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, both worked for many years in the Las Baulas de Guanacaste National Marine Park, which is located in the bay of Tamarindo in the canton of Santa Cruz, in the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Luzgardo began conservation activities in 1993 and Laura joined in 2000.

As a result of Playa Grande and the adjacent beaches becoming part of the National Marine Park, egg collection was prohibited, so, to adapt to the new reality, Luzgardo promoted the creation of the Matapalo Guides Association in 1993, being one of the founding partners and Laura the president. With this initiative several members of the Matapalo community prepared and became tourist guides, forming an alliance with the administration of the National Park to take tourists to learn about the nesting process of the leatherbacks in Playa Grande and thus have the opportunity to share the conservation message.

In addition, Laura and Luzgardo supported the efforts to achieve the training and mobilization of their colleagues to become guides, learn the best way to deal with tourists and also work with biologists and park rangers; they also took part in developing environmental education activities in Matapalo. Luzgardo’s personality overflows with kindness, he is a person who is always providing the necessary support to help achieve the proposed goals.

With the implementation of tours in the park, the group of local guides managed to recover their source of income, fully focused on conservation and education, instead of relying solely on the consumption of eggs. With the income obtained from the tours, the guides have supported improvements in the community, such as allocating resources to the school and repairs to the church, among other activities. As representatives of the guide association, they have collaborated in important initiatives such as participating in the structuring of the Park Management Plan.

Laura and Luzgardo were part of the association for more than 20 years and continued working until the Park stopped authorizing the observation of turtles in 2019, however, in the particular case of Laura, she continued to support conservation, organizing local groups to help maintain the Playa Grande turtle hatchery, also acted as a community leader, leading the opposition in Matapalo to the bill that ended the park, frequently living in a hostile environment because many of the residents of Matapalo supported the idea of ​​tourist development on the coasts of the Park. Laura is brave, she has never been afraid to confront the powerful, nor to say what she thinks. She has always been on the side of conservation, hers is the phrase: “sea turtles do not need five-star hotels to lay their eggs, they need beaches without buildings.”

Their commitment to the earth and the conservation of leatherback turtles has been and is exemplary, for this reason they are considered a heroine and a hero of conservation.