About Kids Saving The Rainforest: Story & Mission

Kids Saving the Rainforest (KSTR) is a nonprofit corporation registered under Section 501(c) 3US Federal Tax ID #06-1594980, based in Quepos, Costa Rica. The organization was founded by two 9-year-old girls in 1999 to educate people around the world about the ecological importance of the rainforest and to set up programs to preserve and protect the rainforest and its wildlife. Our mission is to protect the diverse wildlife of flora and fauna in Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast with our conservation projects, which include KSTR’s wildlife rescue center, where we rescue, rehabilitate, and release injured, sick, and orphaned animals back into the wild. Animals that can never be released because they were raised in captivity as illegal pets became reliant on humans for food, or permanently injured or disabled are cared for in KSTR’s wildlife sanctuary. KSTR also works to minimize the causes of why animals need to be rescued with their education program, reforestation project, and wildlife bridges project. We implement these projects to protect the wildlife in the community by mitigating the major threats to wildlife in the region.

OUR PLEDGE

We believe that the rainforest is a storehouse of treasures, and we vow to do everything we can to save it. With the vanishing rainforest goes the future of our planet. We have to be the generation that makes a difference!​

The Rainforest

A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem that combines an abundance of sunlight, rain, and high temperatures and is located in the tropics. This combination creates a very moist, almost steamy atmosphere, which encourages rapid growth within the forest. In the rainforest, there is an average of 90% humidity. Rainforests contain more than half of all living things known to man and are bursting with ecological diversity unmatched in other ecological zones. Therefore, you will see many more varieties of types of plants, trees, flowers, animals, birds, insects, and reptiles.

About KSTR: protects animals in Costa Rica by preserving their rainforest habitat and conserving its vibrant scenery

WHY MUST WE SAVE THE RAINFOREST?

  1. Without the rainforest to soak up rain and release it slowly, floods and droughts occur, causing global warming and climate change.

  2. Many species of birds, animals, and plants who live in the rainforest will be unable to find the right conditions they need in order to live and will become extinct.

  3. Almost 50% of the prescribed drugs used in the USA come from rainforest plants.

  4. Leukemia, malaria, and heart diseases are treated with drugs from rainforest plants.

  5. Indigenous people have thrived in rainforests since the beginning of time. Their lives and spirituality are inextricably linked to the plants, animals, and flow of life in this rich environment. Many of them are facing extinction as the rainforests diminish.

RISKS TO THE RAINFOREST

We must change the way we use rainforest lands to keep them rich and verdant and our atmosphere clean and healthy. To allow the abundance that thrives here to be available to future generations. Below are the biggest risks made to the rainforest:

  1. Farmers burn the rainforest to grow crops, and burning the forest releases carbon that causes changes in wind currents and rainfall around the world. Carbon dioxide traps heat in the lower atmosphere, causing global warming. It also adds to the greenhouse effect.

  2. Loggers cut down trees to make wood for industry and construction.

  3. Developers cut down rainforests to build homes and businesses.

  4. Miners discover gold, iron, and oil in rainforests and destroy the rainforest to make money by selling these products.

  5. Cattle ranchers cut down rainforests to create grazing land for cows; within five years, the land is so exhausted that it takes 5 acres to support one cow.

Lush Costa Rican rainforest, the mission of KSTR's fauna conservation efforts

HOW CAN WE SAVE THE RAINFOREST?

KSTR REFORESTATION!

Kids Saving The Rainforest has started a new reforestation program. We partnered with great organizations to help solve climate change. Please help us save the rainforest one tree at a time!

Trees being used for reforestation by KSTR:

  • Espavel (Anacardium exelsum)

  • Roble Sabana (Tabebuia rosea)

  • Cortez Negro (Tabebuia impetiginosa)

  • Iguano (Dilodendron costaricensis)

  • Guayaba de mono (Posoqueria latifolia)

Plants in the KSTR current and future sustainable garden: Milantro (Costa Rica Cilantro), Chicken eggs, Mango, Lemon, Sweet Oranges, Sugar Cane, Yucca, and possibilities for Banana, Plantain, Pineapple, and a newly planted vegetable garden.

Where We Currently Plant:

  • Costa Rica