{"id":23150,"date":"2025-11-26T14:28:57","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T20:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/?p=23150"},"modified":"2025-11-26T14:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T20:39:24","slug":"60-million-hectares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/60-million-hectares\/","title":{"rendered":"60 million hectares"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Carlos Manuel Rodr\u00edguez<\/strong><\/h4>\n

CEO and Chairperson at Global Environment Facility (GEF)<\/h4>\n<\/div>
\n

This article was originally published in Delfino.cr<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, in collaboration with Faico.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>

To understand the scope of the political decisions that I want to address today, it is helpful\u00a0 to have a clear reference point: the land area of Costa Rica covers approximately 5.1\u00a0 million hectares. In contrast, the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR), a\u00a0 regional initiative comprised by Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Ecuador, covers\u00a0 approximately 64.36 million hectares.<\/p>\n

CMAR, considered one of the most important ocean ecosystems on the planet, is one of\u00a0 the largest Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the world. It was created to promote the\u00a0 conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of resources in the Eastern Tropical\u00a0 Pacific Ocean (ETP).<\/p>\n

The ETP is composed of the waters of Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama, and\u00a0 it is recognized as a marine biodiversity hotspot of global importance. Located in the\u00a0 convergence zone of warm and cold ocean currents, this region is home to a wide variety\u00a0 of tropical, subtropical, and temperate ecosystems. Its dynamic waters have a high\u00a0 degree of ecological interconnectivity, supporting unique species and ecosystems found\u00a0 nowhere else on the planet.<\/p>\n

The ecological value of this region is recognized worldwide. The ETP contains four sites\u00a0 designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Cocos Island in Costa Rica; Galapagos in\u00a0 Ecuador, these two designated as Wetlands of International Importance by the RAMSAR Convention; Coiba in Panama; and Malpelo in Colombia. These four, along with Gorgona\u00a0 in Colombia, have been accredited as Blue Parks, <\/i>that is, five of the best-protected places\u00a0 in oceans of the world.<\/p>\n

However, the region is increasingly threatened. Rising ocean temperatures, acidification,\u00a0 overfishing, and plastic pollution are degrading marine habitats and threatening the\u00a0 survival of key species such as sharks, whales, sea turtles, and coral reef systems. The\u00a0 integrity of migratory routes, vital for connecting Marine Protected Areas and used by\u00a0 endangered species such as leatherback turtles, whale sharks, and hammerhead sharks,\u00a0 is particularly at risk.<\/p>\n

In 2022, during the Glasgow Climate Summit, the presidents of Colombia, Panama, Costa\u00a0 Rica, and Ecuador made a commitment to the world by declaring that together they would\u00a0 protect 30% of their oceans under some management category, promoting similar\u00a0measures in the rest of their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) and their sustainable\u00a0 productive activities, particularly fishing, and a strong focus on illegal activities in the\u00a0 territorial sea. But why 30%? This is the minimum percentage that the scientific\u00a0 community has recommended protecting to conserve the planet’s important biodiversity,\u00a0 but also as a cost-effective action to combat climate change.<\/p>\n

By 2024, the four countries managed to make this commitment a reality, despite strong\u00a0 opposition from some economic sectors dedicated to extraction, which considered that\u00a0 protecting that 30% threatened their activities. On the contrary, scientists have stated that\u00a0 protecting these marine ecosystems will guarantee a sustainable fishing resource over\u00a0 time.<\/p>\n

This effort represents a model of cross-border cooperation because of the joint\u00a0 commitment of the four countries, with the support of civil society, international\u00a0 cooperation agencies, and non-governmental organizations.<\/p>\n

The decision to protect 30% of the territorial sea has generated the world’s largest\u00a0 complex of marine areas, covering more than 60 million hectares.<\/p>\n

This visionary political decision has strongly attracted international cooperation, which\u00a0 supports the efforts of national governments in the management and conservation of this\u00a0 marine corridor.<\/p>\n

A concrete example is the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which I have\u00a0 the honour of chairing. In 2025, GEF announced the approval of $15.6 million to promote\u00a0 the long-term resilience and conservation of CMAR, strengthening governance and\u00a0 institutional coordination among countries, improving connectivity and effectiveness of\u00a0 Marine Protected Areas, promoting sustainable blue economy models, and implementing\u00a0 climate adaptation and community conservation strategies.<\/p>\n

The political decisions of these countries have also prompted a major response from\u00a0 international organizations through a broad coalition of philanthropic, governmental, and\u00a0 non-governmental organizations, which have pledged to provide technical and financial\u00a0 assistance totalling more than $50 million in private and public funds to support this\u00a0 important marine corridor.<\/p>\n

The growing need to conserve oceanic and coastal resources in the region is urgent, as\u00a0 it faces rapid development that degrades and destroys invaluable ecosystems, as well as\u00a0 fostering illegal and unsustainable fishing practices.<\/p>\n

Funding for international cooperation will support the important work of national\u00a0 governments, which, through public funds and other contributions, provide most of the\u00a0 required financial and human resources.<\/p>\n

Today, Cocos Island National Park, part of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor,\u00a0 is larger than the land territory of Costa Rica! Let us celebrate this great achievement that\u00a0 guarantees a better future for our children and grandchildren. Let us celebrate our\u00a0 contribution to the transboundary conservation efforts that today protect 64.36 million\u00a0 hectares. Let us celebrate the political leadership that faithfully embraced the\u00a0 recommendations of scientists, for the good of the planet and humanity.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23127,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1769],"tags":[2120],"class_list":["post-23150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-press-releases","tag-eastern-tropical-pacific"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23150"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23154,"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23150\/revisions\/23154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cocosisland.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}