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Andres Jimenez Monge, a photography enthusiast and a biologist deeply in love with his home country of Costa Rica. His first passion is for herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians), a group he feels that is often misunderstood with many species critically endangered, but his conservation works have been many and varied over the years.
Starting when he was just a teenager, he has been an active member of UESPRA (Special Unit for the Protection of Animals) volunteering in wildlife rescues and helping coordinate teams of rescue volunteers during natural disasters. He is also no stranger to environmental campaigning having volunteered with Greenpeace on their Save the Whales campaign in Costa Rica and PRETOMA on their anti-shark finning campaign. Most recently his activism has seen him meeting with the President as part of a small group to discuss the ongoing campaign he has helped to initiate and coordinate, demanding the complete reform of INCOPESCA (Costa Rica’s ‘marine ministry’).
While volunteering kept his spare time busy, Andres graduated with a B.Sc. in Biology from the University of Costa Rica and then went on to use his knowledge, passion and infectious enthusiasm to inspire others. He has taught Natural History field classes in Costa Rica for Aquinas College, Michigan; taken part as an editorial member for Metodos de Ecologia y Sistematica, and worked as a member of the field staff for Global Volunteers International (GVI), living in Tortuguero National Park leading volunteers in projects including turtle, bird and jaguar monitoring. He is currently the Project Developer for International Student Volunteers (ISV) and the producer and presenter of the weekly marine conservation show ‘Tsunami ‘, on rainforest radio.