Protected Areas in Central America

The Ancient Maya City and Protected Tropical Forests of Calakmul, Campeche is both a World Heritage site and a Biosphere Reserve. The largest forest mass in Mexico and the second largest remnant forest left in Latin America, it is the heartland of the area in which the Maya civilization reached its climax.

The Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve hosts a wide variety of ecosystems that make up one of the most diverse landscapes on the Pacific coast of the Americas. It is important for the conservation of the wide, dry, and deciduous tropical forest — considered among the world's most threatened ecosystems.

Cocos Island lies off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and is the only island in the tropical eastern Pacific with a tropical rain forest. Surrounded by deep waters with counter-currents, Cocos Island National Park is admired by scuba divers for its populations of large marine species.

Coiba National Park, off the western coast of Panama, protects Coiba Island and 38 smaller islands as well as surrounding marine areas within the Gulf of Chiriqui. Coiba’s Pacific tropical moist forest maintains high levels of mammal, bird and plant endemism.

Corcovado National Park conserves the largest primary forest on the American Pacific coastline and is one of the few remaining sizable areas of lowland tropical forests in the world. It is considered the crown jewel in the extensive system of parks and reserves spread across Costa Rica.

The Cordillera Volcánica Central Biosphere Reserve, located in the central highlands of Costa Rica, is one of the richest reserves in both natural resources and cultural heritage. It encompasses four national parks, two forest reserves, six protected zones and a national monument.

Cumbres de Monterrey National Park and Biosphere Reserve is located in the northern portion of the Sierra Madre Oriental range in northeastern Mexico, near the city of Monterrey, consisting of rugged terrain with steep mountains, deep canyons, rivers and waterfalls.

Darién National Park and Biosphere Reserve is the largest protected area in Panama, containing an exceptional variety of habitats: sandy beaches, rocky coasts, mangroves, and swamps as well as lowland and upland tropical forests containing remarkable wildlife.