A concert tonight at La Sabana Park, near San José, will kick off a national campaign to raise awareness about Isla del Coco – an island national park 365 miles off Costa Rica's Pacific coast that Jacques Cousteau once called “the most beautiful in the world.”
The free concert, which will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., will include music by the groups Editus, Baula Project, Cantoamérica and Son de Tikizia.
Spearheaded by the marine environmental group Marviva, as well the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE), the nonprofit Conservation International and others, the campaign begins with the concert and will also include TV spots, billboards and advertisements on buses and public transportation over the next three months.
The idea, according to Betsy Murillo of Marviva, is to “generate an emotional tie with the park, so that the people of the country, private businesses and the government commit to protecting it.”
The groups have also enlisted Costa Rican celebrities including astronaut Franklin Chang, Olympic gold-medal winning swimmer Silvia Poll, Saprissa soccer goalie Francisco Porras and others to lend their faces to the campaign.
The goal is to raise awareness and, eventually, funds via donations through the campaign's Web site, www.tuislacoco.com, to assist in research and protection of the national park, which was declared a World Natural Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1997. |
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