Proposed Darien Canal on Panama and Colombia Border Raises Concern
8/18/97
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Headline: Proposed Darien Canal on Panama and Colombia Border Raises
Concern
Source: The Environment News SErvice
Date: 8/18/97
Author: Ron Chepesiuk
Copyright 1997 ENS, Inc.
BOGOTA, Colombia, August 18, 1997 (ENS) - Colombia and Panama have floated
the idea of working together to build a canal that would cross the Darien
region, but environmentalists have questioned the wisdom of the proposal.
They say a canal would have a devastating environmental impact on the
people and biodiversity of the region through which it would run.
The Darien region is one of the most important ecological regions in Latin
America. On the border between Colombia and Panama, the region of pristine
tropical rainforest has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is
also designated as a Biosphere Reserve. Panama's Parque Nacional Darien
covers 90 percent of the border, and at 5,750 square kilometers (2,220
square miles) it is the largest national park in Central America.
On the Colombian side, Katios National Park has more than 450 species of
birds and 500 species of vertebrates, while less than one percent of the
insects and flowers have been identified. Moreover, many species -
armadillos, tapirs, eagles and bears, for example - are on the verge of
extinction.
Critics of the canal idea also say it will have a negative impact on the
inhabitants of the region. Alegria Fonseca, a Colombian congressman, has
called for more studies of the canal's impact on the people of the region
and that the local natives be consulted in any decisions that are made.
Choco, Embera and Uainana peoples inhabit the region, living mostly along
the rivers. The Cuna Indians maintain their traditional lifestyle in the
San Blas archipelago and along the north coast of the Darien.
Recognizing the ecological importance of the Darien region, Colombia and
Panama signed the Declaration of Darien on February 1, 1997, agreeing that
they would work together to preserve the region's biodiversity. The
Colombian legislature also passed Resolution 1427 which set aside 770,000
hectares (2,972 square miles) in the Darien Region for special management.
Recent statements by Colombian government officials indicate that the
government may be having second thoughts about the canal idea. Ernesto
Guhl Nannetti, Colombia's Vice Minister of the Environment, for example, has
said that, "the idea of the canal is just that, an idea. (The government)
still needs to study (the idea) more before beginning to speak of it as a
real possiblity. What apparently is a contradiction is, on one side, to
decree a park, and on the other, to speak of the construction of a canal.
The two things are incompatible, contradictory."