Costa Rica to require wildlife crossings for roads when they impact fauna

Costa Rican lawmakers unanimously passed a measure requiring wildlife crossings on new and existing roads where evidence shows infrastructure endangers animals, pending the president's signature. The National Environmental Technical Secretariat will vet crossing plans before approving new projects, and citizens can submit scientific data to request retrofits on existing roads.

Conservationist Rebecca Cliffe notes that Costa Rica's existing yellow wildlife-crossing signs do little beyond decoration, calling them 'greenwashing' since drivers don't slow down for them. At least 59 species already use existing wildlife bridges, and advocates plan citizen-science data collection to push for new crossings, including tunnels for migrating crabs whose populations have visibly collapsed along some roads.

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