UN Protects Seascape from Costa Rica to Ecuador

San Jose, Costa Rica – In one of the most ambitious marine conservation
initiatives in the western hemisphere, four Latin American nations, the UNESCO
World Heritage Centre, the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation), Conservation
International (CI) and others are consolidating a marine protected area that
stretches from Costa Rica to Ecuador and helps safeguard some of the world’s
richest marine habitats and dozens of endangered species.

The project, known as the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, covers 211 million
hectares (521 million acres) and extends from Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National
Park to Ecuador’s Galapagos Island National Park and Marine Reserve.

Along the
way, the Seascape helps link marine protected areas in Panama and Colombia, safeguards
an important migratory route for the Endangered blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
and protects one of the last remaining nesting grounds in the Eastern Pacific
of the Critically Endangered leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).

from the United Nations Foundiation via Eureka Alert