A few years ago the Amigos de la Lapa Verde succesfully started a project in Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui in which wild almond trees (Dipteryx Panamensis) with an active Great Green Macaw nest can be adopted; a contract is made with local landowners who promise not to cut the tree and to protect the macaws against poachers.

The Great Green Macaw can be found from Honduras untill Ecuadro but populations have been reduced significantly in the last years. The bird is listed on the red list of CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species) and is also identified as a species “most in need of protection” by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation). In Costa Rica the situation of the Great Green Macaw is very critic: only around 50 couples remain and the species is now found in less than 10% of its original home range.

The greatest threat for the the Great Green Macaw population is the continued deforestation, especially the cutting down of the wild alemond tree, a very valuable treespecies because of its high quality wood but at the same time the most important forage and nesting tree for the Great Green Macaw.