World Bank Central American Commission for Environment and Development, (CCAD) Comisión Centroamericano de Ambiente y Desarrollo, (CCAD) 20020531 First edition map Map of the Ecosystems of Central America Series Regional Map Turrialba, Costa Rica Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, (CATIE) http://worldbank.org/ca-env http://birdlist.org/cam/themes/ecosystem_map.htm http://mitchnts1.cr.usgs.gov/data/otheragency.html Although now interrupted in places and under relentless pressure from the agricultural frontier, essentially intact strips of natural habitat still remain linking Mexico to Colombia. These strips of natural habitat, considered in the framework of a collective determination to conserve and sustainably use them as part of an overall strategy of rural development, are referred to as the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC). Conserving the biological and socio-cultural riches of these areas and assuring their sustainable use and development has become a priority for all the Central American countries and for the global community. The concept of the MBC has been embraced by the Heads of State of the Central American countries, endorsed by various intergovernmental treaties and organizations, and has become a central orientation of environmental and development policies of each of the countries involved. Originally a cooperative effort consisting of the seven countries from Belize to Panama, the MBC is now generally recognized as also embracing the five southern states of Mexico and with linkages to the Colombian Chocó. The Comisión Centroamericana de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD, the Central American Commission of Environment and Development), the coordinating agency of the environmental ministries of all the countries of Central America, plays a critical role in developing, coordinating and promoting the MBC. Thus originated the need to produce the region’s first detailed assessment of its ecosystems and the distribution of the ecosystems' relatively natural conditions. The mapping project was executed by national teams of lead scientists on biodiversity, selected by the national authorities for biodiversity conservation in each of the participating countries, with coordination and assistance from an international team with extensive experience in vegetation mapping and use of geographic information system (GIS) applications and remote sensing. Production options were discussed with the national authorities, and in each country collaborating scientists from national universities or other institutions were contacted. A number of exchanges were needed between all participants to decide on the methodology and to exchange experiences during the course of the work. Once a method and approach had been decided, all the participating scientists needed to be trained in the methodology, interpretation, and handling of remotely sensed images, use of GIS applications, etc. In total, about 20 national scientists and government officials participated in intensive training sessions and many more in the various meetings and workshops that were organized. The Ecosystem Mapping Project involved five principal workshops/training sessions during the course of the mapping process. Regional harmonization and compatibility between the different national efforts has been attained through * Joint training; * Coordination through frequent visits by the regional coordinator (Vreugdenhil) to each of the participating countries. * Promotion by the World Bank and CCAD of inter-country coordination at various levels; * Creation of a cross-country classification integration table; * Organization of a final integration workshop; * Preparation of ecosystem descriptions; * Regional consensus about methodology; * Processed and georeferenced satellite images used in the course of the project; * GIS vector files of the ecosystem maps of each of the seven countries with coordinated classification nomenclature; * Ecosystem descriptions with good biological background information; * MS Access-based database with the field data collected in the context of the project; * The expansion of national herbariums with several thousands of herbarium specimens; * Lead scientists of the scientific ecological community in each of the participating counties trained; * A final report in Spanish and English and a final integrated map. Collectively a total of 197 ecosystems have been recognized in the context of this study (including agriculture and urban). About 25 additional codes have been defined using modifiers for levels of human intervention but these do not represent distinct ecosystem classes. The primary objective of the mapping project was to map and describe the ecosystems of Mesoamerica (Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, using a comprehensive, regionally endorsed classification system. * Input to the geographical delineation of the MBC; * Inputs for national conservation and rural development strategies; * Prioritisation of protected areas (through presence/gaps analyses), given that our ecosystems are a proxy for unique sets of animal and plant communities and ecological processes; * Assessment of the conservation value of protected areas; * Creation of a baseline for further ecological studies and biodiversity monitoring; * Better information for environmental impact assessments; * Enhanced understanding of the region’s ecology on the part of national and international scientists. Preliminary descriptions have been made of the individual ecosystems. Using a standard form, the scientists of the participating countries made descriptions of the different ecosystems encountered in their country. Afterwards the information was combined into description sets covering the entire region. The description files are downloadable from //www.birdlist.org/cam/themes/ecosystems_map.htm 19910000 20000000 Ground Condition Complete As needed -93 -77 19 7 UNESCO phytomorphological classification system vegetation evergreen seasonal deciduous broad-leaved needle-leaved forest woodland shrubland scrub savannah reed-land meadow marsh swamp aquatic vegetation Vegetation classification habitat plant community phyto-sociological classification ecosystems map vegetation map life zone Holdridge phytomorphology plant sociology Aquatic ecosystem aquatic ecosystem limnic marine river estuary lake lagoon brackish fresh water Ecology baseline monitoring ecosystem classification biogeography periodicity None biological corridor CCAD protected areas national parks monitoring SINAP ANAM MINAE MARENA COHDEFOR DAPVS MARN INAB Programme for Belize Land Information Centre World Bank WICE conservation nature None Central America Meso-America Panama Costa Rica Nicaragua Honduras El Salvador Guatemala Belize Mesoamerica isthmus None Public domain. Vreugdenhil, D., J. Meerman, A. Meyrat, L. Diego Gómez, and D. J. Graham; Map of the Ecosystems of Central America, Final Document, World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2002 World Bank and CCAD, Comisión Centroamerica de Ambiente y Desarrollo (CCAD), World Institute for Conservation and Environment (WICE), and CATIE, Map of the Ecosystems of Central America, Regional Map, 2001 The World Bank Douglas J. Graham mailing and physical address

