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How can collaboration be established for monitoring drought and water balance in Guanacaste Province?

Our lab has strengths in remote sensing for hydrology. We want to ground-truth our models in Guanacaste's tropical dry forest, a drought-vulnerable region. We lack local contacts and field logistics knowledge. I need guidance on how to find credible institutional partners and the professional etiquette for proposing a collaboration.

 

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By Heena Answered 5 months ago

Having built similar partnerships in Latin America, I recommend a two-step approach. First, identify the key institutions: the Universidad Nacional (UNA) and the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR) have strong environmental science programs. Also, reach out to the Guanacaste Conservation Area (ACG) administration they manage the land and have vast ecological data. Second, be specific in your initial contact. Instead of a vague proposal, send a brief email introducing your team's remote sensing capability and suggesting a small, defined pilot project, like validating soil moisture products at one of their meteorological stations. Offering to host a visiting scholar often helps cement the collaboration.

 

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