Four Latin Countries Create New Marine Reserve

Four Latin-American countries have agreed to create a massive new protected corridor by joining their marine reserves in the Pacific. The Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor covers 200,000 square miles of ocean that is critical to migratory routes of sea turtles, whales, sharks and rays.  Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica said Tuesday the new protected marine environment represents the "new language of global conservation" in which nations join together to enact public policy for conservation of the natural world.

Ecuador expanded the Galapagos marine reserve by 60,000 square kilometers to include a no-take zone of 30,000 square kilometers to the northeast of the island archipelago.  Columbia told leaders at the COP16 conference it would expand its existing 120,000 square kilometers of protected zone by 120 more. Panama quadrupled the size of its Cordillera de Coiba protected area.  The joint initiative is response to the UK's 30x30 campaign in which the goal is to protect thirty percent of the Earth's ocean by 2030.  Just 3 percent now lies within a highly protected zone.  Guillermo Lasso, president of Ecuador,  said the action comes after months of meetings with fisherman large and small, so he does not expect protests to occur since the creation is a "consensual decision" Ecuador has one of the largest fishing fleet in the Pacific. GREEN KUDOS to Panama, Columbia, Costa Rica and Ecuador!