1818th Street, N.W.

Washington D.C. 20433 USA ++1 202 473 6667 mailto:dgraham@worldbank.org USA East Coast 9:00 - 17:00 Collaborating Governmental and Nongovernmental Belize Noreen Fairweather Land Information Center (LIC) Joy Grant Programme for Belize (PfB) Guatemala Francisco López Instituto Nacional de Bosques (INAB) / Comisión Nacional de Biodiversidad (CONAB) El Salvador Francisco Delgado Ministerio de Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (MARN) Honduras Victor Archaga AFE/COHDEFOR Ricardo Arias PAAR (World Bank project) Eduardo Canales PROBAP (World Bank GEF project) Sergio Midence PAAR Nicaragua Leonardo Chávez MARENA García Cantarero ABC (World Bank GEF project) Victor Cedeño ABC Costa Rica Damaris Garita MINAE Luis Diego Gómez OTS Panama Iván Valdespino CBMAP/ANAM (World Bank GEF project) Gina Castro CBMAP Belize Ir. Jan Meerman, Ecologist, WICE Wilber Sabido, GIS Specialist, Programme for Belize Dr. Susan Felicity Iremonger, Vegetation Scientist, WCMC Costa Rica Luis Diego Gómez, M.Sc., Vegetation Scientist, OTS Wilberth Herrera, M.Sc., Geographer–Climatologist El Salvador Dr. Nohemy Ventura, Botanist, Universidad de El Salvador Ing. Raul F. Villacorta, Botanist, Ir. Peter Sloot, GIS Scientist/Soil Scientist, DLV Agriconsult, Netherlands Guatemala Prof. Dr. Cesar Castañeda, Botanist Prof. Dr. Juan José Castillo Montt, Botanist, Universidad de San Carlos Maurice Carignan, M.Sc., GIS/Remote Sensing Vegetation Specialist, Tecsult (Canada) Honduras Dr. Thelma M. Mejía, Botanist, Universidad Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH) Ing. Cristobal Vasquez, Forester, GIS Specialist, Administración Forestal del Estado/Corporación Hondureña de Desarrollo Forestal (AFE-COHDEFOR) Dr. Susan Felicity Iremonger, Vegetation Scientist, WCMC Dr. Paul House, Vegetation Specialist, UNAH Carlos Cerrato, M.Sc., Aquatic Ecologist, UNAH Nicaragua Alain Meyrat, MSc., Ecologist, MARENA/ABC Dr. Alfredo Grijalva, Botanist Ir. Rob Beck, GIS Scientist/Vegetation Scientist, NEO (Netherlands) Ir. Daan Vreugdenhil, Vegetation Scientist Victor Cedeño, Ecologist, MARENA/ABC Panama Dr. Mireya D. Correa, Botanist, STRI Prof. Dr. Luis Carrasquillo, Botanist, Universidad de Panamá Martín Mitre, Botanist María Stapf, Botanist, STRI Valery Kapos, MSc., Botanist, WCMC Dr. Abdiel J. Adames, Project Director, Louis Berger (Panama) Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama. El Salvador and Costa Rica. Images processed in ERDAS Imagine 8.1 for Honduras, Panama. Images processed in PCI software for Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua. El Salvador and Costa Rica. Mosaic processed in Erdas Imagine 8.4 The original drawing of ecosystems was done on the basis of printed images of LANDSAT 5, colour enhanced, bands 250,000 (200,000 for Costa Rica), involving field biologists, most of whom have more than 15 to 20 years of pertinent field experience and extraordinary terrain knowledge. This method was preferred above supervised classification as it was our intention to maximally involve and benefit from the knowledge of the senior field biologists of the region. Also, among vegetation analysts, there is a consensus that detailed vegetation mapping can be achieved better through visual analysis if carried out by experienced field biologists. Polygons were drawn on a transparent media, and digitised from the transparencies - depending on the country - in the programs ArcInfo, ArcView and ILWIS by or under supervision of experienced GIS experts. Further development took place in an iterative process of fieldwork and map-drawing. Field Verification was carried out by or under supervision of participating national scientists. Field data were registered on paper field forms designed to match the Central America Monitoring Database. Data in the database are generally good, although some data appear to have erroneous GPS readings. In Nicaragua, junior biologists were employed to generate a broader involvement of upcoming biologists, but at some expense of the quality of the field data in the database. The collection of field data that allow reliable analysis of ecosystem classes requires descriptions at a minimum of 3 and preferably 10 locations per ecosystem class. This could not be realized during the project life and needs systematic completion throughout the region. The aquatic ecosystems have not been identified, sampled and described systematically and require further analysis. Mapping can and needs to be done at a more detailed scale than 250,000. Carignan suggested that scale 100,000 is feasible through on screen digitisation using LANDSAT images. As a result of the integration of 7 national maps, the positional accuracy has probably somewhat been compromised. At some areas of the map it may vary +/- 300m. The accuracy for each individual country is +/- 150 m. Georeferencing has been based on national topographic 200,000 for Costa Rica. The UNESCO classification uses elevation classes. Given a horizontal inaccuracy of up to 300 m the elevation accuracy may vary along the edges of the polygon. on planes and rolling terrain the elevational accuracy is usually accurate within 100 meters, but along very steep ridges and mountains, elevational accuracy may occasionally be as much as 500 m off along the edges