Hammerhead Heaven

Manaca Sea Turtle

"The Pacific leatherbacks currently face an annual mortality rate of up to 30 percent," said James R. Spotila, Drexel University Professor of Environmental Science, "That rate is clearly unsustainable, and without dramatic intervention, we can expect to see them disappear in as soon as a decade."

Help is on the way. A project, known as the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, covers 211 million hectares (521 million acres) and extends from Costa Rica's Cocos Island National Park to Ecuador's Galapagos Island National Park and Marine Reserve. Along the way, Seascape helps link marine protected areas in Panama and Colombia, and intends to safeguards an important migratory route for the Endangered blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) as well as protect one of the last remaining nesting grounds in the Eastern Pacific of the Critically Endangered leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea).

The project is being funded by the UN Foundation with a matching grant from the Global Conservation Fund and a generous $1.2 million donation by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The four nations that share the Seascape: Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador are expected to put additional millions into the project, which is being led by UNESCO's World Heritage Centre.

The Seascape initiative is part of a broader, $15-million agreement between Conservation International, the UN Foundation and the UNESCO World Heritage Centre to conserve current and proposed Natural World Heritage Sites such as: Costa Rica's Cocos Island National Park and Marine Reserve, Ecuador's Galapagos Islands National Park and Marine Reserve, and Colombia's proposed site, Malpelo National Park.

"This alliance to protect the world's 149 Natural World Heritage Sites gives us the ability to make strategic investments that maximize the likelihood of salvaging these unique and delicate habitats," said Timothy Wirth, President of the UN Foundation. "This Seascape initiative is vitally important to the health of our ocean and we certainly hope it becomes a model for marine conservation around the world."

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