Cocos Island
| Cocos Island National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Cocos Island
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| Location | Approximately 550 km (340 mi) off the shore of Costa Rica |
| Coordinates | 5°31′08″N 87°04′18″W / 5.518889°N 87.071667°WCoordinates: 5°31′08″N 87°04′18″W / 5.518889°N 87.071667°W |
| Established | 1978 |
| Type | Natural |
| Criteria | ix, x |
| Designated | 1997 (21st session) |
| Reference no. | 820 |
| Extension | 2002 |
| State Party | Costa Rica |
| Region | Central America |
| Designated | April 21, 1998 |
Cocos Island (Spanish: Isla del Coco) is an island designated as a National Park off the shore of Costa Rica, that does not allow inhabitants other than Costa Rican Park Rangers. It constitutes the 11th of the 13 districts of Puntarenas Canton of the province of Puntarenas. It is located in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 550 km (342 mi) from the Pacific shore of Costa Rica. With an area of approximately 23.85 km2 (9.21 sq mi), about 8 km × 3 km (5 mi × 2 mi) and a perimeter of around 23.3 km (14.5 mi), this island is more or less rectangular in shape.
Surrounded by deep waters with counter-currents, Cocos Island is admired by scuba divers for its populations of hammerhead sharks, rays, dolphins and other large marine species. The extremely wet climate and oceanic character give Cocos an ecological character that is not shared with either the Galápagos Archipelago or any of the other islands (for example, Malpelo, Gorgona or Coiba) in this region of the world.
Cocos Island was declared a Costa Rican National Park by means of Executive Decree in 1978. Cocos Island National Park was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997. In 2002, the World Heritage Site designation was extended to include an expanded marine zone of 1,997 km2 (771 sq mi). In addition, it is included in the list of "Wetlands of International Importance".
In 2009 Cocos Island was short-listed as a candidate to be declared one of the New7Wonders of Nature of the world by the New7Wonders of the World Foundation, and ranked second in the islands category.
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