Panama has announced that it is expanding the Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area, tripling its original size and securing the protection of over 30% of Panama’s waters. As one of @theblueleaders, Panama is advancing the #30×30 goal to highly & fully protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.

The Cordillera de Coiba is an underwater mountain range located in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, a marine area encompassing the waters of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. The Coiba range is home to an incredible diversity of marine life including endangered sea turtles, sharks and whales and is an important stop for many species as they migrate up and down the Pacific.

The expanded protections will ensure 2/3rds of the area is ‘no take,’ off limits to any destructive extractive activities, while the remaining 1/3rd will allow sustainable subsistence and recreational fishing in support of local communities. Highly and fully protected areas such as this, which rebuild ecosystems and replenish species are urgently needed as a healthier ocean is better equipped to deal with the unprecedented impacts of the climate crisis. A global network of highly and fully protected marine areas offers the ocean its best chance in an uncertain future.

To ensure a corridor of protection in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, we need Panama’s neighboring countries to take similar action and to link up protections in the region.

????: @max_bello

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