The Marine Corridor of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (CMAR) is celebrating 20 years of jointly protecting natural terrors that include Costa Rica’s Cocos Island, as well as Ecuador’s Galapagos, Colombia’s Malpelo and Panama’s Coiba.
Authorities from the four countries met this week in Costa Rica as part of the Ocean Summit and an international aid package was announced.This is a $16 million project from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). This, in turn, will be supported by a counterpart of another $56 million.The plan is called “Beyond 30×30” and aims to ensure resilience in the Eastern Tropical Pacific through strengthened transboundary cooperation.
This includes:
Strengthening CMAR governance and sustainability.
Improving regional corridor management
Promotion of regional blue economy
Regional strengthening of communication, monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management and learning activities.
Resources will be administered by Conservation International and executed by Fundación Pacífico.
More changes in Cocos Island
During his speech at the Summit on Friday, President Rodrigo Chaves announced the readjustment of the island’s management parameters.”Yesterday we published the general management plan for Cocos Island National Park. And by the end of this year we will launch the General Management Plan for the Bicentennial Marine Area,” he said.
“We will promote scientific research, our protection regulations and sustainable development, to better protect the marine biodiversity in this area of more than 100,000 km²”, he added.
The Minister of Environment (MINAE), Franz Tattenbach, said that there are funds from the Blue Fund and the Earthshot Prize given by the United Kingdom that will be concentrated on the island.In passing, he defended that controls have been applied with beacon technology, which has reduced illegal entries into protected waters.
Raising marine protection by law
Within the framework of the summit, the United Nations Convention on Regulations of the High Seas was also sent to Congress.It is an international convention signed in 2023 after almost 20 years of negotiations. It has scopes related to the sustainability of marine biological diversity located beyond national jurisdiction.
“The adoption of this agreement means a relevant milestone to save the ocean,” said the Government.It will now go through the Legislative Assembly for its incorporation into the National Legal System.
