UN climate conference: Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama establish huge marine protected area

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The new sanctuary in the East Pacific is designed to protect sea turtles and other animals from fishing.

Photo: Luiz Felipe V. Puntel / Shutterstock

In the east of the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama, one of the largest and most biodiverse marine protected areas in the world is to be created.

This was announced by the presidents of the four participating states at the UN climate summit in Glasgow. The new protection zone is intended to connect existing protected areas and significantly expand the total area. It would connect the Galápagos Islands, which are part of Ecuador, with the Colombian island of Malpelo and the Cocos and Coiba Islands in the waters of Costa Rica and Panama. These islands are home to hundreds of species of marine animals and birds.

Overall, the marine reserve is to extend over an area of ​​more than 500,000 square kilometers - an area that is larger than Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined.

This creates a corridor in the ocean through which turtles, whales, tuna, rays, octopus, hammerhead sharks and other species can move undisturbed.

Industrial fishing is to be banned in the protection zone in the future.

One has already "heard a lot of speeches about climate change"

"We will protect ecosystems like the Galápagos and Cocos Islands, which are among the most valuable ecosystems in the world," said Costa Rica President Carlos Alvarado Quesada.

Colombian President Iván Duque announced that the new sanctuary was the largest of its kind in the western hemisphere.

Panama's head of state Laurentino Cortizo said "a lot of speeches about climate change have been heard".

And at the same time there are "many promises that are not being kept".

The new protected area off the coast of Latin America is "a strong measure and that is what our country and the world need".

"Just as all the heads of state and government here have called for action rather than words, I believe that this is concrete action on behalf of Ecuador that goes beyond any words we can say here," Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso told the British newspaper "The Guardian".

Efforts to create a protection corridor in the eastern Pacific began back in 2004 when Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica and Ecuador signed an initial declaration to protect their island areas in the Pacific.

The initiative of the four states is called "Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor" (CMAR), ie "Sea Corridor in the Eastern Tropical Pacific".

Meanwhile, other states announced in Glasgow on Tuesday that they wanted to strengthen the protection of their national waters.

The US climate commissioner John Kerry announced that the United States would be the 15th country to sign a declaration to this effect, which is supported by Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Chile and Norway, among others.

According to various environmental protection organizations, however, the pledges made by states do not go far enough to halt the ongoing destruction of the oceans.

The declaration on the protection of the seas, for example, does not contain any information that the massive state subsidies for industrial fishing are to be discontinued.

The protection of the oceans is also defined as one of the 17 UN sustainability goals.

To achieve this goal, ten percent of the world's ocean surface should be protected by the end of 2020.

Around seven percent of the world's oceans are currently under protection.

vki / AP / Reuters