REGIONAL NODE -
CENTRAL AMERICA
Photo credit: Zeynep Gökalp/Unsplash
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Introducing ECOP Central America
Since its emergence in September 2022, ECOP Central America has been established as a regional node of the global ECOP Programme. Its objective is to contribute to positioning Central America as a reference region for interdisciplinary ocean research, management, and conservation by creating and expanding opportunities for training and skill development for the emerging generation of ocean professionals.
To achieve this, the node aims to build a regional community of Early Career Ocean Professionals (ECOPs) in Central America that promotes collaboration, knowledge exchange, and capacity development, while increasing the visibility and impact of ECOP contributions to the UN Ocean Decade at local, regional, and international levels.
Action plan:
Ocean Stakeholders in Central America
We are building an interactive map to showcase key ocean stakeholders across Central America. This resource will help foster collaboration and visibility for organizations working toward the health and sustainable use of our shared marine and coastal ecosystems.
The map will be available soon. Stay tuned!
Want to be part of it?
If you would like to add your organization to this growing network, we warmly invite you to reach out to us at central_america@ecopdecade.org
ECOP Central America Membership Distribution (March 2026)
This is an interactive map of registered ECOPs in the Central American region.
Link of map with datawrapper: https://www.datawrapper.de/_/tIfVg/
ECOP Central America coordination team
Join our network – stay connected, seen, and supported.
Start by subscribing to our global monthly newsletter. During sign-up, you’ll have the option to add your contact details to our global registry. This automatically places you on the membership map above, helping you connect with other Early Career Ocean Professionals around the world.
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Our Regional Coordination Team
Regional hubs
Costa Rica
Guatemala
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
Thematic hubs
ECOP Central America highlights
The ECOP Central America webinar series continued with three sessions: “Oportunidades de desarrollo para ECOPs latinoamericanos con ASLO” (27.06.2025), “Conociendo a la Asociación Erasmus Mundus: Experiencias y Oportunidades de Beca Completa” (11.09.2025) , and “¿Qué hacen las Científicas REMM?” (23.11.2026) where members of the Migratory Marine Species Network shared their research projects and activities across Latin America.
The thematic Hub REMM was launched through a dedicated webinar (26.05.2025), created to build and strengthen collaborative networks among Latin American scientists working on the study of migratory marine species. Learn more about REMM here.
Representation at the One Ocean Science Congress and UNOC-3 (3-13.06.2025, Nice): The participation of our Central American node in both conferences marked a significant step forward. Coordinators and delegates took active roles in discussions about ocean literacy, capacity development, and regional inclusivity. Their presence helped spotlight the vital contributions that Central American ocean professionals are making to the Ocean Decade and to the broader fight for a healthier, more equitable ocean. Read more about their perspective in this article ”
The coordinator of ECOP Costa Rica (28-29.10.2026) , Mariana Viales, participated as a speaker at the Conferencia sobre Economía Azul y Empleos Azules in Santa Marta, Colombia, sharing her experience on how scientific research, community cooperation, and innovation in marine resource management can contribute to a sustainable and resilient Blue Economy in Latin America.
The Central America webinar series continued with four sessions on pressing regional topics: deep-sea mining (22.02.2024), the marine-coastal environmental situation in El Salvador (04.04.2024), studying eagle rays through photography (21.05.2024), and sargassum challenges and regional actions (20.06.2024). Each session featured experts who shared their work and engaged in dialogue with ECOPs across the region.
A specialized Python programming course (26.02 – 19.03.2024) was organized in collaboration with OceanTeacher Global Academy, equipping early-career ocean professionals in Central America with essential skills to manage, analyze, and visualize oceanographic data for marine research.
ECOP Central America participated in the Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, (10-12.04.2024) presenting a poster with the regional survey results, co-organizing and moderating the satellite event “The Inclusivity We Need for the Ocean We Want,” and screening the video “Voices of the Ocean.” View the video here.
The Central American Report was released, showcasing the results of the regional survey and the node’s activities throughout 2023. Find the report here.
ECOP Central America took part in “Latinoamérica Azul (3-6.06.2024): Cumbre de Jóvenes Líderes por el Océano” in San José, Costa Rica, joining young ocean leaders from across the world.
ECOP El Salvador, together with SOA (23-25.09.2024), co-organized the I Simposio Marino-Costero de El Salvador at the Universidad de El Salvador, fostering dialogue on marine and coastal issues in the country.
ECOP Guatemala and SOA co-organized the I Festival de Aves Migratorias (October 2024), bringing together local communities and organizations to celebrate World Migratory Bird Day and promote the conservation of marine-coastal ecosystems.
The first Coastal Marine Symposium in Honduras (14-15.06.2024) was led by ECOP Honduras at UNAH’s TEC campus in Tela, uniting experts, students, NGOs, government representatives, and ECOPs to advance marine science and conservation in the country. Read more about the Symposium here
ECOP Guatemala coordinators, together with Sustainable Ocean Alliance Guatemala visited the Peace Boat (MV Pacific World) and a screening of the documentary “Deep Rising”, where a forum with experts on the topic of underwater mining was present to discuss the topic with the public (September 2023).
The Central America webinar series featured three sessions: “Conversatorio – Posicionalidad de las mujeres ECOP en el trabajo de campo marino” (Positionality of ECOP Women in Marine Fieldwork) (23.05.2023), “Arrecifes de Centroamérica: su investigación y conservación” (Central American Reefs: Research and Conservation) (20.07.2023), and “Patrimonio Cultural Subacuático de Costa Rica” (Underwater Cultural Heritage of Costa Rica) (03.11.2023). Each session brought together regional experts to present their work and exchange ideas with ECOPs on these highly relevant topics.
Participation in the Latin American ECOP survey: ECOP Central America took part in the design and regional launch of the Latin American ECOP survey, an initiative aimed at understanding the challenges faced by and showcasing the diversity of Latin American ECOPs.
Online seminar for Honduras: “ECOP Honduras: Forjando Conexiones Oceánicas” (ECOP Honduras: Forging Ocean Connections) was held to present the country coordination and officially introduce the node. The event successfully increased the participation of Honduran ECOPs within the regional network.
Launching of the node: the regional node is formed in September 2022 as a result of the programme’s presence at the ICES PICES ECR conference in Newfoundland, Canada. The node is composed of six Central American countries: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Belize was not included in this node due to linguistic and cultural differences and its membership in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
ECOP Central America Video
ECOP Central America Video
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