The Celidon Foundation First Commemorative Event

Sep 6, 2007

Famed primatologist and environmental activist, Dr. Jane Goodall, appeared at a press conference, reception, and fundraising dinner beginning at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, September 5, 2007, at the Monarch Resort Condo Hotel in Playa Panamá to launch Phase One of the Celidon Foundation’s new University for a Sustainable Future that is to be built between El Triunfo and Playa Cabuyal near the Papagayo peninsula in Guanacaste province.

Dr. Goodall, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and honorary chair of the Celidon Foundation, will meet with top Costa Rican government officials, executives of the Celidon Foundation, donors, and distinguished guests in order to launch this ambitious, multi-faceted project.

The tropical dry forest habitat of Santa Rosa National Park is destined to be a focus of research at the planned facility. Phase One of the University for a Sustainable Future will create an international consortium to design and build a world-class environmental studies and research institute that includes affordable student and faculty residences. Other project components may include a performing arts center, amphitheater, convention center, and marine research center. The current project budget for Phase One is estimated at $25 million. Two as-of-yet anonymous land donors have signed a formal agreement with the Celidon Foundation regarding donation of the multi-acre project site.

University degrees at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels will eventually be offered at the facility, which will incorporate a comprehensive approach to environmental studies that includes social and economic considerations. Long-term maximum enrollment is anticipated to be approximately 3,600 students.

Celidon Foundation president and executive director Rick Rantz notes that the site’s proximity to the 122,354-acre (49,515-ha.) Santa Rosa National Park is one of the features that makes the donated site so attractive. “Santa Rosa’s pristine coastal zones and large tracts of tropical dry forest offer an ideal living laboratory for students and researchers,” says Rick. Research priorities for the proposed new university include global warming and the development of clean and renewable technologies.

Founded in 2002, the Celidon Foundation (www.celidon.org) is a non-profit organization working to develop, support, and advance a connected series of environmental education projects, scholarships, and public interest research designed to achieve a sustainable future for all humanity and the planet Earth.

As benefits the Celidon Foundation’s mission, construction of the project will conform to the highest standards (LEED “Platinum” certification) of the U.S. Green Building Council, meaning that a wide range of environmentally sensitive considerations and features, such as site selection, storm water management, light pollution reduction, the use of innovative wastewater technologies and renewable energy, and the use of rapidly renewable or recycled building materials, will be incorporated into project design and implementation.