(Circle of Blue) The Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa was so inspired by Christopher Columbus’s four voyages to the New World, including Columbus’s last trip to Central America in 1502, that Balboa undertook his own expedition. In 1510, Balboa and his men set ashore in the Caribbean rainforest near present-day Colombia and established Santa María la Antigua del Darién, … [Read more...]
Plants and animals protected along Panama Canal Expansion
(Miami Herald) Rocks and earth aren’t the only things being moved around during the mega-project to expand the Panama Canal. Animals, birds and even a few insects — rare ones — have been trapped and relocated before the excavators and earth-moving equipment arrive. Thousands of seedlings also have been planted in communities around Panama to take the place of trees that were … [Read more...]
Liana Vines Overtaking Panama’s Forsests
(Mongobay.com) Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Stanford University and the University of Pittsburgh, and led by Dr. Stefan A. Schnitzer, studied the impacts of liana-tree competition in central Panamanian treefall gaps. Treefall gaps, known as the “engines of regeneration” in tropical forests, are sites of high growth, carbon accumulation and tree … [Read more...]
Panama, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador Work Together to Control Illegal Fishing
(Costa Rica News) This week three Panamanian institutions launched a new project to prevent and control illegal fishing in the Pacific, an initiative that involves the cooperation of the authorities of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama. The plan, announced by the Water Resources Authority (ARAP), the National Environmental Authority and MarViva environmental … [Read more...]
Panama campesinos demonstrate against dams
(WW4report.com) Members of 27 campesino communities in the San Francisco district of Panama's western Veraguas province held a protest on June 7 to demand the cancellation of permits given for the construction of the Lalin 1, Lalin 2 and Lalin 3 hydroelectric projects on the Gatú river. The protesters charged that there were irregularities in the environmental impact studies … [Read more...]