Photo Credit: Rio Savegre Costa Rica Christian Lee / Fotografia

Back in April costa Rica Costa Rica nominated Savegre River to be recognized as its fourth biosphere reserve, and this Wednesday afternoon the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Program that was meeting in Paris, France, recognized it as such.

In total the UNESCO added 23 new sites to the World Network of Biosphere and also approved extensions to 11 reserves and the renaming of others, as well as the request by Bulgaria and the United States to withdraw some of their reserves from the World Network. (Sites that have been withdrawn by the US sites are: Aleutian Islands; Beaver Creek; California Coast Ranges; Carolinian South Atlantic; Central Plains; Coram; Desert; Fraser; H.J. Andrews; Hubbard Brook; Konza Prairie Research Natural Area; Land Between the Lake; Niwot Ridge; Noatak; Stanislas-Tuolumne; Three Sisters; Virgin Islands).

The UNESCO defines a biosphere reserve as, “learning places for sustainable development whose aim is to reconcile biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources”; and provides the following description of Savegre River:

“Savegre Biosphere Reserve (Costa Rica)—This site is located on the central Pacific coast, 190 km from the capital, San José. This reserve has high biodiversity value, hosting 20% of the total flora of the country, 54% of its mammals and 59% of its birds. It has approximately 50,000 inhabitants, whose main activities are agriculture and livestock rearing. Crop production is significant in high altitude areas, including plantations of apple, pomegranate and avocado. During recent years, ecotourism has increased and has become a source of socio-economic growth in the region.”

The Savegre River will join the other three biosphere reserves in the country which are La Amistad,recognized as such in 1982; the Cordillera Volcánica Central (Central Volcanic Mountain Range) entered in 1988, and in 2007 Agua y Paz (Water and Peace, which encompasses the Juan Castro Blanco National Park, the Caño Negro Refuge, four biological corridors and an indigenous community).

According to Alejandra Loría, anthropologist from the National Commission of Biodiversity Management, the proposal of Savegre River differs from the others in that it includes the catchment area of the river as a whole, from its point of origin in the Cerro de la Muerte mountain to the rivermouth in the Pacific Ocean, therefore it includes even marine area of the Manuel Antonio National Park for a total of 312,914 hectares (terrestrial and marine).

The Costa Rican government is now obligated to maintain and protect the conditions and characteristics of these area.