Reforestation Improving Canal Area In Panama
11/21/99
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Title: ENVIRONMENT-PANAMA: Reforestation Improving Canal Area
Source: InterPress Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 21, 1999
Byline: David Carrasco
PANAMA CITY, Nov 21 (IPS) - Panamanian authorities, using
reforestation as its main weapon, are making headway in reversing
the damage to the environment in the Panama Canal basin caused by
expanded farming and other economic activities.
Julio Zuniga, the director of the state-run project Management
of Natural Resources (Marena), says that, since 1979, the
authorities and environmental groups have attempted to contain
deforestation in the canal area, which covers 326,000 hectares, of
which 115,000 are protected wooded zones.
The felling of old-growth and secondary forests in the area, as
a result of uncontrolled immigration, peaked in the 1970s at 4,900
hectares a year, but the reforestation drive has progressively
reduced the destruction, he said.
Zuniga explains hopw "Project Mareya", launched in 1991 with
the support of the US Agency for International Development
(USAID), promotes the protection of ecosystems, community
participation in reforestation and sustainable agro-forestry
practices.
The 18 million-dollar initiative has allowed the hiring of park
rangers, training in nursery management the promotion of organic
farming techniques and the marketing of products.
A long-term research programme in the Canal basin, carried out
jointly by USAID, the National Environmental Authority and the
Smithsonian Institute of Tropical Research, has revealed there is
heavy demographic pressure on the Canal's ecosystem, which is home
to 113,000 people.
The Canal area around the waterway linking the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans contains 156,991 hectares of woods - 48 percent of
its surface area.
More than 50 percent of wildlife species that live in the Canal
jungles are restricted to these areas, and if they dry up, it
could trigger the extinction of their natural habitats, scientists
say.
In fact, a rare species of multi-coloured lizard that was
thought to be extinct since the 1940s was re-discovered in 1997 in
the jungles of the Canal zone.
Researcher Irene Madrid says that information obtained from
satellites and geodesic systems allows scientists to penetrate the
forest cover and determine the quantity and quality of water
supplies, as well as take an inventory of local invertebrates and
pinpoint the human settlements that contribute to environmental
contamination.
Jolanta Villareal, a member of the research team, said that the
study would contribute to designing strategies and carrying out
reforestation in the most affected areas, or in those where there
is the greatest sedimentation of rivers and lakes.
One of the biggest problems is the spread of a weed called
Sacharum spontaneum on the edges of forests adjacent to the Canal.
During the dry season, the burning of this undergrowth often
causes uncontrollable forest fires that prevent rapid regeneration
of the soil.
Villareal emphasised that conservation of the Panama Canal zone
is critical, since it supplies the water the Canal needs to
operate, as well as slaking the thirst of the large urban
populations located at its two extremes, Panama City and Colon.
The National Association of Reforesters and Citizens of Panama
(Anarap) has launched an ambitious project to promote sustainable
use of the zone's wooded lands and to bring economic opportunities
to areas affected by logging, burning and erosion of the basin.
The president of Anarap, Luis Carles, stressed the signing of
an accord with the German cooperation agency GTZ to execute a
project of reforestation, industry and trade in the resulting
products, which has a strong environmental and technological
aspect.
Leaders of that association have also presented a bill to the
National Assembly (Parliament), which would allocate five percent
of the profits from the sales of state enterprises for
reforestation, and would favor producers with 1.5 to five hectares
of land.
Carles indicated that Anarap advocates the cultivation of rapid-
growth and hardwood trees - for which there is a major demand in
the international market - such as teak, which originated in Asia
and whose seeds are now imported from Trinidad and Tobago.
Currently, just five percent of reforestation efforts around
the globe involve hardwood tree species.
But despite the high prices fetched for teak, some small and
mid-scale producers have preferred to plant tropical tree species
native to Panama, for experimental and conservation purposes.
Oscar Zapata, the owner of a 70-acre farm, said that the
commercial reforestation project looked like a good idea, but
observed that the country has a deficit of agro-forestry
consultants, which will force it to turn to international aid
agencies for technical expertise.
The Japanese cooperative agency JICA finalised an agreement
with the Panamanian government to establish a centre for the
propagation of tropical seeds, which possess rich biodiversity.
Carles opines that reforestation efforts in Panama could become
an alternative model for poor and marginal communities throughout
Central America, where 240,000 hectares of trees are felled
annually.
Another important reforestation effort has been carried out for
the last three years by the non-governmental organisation
Technoserve, which works with local peasants in the Canal basin.
With funding from USAID, Technoserve has trained dozens of
farmers in agro-forestry techniques, leadership and business
administration.