Map of the ecosystems of Central America : Main report (English)

From 1999 to early 2001, under the auspices and general coordination of CCAD - Central America Commission on the Environment and Development - and the Bank, collaborating governmental and nongovernmental environmental institutions of the CCAD member countries... See More + From 1999 to early 2001, under the auspices and general coordination of CCAD - Central America Commission on the Environment and Development - and the Bank, collaborating governmental and nongovernmental environmental institutions of the CCAD member countries, completed a new ecosystems map to meet ecosystems and biodiversity challenges in the region. In each country a national team of biologists, and supporting specialists worked over a two-year period to map their ecosystems. The lead biologists of the national teams participated in a process of synchronized production, and harmonization of production methodologies under the overall direction of the Bank. The national biologists were complemented by a team of international specialists. The primary objective of the mapping project was to map, and describe the present distribution of ecosystems in Central America, critical to establishing a modern baseline of the status, and location of the region's biodiversity, and will be the basis for national, and regional biological monitoring programs. A glance at the map reveals two obvious conclusions: 1) Real corridors of natural habitat still stretch from southern Mexico to Colombia, though precarious and fragmented, which reaffirms the importance of Mesoamerica as one of the world's most important biological hotspots, and as a biological highway between North and South America. 2) The threat to the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) is serious and its future is precarious. The pace at which natural habitats have been converted in the past few decades is astonishing. The map shows that at least half of the Central American Isthmus has already been substantially modified by humans. These "gray areas" contain, at best, only tiny and unconnected patches of natural habitats. The region is still beset by serious poverty and underdevelopment, and the population is expected to double in the next 20 to 30 years. Central Americans will face an enormous challenge conserving healthy and viable areas that are representative of their biological and natural resources heritage. The concept of the MBC itself, combining the needs of both development and conservation, is a highly promising response to this challenge.  See Less -