Our Ocean Conference Commitments

(2015) Panama announced the recent creation of two major marine protected areas, Cordillera de Coiba (17,223 square kilometers) and Banco Volcan (14,931 square kilometers), increasing Panama’s protected areas from 3.7 to 13.5 percent of its waters.  This initiative was based on scientific expertise and research of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and includes areas with submarine mountain chains.  Panama will allocate at least US$1 million in 2016 for management of these two marine protected areas.