National Parks of Costa Rica

The National Parks and Wildlife Refuges of Costa Rica are managed by MINAE, the Ministerio de Ambiental y Energia. Responding to the new policies of the MINAE, eleven Conservation Areas were established by this department in 1998 to oversee and manage the public lands of Costa Rica. These conservation areas are known as the Sistema Nacional de Areas de Conservacion, or SINAC.


Amount	Category	Area (ha)	% National Territory (5.099.873 ha)
25	National Parks	623.771	12,23%
8	Biological Reserves	21.674	0,42%
32	Protected Zones	155.817	3,06%
11	Forest Reserves	227.834	4,47%
58	Wildlife Refuges	180.035	3,53%
15	Wetlands/Mangroves	77.869	1,53%
12	Other Categories	17.306	0,34%
161	TOTALS	1.304.306	25,58%