The country road leading to Caño Negro National Wildlife Refuge near Costa Rica’s tropical northern border once offered wetland vistas stretching to Lake Nicaragua. The view has changed. Today, farming, ranching and other activities encroach on the refuge’s water sources in the Río Frío river basin, a development scientists say is threatening the region’s wildlife. Featuring a freshwater lagoon 19 miles (30 kms) south of the Nicaraguan border in Alajuela province, Caño Negro is one of 11 Costa Rican sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention, which Costa Rica signed in 1991. The refuge occupies nearly 25,000 acres (10,000 has) of partially cleared humid tropical forest, hosting wildlife ranging from American anhingas and snook to crocodiles and monkeys. Threatened species also... [Log in to read more]