Protected Areas in Central America

Arenal National Park is located in Alajuela province in northwestern Costa Rica. The park encompasses the Arenal Volcano, an active andesitic stratovolcano. It was Costa Rica's most active volcano until 2010 and one of the ten most active volcanoes in the world.

Barbilla National Park is located on the eastern slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica, within the SINAC Caribbean La Amistad Conservation Area. It protects the humid lowland rainforest along the Caribbean slopes of the Talamancan mountain range.

Barra Honda National Park is located on the Nicoya Peninsula in western Costa Rica. It was created to protect the cave systems under the Barra Honda Peak, formed when islets from the Miocene Era were raised above the plains of the Tempisque River.

The coastal area of Belize is a natural system consisting of the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere, offshore atolls, several hundred sand cays, mangrove forests, coastal lagoons, and estuaries. The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System’s seven sites are a significant habitat for threatened species.

The Bosawás Biosphere Reserve is located in the north of Nicaragua, next to the border with Honduras. Together with three neighboring protected areas of Honduras, it constitutes the largest protected area complex of tropical mountain moist forest north of the Amazon Basin.

Braulio Carrillo National Park is located in central Costa Rica within the volcanic Cordillera Central, one of the areas with the steepest topography in the country. The landscape consists of densely-forested high mountains that include volcanoes and canyons forged by several rivers.

The Cacique Lempira, Señor de las Montañas Biosphere Reserve, which includes Celaque National Park, is located in the western part of Honduras. The ecosystem is primarily cloud forest and includes Cerro las Minas, the highest mountain in Honduras.