Costa Rica

Spider monkeys

Costa Rica requires wildlife crossings on all new and existing roads

By / / Good News For Humankind

Costa Rica’s economy depends on the wildlife its own roads have long put at risk — sloths and monkeys struck by cars, habitat split in two, coastal crabs unable to reach the sea to lay their eggs. Lawmakers voted unanimously to make wildlife crossings a legal requirement, built into road planning from the earliest stage rather than added as an afterthought. Citizens can now submit their own evidence to force retrofits on existing highways already causing harm. Conservationists call it a meaningful shift away from decorative warning signs, which do little to slow drivers, toward structures proven to actually save lives.

Aerial view of dense tropical rainforest canopy for an article about Indigenous land rights

Nine nations pledge to recognize 395 million acres of Indigenous land by 2030

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nine nations have pledged to formally recognize 395 million acres of Indigenous and traditional community land by 2030 — one of the largest collective land tenure commitments in modern history. The territories span tropical rainforests and wetlands across South America and Central Africa, ecosystems critical to global climate stability. Research consistently shows that when Indigenous communities hold legal title to their land, deforestation rates fall and biodiversity thrives. The pledge is grounded in free, prior, and informed consent principles, with international monitoring bodies embedded to hold governments accountable.

International court rules against El Salvador in key abortion rights case

By / / Good News For Humankind

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights just set a new floor for reproductive rights across Latin America, ruling that El Salvador violated a young woman’s fundamental rights by denying her a life-saving abortion in 2013. Beatriz was 22, gravely ill with lupus and kidney damage, and carrying a fetus that could not survive outside the womb — yet the country’s total ban forced her into an emergency C-section instead of care. The court has now ordered El Salvador to allow abortions when a woman’s life or health is at risk. Six other Latin American countries still ban abortion outright, and advocates say Beatriz’s name now anchors a precedent they’ll carry into courts and legislatures across the hemisphere.