This corridor makes up just one portion of the much larger Mesoamerican Biological Corridor which is proposed to connect protected habitat from the Yucatan Region in southern Mexico and Belize to the Darien in Panama.
The core of the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor is the Maquenque Mixed National Wildlife Refuge, which created by executive decree by the government in 2005, maintains more than 123,500 acres (50,000 hectares) of tropical forest in northern Costa Rica. This new mixed designation puts restrictions on development in the region to maintain wildlife habitat but permits people to continue to live on and own the land.
The refuge protects diverse and fragile ecosystems such as wetlands; lagoon systems, rivers, and creeks. Researchers are developing and implementing a comprehensive sustainable development strategy and working to achieve the declaration of these sites as Ramsar Wetlands sites of International Importance. Because the wetlands in Maquenque are unique in the nation, their presence in the Ramsar portfolio is globally important.
