One of the principal problems in Latin America is the deficiency in education in sustainability, innovation, research, and the development of participatory education. The goal of this project was to design a plan for an integrated sustainable farm and its management including components such as reforestation, selling environmental services, and an agro-ecotourism project that will serve as headquarters for a training center for a training centre to efficiently administer the natural resources in a sustainable way. These disbursed centers are important so that decisions can be made, at a local level, regarding educational issues using the experiences of the particular area. The design included the division of the project into different components according to the edaphoclimatic conditions of the Caribbean area of Costa Rica.
The Integral Self-sufficient Farm (GIA); a SUSTAINABLE RESIDENTIAL ESTATE PROJECT (RE); a reforestation project which will provide useful wood for short, medium and the long term; conservation of primary forest and biodiversity; areas for recreation; and an Agro-ecotourism project were integrated. For the design, an area of 180 hectares located 8 km from Cahuita’s municipality, which experiences humid tropical conditions, was used. The area includes 30% primary forest, 20% secondary forest and the remaining space is agricultural, the original use being cattle grazing. This area will allow for a holistic behavior of the system and biogeochemical completing of cycles respecting all natural resources and using it as an educational model. Soil analyses were taken in the area intended for the development of the integrated farm, as well as field visits to define geo positioning of the proposed systems such as their location according to multiple factors: distribution of solar radiation, location of the water resource, strategic distribution in the farm, allelopathy, biosafety, energetic flow, and phytosanitary interaction among systems.
