‘Cloud forest’ still clingingto life

The entrance to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. — AFP

THE “cloud forest” of Monteverde, in the centre of Costa Rica, will soon no longer be worthy of the name: climate change threatens this unique ecosystem, and its fauna and flora face an unclear future under a brilliant blue sky.

In the forest, what a visitor should hear is the constant drip of moisture falling from the trees.