Cocos Island Betters
Its Position In The “New
Seven Wonders”
Competition
(Infocom) — With only a
little more than a month
before electronic voting
closes to choose the 21
finalists for the “New
Seven Wonders” contest, Cocos Island is being
left out, being in the
28th position, seven
places from making the
list of natural wonders
that will be named next
year, once again by
electronic voting, to be
chosen as one of the
seven natural wonders of
the planet.
However, its status has
improved in the last few
weeks, since ten weeks
ago it was in the 39th
position, very far from
the qualifying position.
Actually, in the last
update, it went from the
34th position to the
28th, which renews hopes
for voters not only in
Costa Rica, but in the
entire world to give it
a final push in the last
month.
The first ranking
position is occupied by
Puerto Princesa
Subterranean River
National Park in the
Philippines, Asia
followed by Ha Long Bay
in Vietnam, also in
Asia, as well as Cox’s
Bazar, Beac, in
Bangladesh, Asia. The
Asian continent is
winning the most
positions; in fact the
first 12 positions of
the scale are from that
continent. And among the
21 that are qualifying,
17 are Asian.
The only two natural
wonders of the American
continent that are on
the list of the current
top 21 are the Amazon
River jungle in the 15th
position (located in
Bolivia, Brazil,
Colombia, Ecuador,
French Guyana, Guyana,
Peru, Venezuela, and
Surinam) and the Igazu
waterfall (Brazil and
Argentina) that is in
the 21st position after
taking that spot this
last week. At the
beginning of the contest
our Cocos Island was one
of the favorites among
the voters, but in April
of this year, the
organization had taken
off the well known
“Treasure Island” from
the list due to the fact
that the candidate was
not officially backed by
any state entity,
however, in the days
following, the
Environment and Energy
Ministry made the
candidate official and
the island returned to
the competition.
Because of this, it
found itself among the
top seven places
Selection of the natural
wonders is done online,
with voters issuing
their electric ballot at
www.new7wonders.com.
Web surfers have until
December of this year to
pick 21 finalists, with
voting to continue
between 2009 and 2010 to
determine the winners.
According to the
organizers, the final
seven will be announced
in the autumn of 2010.
In addition to Cocos
Island, from Costa Rica
the impotent Arenal
Volcano is on the list,
but it is in the 82nd
position, very far from
the qualifying
positions. However, it
has rebounded and has
bettered its position
since three months ago
it was in the 120th
position.
Coco Island was first
put on the world map,
literally, in 1542, as
Ysle de Coques.
It was discovered in
1526 by Spanish sailor
Johan Cabeças. It is
located in the central
area of the Eastern
Pacific, in the ocean
that Spaniards called
Mar del Sur (South Sea)
during the time of
discovery and conquest,
in front of the Gulf of
Panama. Its extreme
borders are: to the
north, Agujas Point, at
5º 33'26" N; to the
south, Dampier Cape, at
5º 30'06" N; to the
west, Lionel Cape, at
87º 05'46" W; and to the
east, Atrevido Cape, at
87º 01'47" W.
On the North American
continent, the nearest
point to Cocos Island is
Cabo Blanco, on Costa
Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula,
located 532 km away. In
South America, the
nearest points to the
island are Isla Pinta
(Abingdon), in the
Galapagos, 682 km away;
and Malpelo Island
(Colombia), 630 km away.
Convinced of the
exceptional caliber of
the island’s natural
characteristics, in 1978
the government of Costa
Rica created the Cocos
Island National Park,
which was later declared
as the core of the
marine conservation area
that bears the island’s
name. Also because of
its uniqueness, the
United Nations
Education, Science and
Culture Organization
(UNESCO) in 1997 named
the island a World
Heritage Site. One year
later, it was chosen as
a RAMSAR wetland site of
international
importance. |
