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How were Costa Rica's largest Marine Protected Areas created?

In 2021 the Cocos Island National Park and the Bicentennial Marine Management Area were expanded in a historic way.

By FAICO

In December 2021, Costa Rica achieved a historic milestone: it increased the protection and conservation of its marine territory from 3% to more than 30%.

After 4 years of technical studies and a process of consultation and dialogue with different sectors in accordance with current legislation, Costa Rica, being a small country, pioneer in terrestrial conservation, turned its eyes towards the sea, taking a giant step in marine conservation.

With the signing of Executive Decree No. 43368-MINAE and its reforms, Cocos Island National Park (PNIC) went from measuring 2,034 km2 to measuring more than the continental territory of Costa Rica, reaching 54,844 km².

In other words, it increased its size by 26 times.

In addition, the new Bicentennial Marine Management Area (AMMB) was created with an area of 106,285 km², which is bordered to the south by the La Hermandad Reserve, Ecuador.

These Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are under the administration of the Coco Marine Conservation Area (ACMC) of the National System of Protected Areas (SINAC).

How were Costa Rica's largest Marine Protected Areas created?

The expansion process was possible thanks to the leadership of the Government of Costa Rica, and support provided by the Cocos Island Friends Foundation (FAICO), who summed up the support of allied organizations such as Oceans 5, Marviva, Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, Pristine Seas-National Geographic, Wyss Foundation, Waitt Foundation, Blue Action Fund, Blue Nature Alliance, Conservation International, Cuestamoras, Titin S.A., Bezos Earth Fund and Re:wild.

How did Costa Rica manage to pay off this debt with marine conservation?

A marine country

In Costa Rica, 92% of the territory is marine and is home to approximately 6,700 marine species (3.5% of the marine species reported globally). Of these, 90 are endemic, and most are found in the PNIC (Wehrtmann and Cortés, 2009).

It is relevant to mention that about 4700 species are located on the Pacific coast, while in the Caribbean about 2300 species can be found (Alvarado et al., 2011).

Costa Rica has a great responsibility to ensure the protection and sustainable use of the great marine wealth and diversity of habitats, including: coral reefs, mangroves, muddy bottoms, rocky areas, beaches, cliffs, seagrass beds, a tropical fjord and upwelling areas.

It also has a seasonal coastal upwelling zone, a thermal dome, an oceanic trench more than 4000 m deep, an oceanic ridge (The Coco Underwater Mountain Range), coastal islands, an oceanic island and hydrothermal windows (Wehrtmann and Cortés, 2009).

It is for this reason that for years, as part of its environmental trajectory, our country has been part of countless coalitions, agreements and international treaties. Among them, the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC for N&P), which promoted an agreement to achieve the protection of at least 30% of the planet's land and 30% of its oceans by 2030.

Cocos Island

Cocos Island has been recognized worldwide for its extraordinary marine and terrestrial biological wealth.

Its biogeographic position and its condition as an oceanic island give it unique characteristics that make it a natural laboratory of singular and irreplaceable universal value (Cortés, 2008), constituting a symbol of marine conservation.

Likewise, its size, isolation and conservation status make it a unique and ideal site for long-term research on the evolution of species and the resilience of well-protected marine ecosystems when facing the different pressures that threaten them (Cortés, 2008; Starr et al., 2012).

In order to conserve this treasure through the expansion of Cocos Island National Park and the creation of the Bicentennial Marine Management Area, it was necessary to carry out studies and citizen participation, in accordance with Costa Rican legislation in force for this type of initiative.

Studies

Even though over the years different research and scientific studies have been conducted in the PNIC and surrounding areas, it was not until 2017 when the process of expanding the MPAs formally began. At that time, a dossier began to be prepared to determine the technical scientific, social, financial and legal feasibility of changing the category of the then Montes Submarinos Marine Management Area.

