Project of the Mesoamerica Biological Corridor 

The Mesoamerican Corridor comprises of all countries from the southern part of Mexico up to the northern part of Panama: Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama. The area hosts a large series of natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage sites and Biosphere Reserves.

The Diversity project uses space technologies to assess the current overall status of conservation of the ecosystem as a whole, using UNESCO sites as main pilot samples. The environmental assessment will contribute to implementation of the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, which aims to reduce biodiversity loss by 2010. The UNCBD State Members aim to: “achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth.” Using various remote sensing technologies and data, such as from space, aerial photography and ground digital images in coordination with fieldwork, UNESCO will derive biodiversity indicators to support the monitoring efforts and help policy makers determine whether progress is being made towards the UNCBD goals.

The user requirements for Mesoamerica were first discussed at a ‘First User Meeting’ at ESA in Italy, December 2006 with the Comision Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD) and MarViva. Based on these discussions the following products and services were agreed to be developed: Mesoamerican Biological Corridor change detection cartography; coral reef maps; ocean water quality monitoring services; and mangrove maps. An investigation will be undertaken on the migration patterns of marine species like leatherback sea turtles and hammerhead sharks between the Galapagos and Cocos Islands. Finally, the project will provide a global map of dry lands based on existing global datasets to the UNCBD.

The products and services will assist conservation authorities in evaluating isolated protected land areas that could be linked to the overall Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. This would extend the corridor further to respect the migration patterns of endangered species like the jaguar and harpy eagle that are living in endangered ecosystems threatened mainly by the rapid land use changes.

An innovative and unique aspect will be the identification, assessment and definition of a marine corridor between four UNESCO World Heritage sites: Malpelo, Coiba, Isla de Cocos and Galapagos. Models will be derived from satellite imagery to analyse oceanographic conditions of the marine biological corridor, such as sea surface temperature, water quality and surface current. The health of coral reefs and the quality of ocean water surrounding the reefs will be monitored.

Large-scale maps will be produced of five selected World Heritage sites and Biosphere Reserves in Mesoamerica. These will include mangrove maps to assess the state of conservation of mangrove forests. Conservation authorities have also suggested selecting areas for use in assessing sources of marine pollution on land.

ESA’s has selected a consortium of European sub-contractors to develop the products and services. This consists of the following remote sensing companies, each with different expertise: GeoVille, the Austrian company team leader responsible for projects on land; France’s Collecte Localisation Satellites, specialized in oceanography; Norway’s Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre, responsible for the water-quality component; and the University of Exeter in the UK, specialized in coral reefs.

UNESCO end-users will be the consortium’s main beneficiaries. They are represented by Mesoamerica’s conservation authorities, which are supported by NGOs implicated deeply in local and regional conservation, like MarViva.


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