Current ENVS PhD student, Hilary Brumberg, co-authored a paper that was just published in 'Remote Sensing'.
The paper explores the relationship between forest management initiatives—specifically Protected Areass, the 1996 Forest Law, and Payment for Ecosystem Services —and forest cover and landscape metrics in the Osa Conservation Area (ACOSA).
While protected areas (PAs) are an important conservation strategy to protect vulnerable ecosystems and species, recent analyses question their effectiveness in curbing deforestation and maintaining landscape connectivity. The spatial arrangement of forests inside and outside of PAs may affect ecosystem functioning and wildlife movement. The Osa Peninsula—and Costa Rica in general—are unique conservation case studies due to their high biodiversity, extensive PA network, environmental policies, and payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs.
Read Hilary and team's excellent paper here