Between 2018 and 2020, with the leadership of SINAC-ACMC and with the support of FAICO and its allies, a series of studies were carried out such as:

Importance of the ecosystems and populations of the site of interest: PNIC, AMM MS and adjacent waters of the ACMC. Authors: Cristina Sánchez Godínez and Sofía Solano Fernández.
Economic evaluation of ecosystem services in the ACMC and adjacent waters. Authors: Mary Luz Moreno Díaz, Keylin Jiménez Elizondo and Cristina Villalobos Salas. International Center for Economic Policy for Sustainable Development (CINPE), National University.
Estimation of the willingness to pay of visitors to the ACMC and its adjacent waters, in addition to the current expenditure, for a possible extension of the protection of its ecosystems and species. Authosr: Jorge Villa Cedeño, Amílcar Guzmán Valladares, Viviana Luján Gallegos - Wolfs Company.
Estimation of fishery biomass in Costa Rica's exclusive economic zone. Author: Sofía Solano Fernández and Reinhardt Scholtz.
Characterization of the longline fleet in Costa Rica and systematization of illegal fishing data for the PNIC. Author: José David Palacios.
Prioritization for zoning Costa Rica's Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone based on conservation targets and uses. Authors: Rubén Venegas Li and Iria Chacón Salas.

Also joined by the study, “Financial Gaps for the Effective Management of the Marine Protected Areas and the Exclusive Economic Zone of Costa Rica”, prepared by the Minister of Environment and Energy, Forever Costa Rica, and Conservation International.

Participation

In addition to the aforementioned studies, technical consultations were held with different sectors and comments were received on the proposal to expand the areas surrounding Cocos Island.

One of the main challenges of participation was the global crisis generated by COVID-19 during 2020 and 2021, so it was necessary to successfully manage a series of challenges.

At least 12 periodic meetings were held between April and November 2021, with the participation of more than 25 stakeholders from the fisheries, tourism, academia, civil society and competent government authorities sectors.

After these participatory meetings and with the information available, a final virtual and open consultation was held in November 2021, which was utilized by 1980 people, of which 90% expressed their approval.

During 2021, neraly 12.000 signatures were collected through the campaign “A Blue World to Protect”, which had at least 112 media articles. This motivated the population to support the creation of the largest Marine Protected Areas in Costa Rica.

1980 people participated in the final virtual and open consultation, of which 90% expressed their approval

Once the virtual consultation was concluded, SINAC submitted the proposal's Final Technical Report to the INCOPESCA’s Board of Directors for its pronouncement, which was favorable.

In addition, the proposal was submitted to the Regional Council of the Coco Marine Conservation Area (CORAC) and the National Council of Conservation Areas (CONAC) in a satisfactory manner, allowing coordination of the necessary actions for the preparation of the respective decree, in accordance with current legislation.

On December 17, 2021, the President of the Republic and the Ministry of Environment and Energy signed Executive Decree No. 43368-MINAE, which expands the marine protected areas around Cocos Island, expanding Cocos Island National Park and creating the Bicentennial Marine Management Area.

Importance of Cocos Island for the region and the planet

Cocos Island has characteristics that make it a unique ecosystem in the world, so its conservation is vital at the local and regional level.

It is located in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which makes it the only oceanic island in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) with an estimated annual rainfall of 6,000 mm (Alfaro, 2008).

This, together with its geomorphological characteristics, has helped Cocos Island to have a cloud forest from 400 meters above sea level, being the lowest elevation ecosystem of this type in the world.

The oceanographic conditions that occur around Cocos Island and the adjacent ecosystems allow it to be a local production site of waters rich in zooplankton and phytoplankton that maintain a high marine richness and biodiversity (Esquivel-Garrote and Morales-Ramirez, 2020). In fact, Cocos Island is located in one of the most productive regions in the world (Fiedler and Lavín, 2017), with a biological richness that provides important ecosystem services (Enright et al., 2021).

This oceanic island is recognized for its biological importance since it is the highest point of the Submarine Cocos Ridge (Alvarado-Induni, 2000), and is considered the “cornerstone” of the larval dispersal connectivity of different marine species between both ends of the ETP (Cortés, 1997).

In addition, the reefs and seamounts adjacent to the island are unique sites and function as cleansing stations for marine species, migratory routes, resting and/or feeding sites, and nursery grounds and/or spawning areas for a large marine biodiversity (Fourriére et al., 2019), hosting important populations of pelagic species that are distributed throughout the ETP such as sharks, rays, cetaceans, sea turtles, tuna, and birds.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), about 19% of the species of rays, 34% of the species of sharks, 17% of the species of marine mammals and 27% of the species of seabirds that inhabit the region between Cocos Island and the Galapagos Islands are included in the Red List of Threatened Species.

In its waters there is one of the largest congregations of hammerhead sharks in the world (Sphyrma lewini) in the Pacific Ocean, listed by the IUCN as an endangered species. In fact, the pelagic species observed in Cocos Island are one of its main tourist attractions (Enright et al., 2021), and position it among the top 10 sites in the world for recreational diving, with an average visitation of 3,500 people per year.

