The New 7 Wonders of Nature is currently in the process of selecting the 28 finalists from the 77 remaining locations from around the world. The online contest that has been going on since 2007 has come closer to its final stage.

This means that all voting is currently on hold as a panel of experts from the New 7 Wonders of Nature is revising the list with the 77 finalists of which voting ended on July 7th. From these 77 finalists, the panel will announce the final 28 on on July 21st, 2009.

Costa Rica’s Cocos Island was able to comfortably make it to the final 77 candidates for a spot among the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Latin American alone has a total of 17 candidates among the list while Central America has 5.

Within the Central American locations are the Cocos Island in Costa Rica, Coatepeque Lake fin el Salvador, Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, Ometepe Island in Nicaragua and the Platano Forest in Honduras.

The panel of experts has announced that they will be basing their decision on the location’s beauty, its diversity, its ecological importance, its historic legacy and its geographical location.

The Cocos Island, located some 532 kilometers off the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, is a oceanic island and the only emerged volcanic peak of the Cocos underwater ridge. The UNESCO named the Cocos Island a World Heritage Site in 1997 and Ramsar included this location within their list of most important wetlands in the world.

According to researchers from Scientific Research Center of the Ocean and Limnology of the University of Costa Rica, experts have been able to identify 3 different species of turtles, 57 crustaceans, 510 mollusks and 250 fish species.