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Caño Negro is the heart of the new biosphere reserve of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
The wetland of Caño Negro, in Los Chiles, located in the northern region of the country, gave birth to another world-renowned biosphere reserve of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Representatives from thirty-four member states of the Organization unanimously approved the proposal for Costa Rica.
A biosphere reserve is an area of great natural wealth where the conservation of natural resources is promoted, but also the economical and rational use of those ecosystems on behalf of the neighboring communities.
The new biosphere reserve is called Agua y Paz (Water and Peace) with an area of 916,000 hectares including wetlands, seaworthy rivers, tropical humid forests, and large water springs.
There are important pockets of mammals in the region such as the jaguars and manatees.
Agua y Paz is located in the basin of the San Juan River and it extends from the Central Volcanic Cordillera Reserve of Costa Rica up to the Indio Maíz Reserve located in Nicaragua.
The reserve integrates the Tenorio Volcano National Park, the Miravalles Protected Area, the Camelias Lagoon Wildlife National Refuge, the Arenal National Park and the Arenal-Monteverde Protected Area.
Also, the prized area includes the Caño Negro Wildlife National Refuge, the Maquenque mixed Wildlife National Refuge and Juan Castro Blanco National Park.
Surrounding the new reserve are the Frontier Corridor Wildlife National Refuge, the Arenal Volcano Emergency Zone Forest Reserve, the Arenal Monteverde Protected Area, and the Tenorio Protected Zone.
Agua y Paz is the third reserve of its kind in the country. Previously, La Amistad International Park in Talamanca and the Central Volcanic Cordillera reserve had been declared as reserves of the Biosphere.
In the case of Agua y Paz, UNESCO acknowledges that the area contributes to the conservation of the scenery and species, guaranteeing the genetic variability of the animal population and plant species.
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