About 19% of the species of rays and 34% of the species of sharks that inhabit the region between Cocos Island and the Galapagos Islands are included in the Red List of Threatened Species.

Possibly as a result of overfishing, 8 of the 12 species of elasmobranchs present in Cocos Island (and considered in the studies of Sibaja-Cordero, 2008 and White et al., 2015) have declined significantly in the last 20 years.

In particular, whitetip reef sharks have declined by 77% and hammerhead sharks by 45% (Sibaja-Cordero, 2008; White et al., 2015).

These numbers highlight the need for increased law enforcement and work on new tools to help the NCIP remain a marine sanctuary for the ETP and the world (Fourriére et al., 2019).

It is important to highlight that Cocos Island has island and marine flora and fauna species that are endemic, meaning that their geographic distribution is limited to this site only (Wehrtmann and Cortés, 2009). For example, 1688 species of marine fauna have been quantified in the PNIC, of which 45 are endemic, meaning that it is home to 47% of all endemic marine species in Costa Rica (Cortés, 2012).

The Coco Marine Conservation Area

The Protected Wildlife Areas (PSA) of the Cocos Marine Conservation Area (ACMC), Cocos Island National Park (PNIC) and the Marine Management Area Montes Submarinos (AMM-MS) covered approximately 0.4% (2,034 km2 ) and 1.8% (9,640 km2 ) of Costa Rica's Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), respectively.

According to the current status of Costa Rica's maritime boundaries, Costa Rica's Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone covers 530,903.60 km2 (National Register 2021).

After the boundary modification, the PNIC became 54,844 km2 and the AMM-MS (now AMMB) 106,283 km2, that is, 10% and 20% of Costa Rica's Pacific EEZ, respectively.

Due to their management categories, activities related to sustainable tourism, scientific research, and conservation are allowed in the PNIC, while sustainable fishing, tourism, scientific research, and conservation are allowed in the AMMB.

The PNIC and the AMMB became 10% and 20% of Costa Rica's Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone.

The activities allowed within each ACMC ASP will be regulated according to their respective General Management Plan, whose construction is in charge of SINAC, through a process of consultation with the stakeholders that make direct use of the resources provided by these areas.

The ACMC PSAs cover 13% of the Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Area (EBSA) referred to as the ETP Marine Corridor (with an area of 1 082 025 km2), by the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); on the basis that, “the geomorphological structures of the area are biologically and ecologically significant and are important for the connectivity of species in their migratory routes and at other times in their life cycles (e.g., mating, birth, feeding). ...” (CBD and COP Decision XII 22, 2016).

In addition, these PSAs cover a wide marine territory ranging from -1 m depth to -3506 m depth, and 13 % of the portion of the Cocos Volcanic Range that extends within the Costa Rican marine territory (of approximately 126 718 km2; SINAC, 2021).

In the Pacific EEZ of Costa Rica it is estimated that there are approximately 85 seamounts greater than 1000 m and 342 seamounts between 233-1000 m (based on data from Yesson et al., 2011). With the expansion of these PSAs, 30% of seamounts (greater than 1000 m) in the EEZ are now included in the National Park category (PNIC) and 5% in the Marine Management Area (AMMB); while 10% of mounds (less than 1000 m) are included in the PNIC and 23% in the AMMB (SINAC, 2021).

The fact that the MBMA now covers a portion of the southern part of Costa Rica's Pacific EEZ makes sense in geomorphological terms, as the Cocos Volcanic Range is a highly connected system, structurally and functionally, with Darwin and Wolf Islands, located to the north of the Galapagos Marine Reserve.

Structurally, Cocos Island has the same formation and geological origin as the Galapagos Ridge and is shaped by the same oceanographic forces (Sallarès and Charvis, 2003), which provides a continuous habitat along the seamounts of the Cocos Seamount Ridge.

At the functional level, the similarity in the community structure of these islands is mediated by significant ecological connectivity for species and migrants (Fiedler and Lavin, 2017). Planktonic larval stages of fish and marine invertebrates travel long distances carried by ocean currents until they encounter a reef with favorable conditions for their development (Cowen and Sponaugle, 2009).

Clear examples of this passive connectivity (by dispersal) are the corals Porites spp and Pocillopora spp, which maintain a high rate of gene flow between the PNIC and the Galapagos Marine Reserve (Glynn et al. 2017).

