Plan de Manejo del Parque Nacional Coiba - Smithsonian Tropical ...

Anexo 4
World Heritage 33 COM 7B.38 Decision
Sevilla, 20 de julio de 2009
38. Coiba National Park and its Special Zone of Marine Protection (Panama) (N 1138 rev)
Year of inscription on the World Heritage List
2005
Criteria
(ix) (x)
Year(s) of inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger
N/A
Previous Committee Decisions
29 COM 8B.13
International Assistance
N/A
UNESCO Extra-budgetary Funds
Total amount provided to the property: USD350,000 (Management planning, installation of mooring
buoys for diving boats, working with local communities, capacity building, public use planning,
improved stakeholder understanding of legal protection measures).
Previous monitoring missions
N/A
Main threats identified in previous reports
N/A
Illustrative material
http://whc.unesco.org/en/1138
Current conservation issues
The World Heritage Centre was informed by the NGO community of a change to the legal protection
of the Special Zone of Marine Protection (SZMP) in 2008, leaving it vulnerable to industrial tuna
fishing activities. Following an exchange of correspondence between the State Party and the World
Heritage Centre, and subsequent to an intensive public relations campaign by Panamanian civil
society, the changes affecting the property were reversed in April 2009.
The World Heritage Centre participated in the final evaluation of the 5 year Eastern Tropical Pacific
Seascape project in Panama City, in April 2009, during which time it had the opportunity to review
in greater detail the current state of conservation of the property in the presence of representatives
from the National Environmental Agency (ANAM) and the National Fisheries Agency (ARAP),
responsible for the management of the National Park and the Special Zone respectively, and of several
national and international conservation NGOs.
The participants acknowledged the successful participatory development of the recently adopted
Coiba National Park management plan, along with the establishment of the multi-stakeholder
management committee for the Park. Participants also noted that the property was gaining institutional
recognition, pointing particularly to new site based research being financed by the national science
and technology agency.
The most immediate concern raised by participants was the on-going presence of a herd of wild
cattle, remaining after the island prison was closed in 2007. Their population (estimated at 3,000) is
growing, and is the cause of increasing trampling of native vegetation, deforestation, and significant
soil erosion. Under the typical heavy rains in this area, soil is washed into the sea, resulting in
important nutrient loading and siltation, both highly detrimental to the coral reef ecosystems in
surrounding waters. There is a jurisdictional conflict between government departments in regards
to the responsibility over dealing with the removal of these animals. Their continued presence on
the island is severely impacting the property’s Outstanding Universal Value for both terrestrial and
marine ecosystems. If this problem is not resolved soon, the level of impact will likely grow to the
point of becoming an ascertained danger to the property.
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