Millions Given to Support the Conservation of Marine Protected Areas in Costa Rica and Panama
June 1, 2012
By Mera McGrew
Since 2002, the MarViva Foundation has been working to protect the unique and critical marine habitats in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.
The MarViva Foundation is an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization that is dedicated to conservation and sustainable management of marine and coastal resources. MarViva’s General Director, Jorge Jiménez, told Mission Blue that “Marviva was born out of the interest and love that the late Erica Knie, a Swiss philanthropist, had for the Eastern Tropical Pacific.”
The Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean extends from San Diego, CA, west to Hawaii and south to Peru. It is one of the world’s most productive tropical oceans. It has a high degree of ecological interconnection and complex oceanographic characteristics — Numerous oceanic currents merge in the region, facilitating the dispersal of marine larvae, affecting migrations of marine species, and making it home to a diverse and unique range of marine life.
Convinced that marine protected areas are fundamental to the conservation of marine biodiversity and with an appreciation for the importance of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, the MarViva Foundation has been supporting the governments of Costa Rica and Panama with their marine conservation efforts. Since 2002, when MarViva was founded, they have helped with the establishment, management and patrolling of marine protected areas around the coco island in Costa Rica and the Panamanian provinces of Chiriquí and Veraguas.
This year, through the creation of two major endowments, the MarViva Foundation has made a commitment to ensuring the present as well as the future availability of resources needed to effectively protect the critical marine areas in Costa Rica and Panama. In December 2011, MarViva donated a patrolling vessel to the Cost Guard of Costa Rica and created a US$2 million Administration Trust to support the management and conservation of Marine Protected Areas around Coco Island. Last week, MarViva announced the donation of a patrolling vessel to the Panamanian government and the establishment of a second trust — a US$1 million trust to support the conservation of marine protected areas surrounding the Panamanian provinces of Chiriquí and Veraguas. Marviva is confident that the sustained funding will improve the conservation status of the marine ecosystems in these regions.
MarViva plans to grow the trusts until they reach US$4 million each in the upcoming years. Jiménez stated, “The governments in these countries need all the assistance we can offer to support the conservation activities they are trying to implement with their limited capacity.” By growing the trusts MarViva will be able to help support more sites and further marine protection efforts in Costa Rica and Panama.
Jiménez said, “hopefully these endowments will prove that public-private initiatives can effectively attain the conservation goals set by these countries.”
Top image: provided by MarViva Foundation