Examples of active connectivity (mediated by migratory individuals) show a significant activity in the region of influence between the PNIC and Galapagos (Peñaherrera-Palma et al. 2018) for pelagic species in different conservation status (according to the IUCN) such as: hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) critically endangered (CR), whale shark (Rhincodon typus) endangered (EN), silky shark (Carcharhinus falciformis) vulnerable (VU), the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) endangered (EN), the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) vulnerable (VU), and the striped marlin (Kajikia audax) almost threatened (LC).

Importance of marine protected areas for human well-being and ocean health

The establishment or expansion of MPAs allows the country to contribute to and address the main challenges of sustainable development and continue to position itself as a global environmental leader in conservation and the fight against climate change.

For example, the PNIC has a number of worldwide designations and recognitions such as Natural World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in 1997, Wetland of International Importance under the International Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar) in 1998, Blue Park designated by the Marine Conservation Institute in 2018, Key Site of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) since 2004 and Natural Shark Sanctuary since 2021.

MPAs are one of the best nature-based solutions for marine ecosystems and species to adapt to the effects of climate change (Simard et al., 2016), as they are spaces where the stress provided by other threats (e.g. destruction of critical habitats, overfishing, and maritime traffic) is reduced, preventing harmful synergies between different pressures (Sala et al., 2021).

The increase in ocean temperature will cause a change in the distribution and abundance of many marine species, including species of commercial interest, as migrations from warmer areas (such as the tropics) to colder ones are expected (Simard et al., 2016).

In the last five decades, it is estimated that the effects of climate change have caused a 5% reduction in fish catches, and in the coming decades up to 2050, it is estimated that in the tropics these will decrease by 40-50% (Cheung et al. 2010). The effects of climate change, coupled with other threats such as habitat destruction, overfishing, maritime traffic, and pollution, are expected to have an effect on fisheries globally (Simard et al., 2016).

Considering these effects and that some cases may already be irreversible, protected areas offer important opportunities for disaster reduction associated with extreme weather events, provision of ecosystem services fundamental to human well-being and economic development of a country, such as water supply, fisheries and maintenance of ecosystem resilience.

MPAs provide multiple benefits to society as a whole, as they promote the sustainability of marine species populations, conserve and protect critical habitats, increase resilience to climate and other environmental changes, facilitate scientific research, education and commercial activities, enhance and create opportunities for alternative uses and help diversify the economy (e.g., through tourism, recreational and commercial fishing, etc.).

MPAs protect fragile ecosystems that provide habitats at different stages of the life cycles of many marine species. For example, these habitats can be part of migratory routes, refuges from predators, spawning grounds, and nursery areas.

Although there is concern that large pelagic species move such great distances that few individuals are fully protected within MPAs, pelagic shark species have been shown to receive considerable protection from fishing mortality in these areas (Edgar et al., 2014). For example, it has been shown that shark biomass increases exponentially in MPAs that are isolated by large (>100 km2) and old (>10 years) deep waters (Edgar et al., 2014).

MPAs provide multiple benefits to society as a whole, as they promote the sustainability of marine species populations, conserve and protect critical habitats.

MPAs provide society with economic and cultural resources, and in many cases their establishment helps to increase the biomass, abundance and average size of species of commercial interest.

Towards the effectiveness of marine protected areas

Consistent with the signing of Decree No. 43368-MINAE and its reforms, efforts should remain focused on updating or developing management tools that promote measurable and innovative actions for the effectiveness of this 30% marine conservation.

During the year 2024, government authorities maintain their leadership in concluding the General Management Plans for the PNIC and the AMMB, envisioning an active participation of users and sectors related to these sites.

The above also takes into consideration schemes related to blue economy, financial sustainability, sustainable exploitation and use of marine resources, capacity building and inter-institutional communication, use of innovative technology for monitoring, surveillance and data analysis, among others.

The specific plans of the ACMC that are still under formulation are:

Strategic plan
Financial plan
Prevention, Protection, and Control Plan
Monitoring Plan for the Impacts of Sustainable Tourism
Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation and Risk Management Plan

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Acknowledgement

This systematization of the process of the creation of Costa Rica's largest Marine Protected Areas was made possible thanks to the generous support of Blue Nature Alliance.

Footnotes

Fundación Amigos Isla del Coco (FAICO) with the support of Blue Nature Alliance.

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FootNotes

Fundación Amigos Isla del Coco (FAICO) with the support of Blue Nature Alliance.