Ramsar

The case dates back to September 2013, when Costa Rican authorities discovered that Nicaragua had been dredging canals through Isla Portillos to connect the San Juan River with the Caribbean Sea despite that fact that the International Court of Justice had declared the territory “disputed."

The mitigation work that started this week in Isla Portillos, or Isla Calero, comes just three weeks before oral arguments are set to begin in the territorial dispute between Nicaragua and Costa Rica before the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

A comprehensive environmental impact assessment for the entire canal project is being directed by the British firm Environmental Resource Management (ERM), which promised to issue conclusions in March or April.

Park guards at Isla del Coca have identified 33 Costa Rican fishing boats that frequently enter the national park’s waters to fish illegally. This week, a team of Tico Times reporters accompanied the guards on a patrol of the remote island. In the first of a three-part series, here’s what we discovered.

Environment Vice Minister Ana Lorena Guevara reiterated on Thursday that Nicaragua's dredging of two artificial canals in Costa Rica's northeastern region had caused considerable environmental damage to protected wetlands.