Costa Rica - Overview

Remark:

Please note that this country profile has been prepared by the Secretariat on the basis of information provided in the NBSAP and national reports, but has not been reviewed by the Party concerned.

Status and Trends of Biodiversity

Overview

Costa Rica has a large diversity of ecosystems grouped into the following categories: forests, wetlands, marine areas and agricultural areas. Costa Rica has identified a little over 87,000 species, which represents 6.2% of the known species in the world. The species distribution among taxa is as follows: 10,979 plant species and 2,430 vertebrate species including 935 fish, 857 birds, 243 mammals, 235 reptiles, and 182 amphibians... More »

Number and Extent of Protected Areas

A total of 25.56% of the country is under some form of management category. National parks cover 12.26% of the country, biological reserves cover 0.42%, protected areas cover 3.07%, forest reserves cover 4.26%, wildlife refuges cover 3.42%, wetlands (including mangroves) cover 1.81%, national monuments cover 0.0045%, absolute reserves cover 0... More »

Percentage of Forest Cover

Forests cover about 40% of the national territory. Wetlands cover about 5% and mangroves cover 1% of the surface of the country.

National Biodiversity Strategy Action Plan

Major features of National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan

The general objective of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan is the conservation and fair and equitable use of the country’s biodiversity. Thirteen strategic points were identified as the focus of the NBSAP including: adverse affects of socio and production activities; land planning; inter-institutional and intersectoral coordination; research and investigation; information exchange; indigenous knowledge; in situ and ex situ conservation; access to genetic resources (biosafety and biotechnology); internalization of costs for environmental services and incentives; marine and coastal resources; and national capacity for the management of biodiversity... More »

National Contacts

Full details of national contacts »

Convention on Biological Diversity

Lic. Eugenia Arguedas Montezuma	CBD Primary NFP, SBSTTA NFP
Ms. Adriana Sequeira	Resource Mobilization FP
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto	CBD Primary NFP
Mr. Iván Vincenti	ABS Competent National Authorities
Mrs. Alejandra Loria Martinez	Traditional Knowledge NFP
Sr. Mario Coto Hidalgo	CHM NFP
Mr. Marco Vinicio Araya	Protected Areas NFP
Ing. Marta Liliana Jiménez Fernandez	ICNP ABS NFP
Mr. Nelson Zamora	GSPC NFP
Mr. Jesus Ugalde	GTI NFP

Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Ing. Alex May Montero

Cartagena Protocol Primary NFP, BCH NFP