UNESCO Declares Nicaraguan
Island World Biosphere Reserve
MANAGUA - Ometepe Island in Cocibolca Lake
became the third Nicaraguan site in the
UNESCO world network of reserves of the
biosphere.
The selection of Ometepe is one of the 13
added to the list yesterday in Paris during
the 22nd Session of the International
Council of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere
Program
The Council also included three Mexican
proposals and one from Peru and added five
more, one from Chile and another from Costa
Rica.
Ometepe, formed by two active volcanoes -the
Madera and Concepcion-, is considered the
largest island in the world located in a
lake and "has numerous archeological
pre-Columbian, petrography, statues and
ceramic pieces that give proof the ancient
human settlements in the locality," UNESCO
declared.
The surrounding lake "is an important source
of sweet water," and also has many rare sub
aquatic animal species such as sweet water
swordfish and sharks," the declaration
added.
With the inclusion of Ometepe, inhabited by
about 30,000 Nicaraguans, this Central
American nation now has three sites that are
part of the world network of reserves of the
biosphere.
The first, recognized in 1997 was Bosawas,
the largest and unaltered tropical forest of
Central America with an extension of 1.98
million acres occupying 14 percent of the
national territory and has been throughout
history a living space of communities of the
Mayangnas and Miskitos ethnic groups.
In 2003 UNESCO added the reserve of San Juan
River in the southeast of Nicaragua a region
that has a high amount of biodiversity of
wetlands, important areas of forest
development and sources of surface and
subterranean water.
After the decision adopted in Paris the
world list of reserves of the biosphere now
includes 564 sites in 109 countries. |
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