From barren shores to green oases: how a surfer looking for shade ended up transforming Costa Rica’s coastline

A grassroots project has turned deforested beaches into thriving ecosystems by planting 100,000 native trees

Pointing to a photograph of dry brown long grass hugging the shoreline, Gerardo Bolaños stands in front of a green oasis of seedlings and trees potted in black plastic bags. “This is what Playa Guiones looked like when we started in 2011,” says the executive director of https://www.costasverdes.org/">Costas Verdes, a https://www.theguardian.com/world/costa-rica">Costa Rican nonprofit.

As howler monkeys growl in the background, Bolaños points to the picture next to it – an image of the same patch of land but with scores of flourishing, lush green trees.

Today, he says, this is how the beach looks.