With the Caño Negro Wetlands at the core of it, UNESCO established a
new world biosphere reserve. Agua y Paz (Water and Peace) is the name
of the new ecological area and it is located in the northern part of
Costa Rica, in the Los Chiles canton of the province of Alajuela.
A
biosphere reserve is an area of major natural wealth, where the
preservation of natural resources is the main goal, but where the
rational economic use of the area by the neighboring communities is
also fostered. Water and Peace encompasses 916,000 hectares (2,263,436
acres); it is located in the San Juan River (Nicaragua) Watershed, and
extends from the Central Volcanic Mountain Range Reserve in Costa Rica
to the Indio Maiz Reserve in Nicaragua. Several national parks and
wildlife reserves are part of the new sanctuary, chosen by UNESCO among
33 sites sponsored by 21 countries. This is the third such site in
Costa Rica, which also boasts of La Amistad –in the Talamanca mountain
range and shared with Panama– and the Central Volcanic Mountain Range
–in the central part of the country.
Source: La Nacion