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Countries Appendix PANAMA (37.6%) Panama's deforestation rate of 158,000 acres (64,000 hectares) a year (1995) has reduced the country's rainforests to a mere 10% of their original cover and threatens its chief source of income, the Panama canal. Deforestation of the watershed that feeds the Panama canal is causing siltation and a decrease in rainfall. The tropical cloud forest of the canal watershed ensures the flow of billions of gallons of clean water necessary to operate the canal locks (roughly two billion gallons per day). The forest minimizes the erosion of silt into the canal which can block dams, clog locks, and create shoals that ground ships. However soaring populations in the watershed cloud forests has resulted in a decline of forest cover from 80% (1952) to less than 15% (1994) of the watershed. In 1998 below average rainfall from el Niño and deforestation forced the canal to limit the load large ships could carry. Panama's diverse rainforests still cover around 2.6 million hectares, of which nearly 2 million are protected. However all these forest areas, including those that are protected, are threatened by colonization-leading to clearing for agriculture, pasture land, and fuelwood collection, road construction, and mining operations. Several road projects have threatened to damage large parts of federally protected rainforest lands in Panama. One such project, the extension of the Pan American Highway, threatens the Darien National Park which is home to rich biodiversity and the indigenous Kuna. Another project is planned to cut right through Metropolitan Nature Park, while still another, carried out by the U.S. army, is poised to open forest areas to new waves on colonization. The biggest problem of these roads is not the construction or subsequent erosion, but the colonists who follow them and settle in the surrounding forest. The colonized areas are rapidly cleared for subsistence agriculture and the collection of fuelwood. Another threat to Panama's forests comes from industrial gold mining in northeast Panama. The government granted concessions covering 4 million acres (21% of the entire country) including the homelands of indigenous groups. One of the local groups, the Ngobe-Bugle, is calling for a moratorium on the mining. The indigenous people of Panama are certainly to be reckoned with and not ignored as demonstrated in 1991 when the Kuna Indians took up arms against encroaching colonists. In 1993, the Kuna kidnapped the local governor in order to call attention to their plight and succeeded in getting the government to create a territory for the Kuna. While it consumes most timber domestically and exports very little, Panama is a member of the ITTO. According to that organization, 63,100 hectare of forest were under concession in 1995 though that area has since expanded as commercial logging is increasing. Despite attacks on the environment and Panama's nature reserves, the is some promise for conservation in this country. Deforestation has slowed some from the rate of 70,000 hectares a year in 1990. Several sustainable development projects have been organized including one by the National Institute for Natural Resources which trains farmers to use their land more efficiently so they do not need to cut the surrounding forests. Another conservation program rescues and returns them to protected habitats. Perhaps one of the most exciting advances has been the completion of a 132-foot construction crane designed to allow scientists to study the rainforest canopy in Panama City Metropolitan Park. |
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Copyright Rhett Butler 1994-2005 |