of the polygons. WICE 20020531 Unknown remote-sensing image http://mitchnts1.cr.usgs.gov/data/otheragency.html http://birdlist.org/cam/themes/ecosystems_map.htm CD-ROM 19790101 19991231 Publication Date - LANDSAT 5 satellite imagery was processed for visual interpretation and polygonisation of vegetation structures. Reduced resolution mosaics have been made available for downloading. Those mosaics have not been utilized for the interpretation work and are made available to facilitate a visual impression of what the interpreters have seen in more detail. Institutos Nacionales Geográficos and equivalents Unknown Unknown map paper Unknown Unknown Publication Date . Maps were used for georeferencing of satellite imagery and for topographic orientation of fieldwork. The methodology used for the classification was the classification system developed under the auspices of the UNESCO in 1993 and further elaborated in 1974 by Mueller-Dombois and Ellenberg, "A Tentative Physiognomic-Ecological Classification of Plant Formations of the Earth". It describes the above-ground or underwater vegetation structures and cover as observed in the field. This classification is fundamentally a species-independent physiognomic, hierarchical vegetation classification system which also takes into account ecological factors such as climate, elevation, human influences such as grazing, hydric regimes, and survival strategies such as seasonality. The system was expanded with a basic classification for open water formations. Each class is expected to have a distinct set of both plant and animal species. In Central America, the images of LANDSAT 5 Thematic Mapper are the most commonly used data sources for mapping of large areas. As a contribution to disaster relief, the USGS had made a set of images available for the territory covering from Belize to the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This considerably reduced the purchase costs of the imagery. For Costa Rica and Panama, some images were provided by the governments and some from the private collection of D. Muchoney. The provided imagery was considered for our use based on the * Date of the image * Spatial and spectral resolution * Location accuracy * Atmospheric conditions (cloud, haze) * Sunlight angle of the countries covered by the USGS series, a few additional ones needed to be purchased For Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, the imagery was processed in bands 4, 5, 3, which allow for the strongest contrast between forested land (shades of brown) and non-forested land (shades of green). For Nicaragua and Costa Rica, mainly bands 5, 4, 3 (mostly shades of green) were processed on request of the lead scientists in these countries. For each country, the images were prepared in the projections of the national topographic maps. Georeferencing consisted basically of choosing reference points in both the image (cross roads, fixed river curves and coastal rocks, etc.) and defining a first grade polynomial regression line for optimizing the scene adjustment. For each scene 15 to 20 reference points were used, evenly distributed across the scene. An additional set of imagery has been prepared in Projection UTM, Zone 15, Elipsoid Clarke 1866, Datum Nad 27, bands 4, 5, 3, so that users can project the entire map against a background of imagery used in the project. The regional map has been referenced as Projection Lambert-Azimuthal center -85, 13, north and false northing and easting of 1,000,000 (one million) m. The database originated from the "STEP" design of the University of Boston, (Muchoney et al. 1998) for many of the tracking and physical data. For biological data a new selection was composed after consultation of renowned external international scientists (Prof. Dr. Ir. R.A.A. Oldeman (University of Wageningen), Prof. Dr. A. Cleef (University of Amsterdam), and Dr. H. van Gils, ITC). Severe field testing by the national scientists lead to further development of the design. The resulting database allows for highly detailed description and characterisation of ecosystems and is probably suitable for worldwide use. As fieldwork is the most expensive and the most difficult activity to organize in an ecosystem mapping project, all national teams but the Honduran team chose to carry our field sampling of a directed pre-selection of areas for field visits. In general relevé samples were selected on the following * Insufficient expert knowledge of the region; * Doubt about the classification on the image; * Representation of the image class (each recognized class was preferably visited at 3 different locations). Where possible field visits were made over land by vehicle. Isolated areas in some cases were made by motorized canoes, using riverine access. All countries were over-flown at a default elevation of 300 m in detailed flight programs from fixed-wing small aircraft (usually 6 seater biplanes). Wherever needed, the plane was taken to lower elevations (according to need to levels of less than 100 m) to allow detailed aerial survey. Helicopters were used in Honduras, and partially in Nicaragua. The Eastern tip of Panamá could not be flown or visited over land for reasons respectively of weather and security. 19990503 WICE Daan Vreugdenhil mailing and physical address

