Addressed to: The Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), the National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC), and Deputy Álvaro Ramírez Bogantes

Cerro Chirripó, the highest point in Costa Rica, is not just a tourist attraction. It is one of the country's few remaining páramo ecosystems, a type of high-mountain habitat that exists only in narrow bands worldwide, and it holds biodiversity found nowhere else on the planet.

In July 2026, Deputy Álvaro Ramírez Bogantes confirmed that he is evaluating a cable car project to the summit of Chirripó. Although no route, environmental impact study, financing plan, or bill has been filed yet, the mere intention to open this conversation is reason enough for the public to speak up now, before the project moves beyond an idea.

Why this project represents a real risk:

1. A unique and extremely fragile ecosystem. The páramo of Chirripó is home to species found nowhere else in the world, including the salamander Bolitoglossa chirripoensis, discovered by researchers at the University of Costa Rica and considered vulnerable due to its restricted habitat; an endemic plant, Gentiana bicentenaria, which measures barely two centimeters and has only been found in this mountain range; and newly discovered slug and snail species unique to the area. The park is also confirmed habitat for two of Costa Rica's most threatened wild cats: the jaguar (Panthera onca), captured on a park camera trap walking the summit trail, and the puma (Puma concolor). Both species are classified as threatened in Costa Rica, where habitat loss and fragmentation are their primary threat, meaning Chirripó is one of the shrinking number of places these cats can still move and hunt undisturbed. Scientists also warn that this is a fire-prone ecosystem, where a single wildfire could wipe out entire species and cut off the habitat corridors these cats depend on.

2. The water source for entire communities. The name "Chirripó" means "place of eternal waters." Rivers such as the Chirripó Pacífico, the Chirripó Atlántico, and the Talarí all originate on its slopes and supply water to the communities of Pérez Zeledón. Environmentalists already warned in 2017 that construction of this scale would put that water source at risk.

3. A park that already limits its own visitation for a reason. Access to the summit today is regulated through a reservation system that caps overnight capacity at 60 people per night at the Base Crestones shelter. That limit is not arbitrary — it reflects the actual capacity the ecosystem can sustain without degrading. To be profitable, a cable car would need to multiply that visitor flow far beyond what the páramo can tolerate.

4. Legal protection and international recognition. Chirripó National Park is part of the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. The National Parks Law explicitly restricts this kind of construction inside protected areas, and in 2017 a similar project was stopped, in part, on these same legal grounds.

5. If Monteverde is already showing the consequences of the interaction between climate stress, land-use change, tourism growth and increasing demand for water, shouldn't Chirripó's water capacity and ecological limits be established BEFORE dramatically increasing access?

6. Development is already straining the area. Housing and tourism growth around Pérez Zeledón is already putting pressure on water resources and the surrounding natural environment. Adding a project of this scale to the one part of the country that has remained largely intact, precisely because of its difficult access, would undo decades of conservation in very little time.

What we're asking for:

We ask the Legislative Assembly, MINAE, and SINAC to formally rule out any cable car proposal or similar infrastructure project inside Chirripó National Park, and to prioritize instead the conservation of the páramo, the protection of Pérez Zeledón's water sources, and the low-impact tourism model that has allowed this ecosystem to survive to this day.

Chirripó's difficult access is not a flaw to be fixed. It is the reason it still exists.

Sign this petition and help make sure this proposal never moves beyond a conversation.

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References:

1. Salamander (Bolitoglossa chirripoensis) — Peer-reviewed species description, published in Zootaxa.
   Klank, J., Chaves, G., Castro, K., & Arias, E. (2025). A new species of salamander of the genus Bolitoglossa... from the highest massif of the Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica. Zootaxa, 5642(5), 427–450. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5642.5.2​ , El Observador (2025)
2. Plant (Gentiana bicentenaria) — Peer-reviewed species description.
   Estrada, A., & Rojas Alvarado, A. (2021). Una nueva especie de Gentiana (Gentianaceae) de Costa Rica. Phytoneuron, 2021-60, 1–8.
3. Jaguar documented in the park — News report of an official park camera-trap sighting, confirmed by Área de Conservación La Amistad-Pacífico (ACLA-P).
   Observador.cr (2020). Cámara del Chirripó captó el paso de un jaguar por uno de sus senderos.
4. Rivers originating in Chirripó (water source) — Confirmed in park-service–linked reporting.
   Observador.cr. Chirripó: más allá de su cumbre.
5. Overnight capacity of 60 people at Base Crestones — Confirmed by ACLA-P's regional director, on the record.
   Delfino.cr​ / Observador.cr (2020). El Chirripó abre el viernes y ya tiene 4 mil reservaciones realizadas.
   (Note: capacity was temporarily throttled to 30/night during COVID; 60 is the stated real infrastructure capacity.)
6. UNESCO La Amistad Biosphere Reserve (1982) / World Heritage Site (1983) — Confirmed by multiple independent sources including Semanario Universidad and UNESCO-linked reporting.
7. 2026 cable car proposal by Deputy Álvaro Ramírez Bogantes — Confirmed current reporting.
   The Tico Times (July 2026). Chirripó Cable Car Proposal.