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In june 2025, a major outcome of the CRLiveDiverse project was finally published: The special issue “La piña en Costa Rica – ¿producto sostenible, producción sustentable? Pineapple production in Costa Rica as a study case for sustainability paradoxes and new approaches for solutions”!This monographic issue of the Revista Académica Arjé, edited by Susanne Schlünder and […]

Although Costa Rica is known for environmental conservation policies, there are regionswhere water is a rare resource. One of the most affected areas is Guanacaste, a provincewhere climate change is increasingly changing weather patterns, making long dryseasons the norm. The people here rely on community-based water organizations- knownas ASADAS (Asociaciones Administradoras de Sistemas de Acueductos

From December 3 to 14, 2024, the University of Osnabrück (UOS) hosted the winter school entitled “Ecotourism as a tool for social-ecological sustainability in Costa Rica and Germany”. UTN was represented by an outstanding delegation from different campuses and careers. The participating academics were: In addition, six selected students from the Pacific, Atenas and Guanacaste

Dr. Johannes Halbe, professor at the Institute of Geography and the Institute for Research in Environmental Systems(IUSF), visited UTN as the final part of the course, “Applied transformative systems research for sustainable development”, which had as its main objective to learn participatory and systemic approach methods for interdisciplinary research and teaching. The course included the

Between October and December 2023, Dennis Wilke, a doctoral student at the Institute of Geography and the Institute of Environmental Systems Research at the University of Osnabrück, conducted field research in Costa Rica. Wilke’s research project, entitled “Potentials of Community-Based Drinking Water Management and Pathways towards Adaptive Capacity to Water Scarcity – A Multi-Case Study

Marijke Kalinowski is studying Environmental System Science at Osnabrück University (UOS). For her bachelor’s thesis, titled Developing Positive Visions for Sustainable Food Systems in Costa Rica, she completed a two-month field stay in Costa Rica from October 6th to December 5th, 2023. Most of her time was spent in Atenas, which is located in the

The play PIÑA, written and directed by Adrián Jiménez Brais, premiered in 2019 at the Universidad de Costa Rica as part of the program Jóvenes Dirigiendo and has now been published in No. 33 (2023) of Repertorio Americano, journal of the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, thanks to the efforts of Susanne Schlünder, among others.

From October 27 to November 03, 2023, the colloquium “Insights into biodiversity management in Germany and comparison with Costa Rica” was held at Osnabrück University (UOS) as part of the DAAD-funded project Transformative research and capacity building to protect livelihoods and biodiversity in Costa Rica (CRLiveDiverse). Lilliana Rodríguez Barquero, Andrés Araya Araya, María Fernanda Arias

As part of the project Transformative research and capacity building to protect livelihoods and biodiversity in Costa Rica three students of the Universidad Técnica Nacional (UTN) were able to visit Osnabrück University (UOS) from October 03 to November 03, 2023, to work on their final theses with the help of the German project team. Their

Michel Ortland studies Economic and Social Geography at Osnabrück University (UOS). As part of his master’s thesis “Sustainability standards in Costa Rican pineapple production: an analysis of social, environmental and economic impacts of certifications on the first steps of the pineapple value chain” he currently is on a two-month field stay (from June 19 to

Global challenges, especially with a view to the future, require greater pooling of resources and interdisciplinary collaboration. In this context, global cooperation in higher education can be an instrument to ensure that knowledge from research and experience is passed on and further developed and that new ideas and innovations are initiated collaboratively. This is where

From October 2022 to February 2023, 31 students from Osnabrück University participated in the seminar “Humans – Environment – Culture: Transdisciplinary Perspectives on Costa Rica”. Led by Prof. Dr. Claudia Pahl-Wostl, Dr. Almut Schilling-Vacaflor, and Prof. Dr. Susanne Schlünder the seminar was directed at students from the fields of Environmental System Sciences, European Studies, Geography,

From October 25 to November 04, 2022, the twelve-day long Summer School on “Livelihoods and Biodiversity in Costa Rica” will take place. It is part of the DAAD-funded project: “Transformative research and capacity building to protect livelihoods and biodiversity in Costa Rica”. Students from the Universidad Técnica Nacional and the Osnabrück University will have the

From September 18 to September 24, 2022, Jennifer Sánchez Acosta, technical advisor of the Vice-Rectory of Research and Transfer of the Universidad Técnica Nacional (UTN) visited Osnabrück University (UOS). Her stay commenced with a visit to the Costa Rica Center of the UOS with Prof. Dr. Susanne Schlünder. There they met with representatives of the

April 21th, 2022 By María González González, Departamento de Mercadeo y Comunicación de la Sede Central, UTNTranslated from Spanish. View original here. Our country is in a constant struggle with biodiversity and sustainability issues. Although we are internationally recognised as a world leader in sustainability, there are still conflicts between biodiversity protection and economic development. This