1654 Steamboat Runroad, Route 1, Box 111

Shepherdstown WV 25443 USA 304 876 1077 304 876 1087 mailto:daanv AT birdlist.org 08:00 - 18:00 Eastern standard time It will be most efficient to first send and email. The images of Belize were partly covered with a scattered cloud cover; Solid cloud patches obscured vision in North eastern Nicaragua, Central Western Nicaragua South eastern Nicaragua and Central Northern Costa Rica. Vector 1 Node Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area -085.000000 +13.000000 1,000,000 1,000,000 coordinate pair - - Meters UNESCO Phytomorphological classification system with adaptations for Central America Physiognomic-Ecological Classification of Plant Formations of the Earth - EROS Data Center Ron Risty Emergency Response Coordinator mailing address

EROS Data Center USGS, International Programs

Sioux Falls South Dakota 57198 USA 605-594-6969 mailto:risty@usgs.gov 9:00 to 17:00 USA Eastern Standard Time //mitchnts1.cr.usgs.gov/data/otheragency.html 250,000; metadata; ArcView shape files; country image mosaic .img files. Set of source imagery available fron the EROS data Center of the USGS on CD-ROM //worldbank.org/ca-env 250,000 printable .wmf files and metadata. Distribution by The World Bank, USGS/EROS Data Center and WICE of electronic data published on CD-ROM or on any other electronic media, or distributed by means of websites is a for non-profit service. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS, The World Bank and WICE as to the accuracy of the data and related materials or the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the distributors in the processing, handling, shipment or use of these data, software, or related materials. WICE Daan Vreugdenhil mailing and physical address

1654 Steamboatrun Road

Shepherdstown WV 25443 USA ++1 304 876 1077 mailto:daanv AT birdlist.org 08:00 - 17:00 hours USA Eastern Standard Time //www.birdlist.org/cam/themes/map_download_page 2,800,000 printable .wmf files; Internet previews; metadata; ArcView shape files + updated Legend .avl file; country image mosaics; database; database manual; application opportunities and links. A full set of the EROS Data Center raw images as well as the utilized processed images is available as a full set on a hard drive. On request the full set (only as such) may be acquired at the cost of the drive, reproduction and shipping. No CD-rom sets. Distribution by The World Bank, USGS/EROS Data Center and WICE of electronic data published on CD-ROM or on any other electronic media, or distributed by means of websites is a for non-profit service. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS, The World Bank and WICE as to the accuracy of the data and related materials or the functioning of the software. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the distributors in the processing, handling, shipment or use of these data, software, or related materials. 20020514 Daan Vreugdenhil WICE Director mailing and physical address

1654 Steamboatrun Road

Shepherdstown WV 25443 USA ++1 304 876 1077 ++1 304 876 1087 mailto:daanv AT birdlist.org 8.00 to 18.00 USA Eastern time Preferably by email, provide phone number FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998 None None