Cordillera de Coiba Marine Protected Area (Panama)

Cordillera de Coiba Marine Protected Area, Panama | Photo credit: Max Bellow, @max_bello

In June 2021, Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo and Minister of Environment Milciades Concepción signed a decree that expanded the Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area (MPA) by more than 50,000 km2s, effectively engulfing the original protected area and creating a MPA covering 67,742 km2 of Panama’s Pacific Ocean territory. With this decree, Panama surpassed its goal of protecting thirty percent of its marine area nine years ahead of the 2030 target. Panama and Chile now lead Latin America in overall domestic marine protections, securing more than thirty percent of their waters as MPAs.

Located off Panama’s Pacific coast, the Coiba Ridge is an ecological wonder within the larger Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, a marine area covering nearly 2 million km2, made up of islands, underwater mountains, and the coastlines of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador. The region has long been a “Hope Spot,” identified by the nonprofit ocean conservation organization Mission Blue as a special area of the ocean in need of protection, as well as a biodiversity hotspot, home to endangered sea turtles, whales, sharks, and countless species of seabirds.  

Of the expanded marine protected area, about two thirds are designated as “no-take” to fully protect the unique biodiversity of the region, while the remaining portion will exclude industrial fishing activity but continue to support the livelihoods of coastal communities in Panama. Critically, the expanded Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area adjoins Colombia’s Malpelo Fauna and Flora Sanctuary and the Yurupari-Malpelo marine protected area, creating a combined bi-national conservation area of more than 121,341 km2.

The Government of Panama benefitted from the technical and scientific support provided by MigraMar through a grant from the Wyss Foundation in 2020, which helped make the expansion possible. With the expansion of the Cordillera Coiba MPA, Panama has secured a key piece of the protection puzzle in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, protecting corridors for marine species that know no national boundaries. Building on this success, in November 2021, Panama and its neighbors from Costa Rica, Colombia, and Ecuador announced plans to establish a four-country Eastern Tropical Pacific Corridor. This multi-national Biosphere Reserve would cover more than 500,000 square kilometers, strengthening protections for areas like Cordillera Coiba while promoting greater coordination between regional governments on issues like monitoring and enforcement.