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Country Profile: Panama |
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Forestry and Deforestation
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| Title: |
Interactive Forest Maps |
| Resource Type: |
Web Site |
| Resource Language(s): |
English |
| Abstract: |
Map shows forests/frontier forests and their level of threat. This page also includes a regional overview, definitions used in the study, facts, WRI and Web resources for North and Central America, news, discussion of threatened frontier areas, and steps toward forest sector sustainability.
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| Affiliation: |
World Resource Institute- Forest Frontiers Initiative |
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| Title: |
TED Case Studies: Panama Canal and Ecology |
| Resource Type: |
Report |
| Resource Language(s): |
English |
| Author: |
Andrea Quinn, et.al. |
| Abstract: |
"The Panama Canal is threatened by the depletion of the rainforests surrounding the canal. The canal is run on fresh water which only comes from Lake Gatun in the middle of the canal. The rainforests supply a continuous source of fresh water to the lake. The Canal Zone is the area surrounding the canal and which has been protected by depletion for many years by the fact that the area was under US control in the form of military bases. A treaty signed between the US and Panama is gradually reverting the canal zone into the hands of the Panamanian government. The government so far has been ineffective at preserving the areas they control as squatters and basic neglect are damaging the rainforests. The issue is: can the Panamanian government preserve the forests? 700,000 people live in
Panama City and surrounding areas. Lake Gatun supplies the water to Panama City and with the loss of the rain- forests, the availability of fresh water dwindles."
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| Affiliation: |
American University |
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| Title: |
The Forest Speaks -Electronic Exhibition |
| Resource Type: |
Web Site |
| Resource Language(s): |
English |
| Abstract: |
"This exhibit is about tropical forest research on Barro
Colorado Island. In 1966, the Smithsonian Institution created the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute, which includes Barro Colorado as well
as marine research stations on both coasts of Panama." This page teaches about the mammals, frogs, birds, and plants found at the station, and what scientists have learned about them here.
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| Title: |
Water Woes: Deforestation Could Dry Up the Panama Canal |
| Resource Type: |
Article |
| Resource Language(s): |
English |
| Author: |
Jon Mitchell |
| Abstract: |
The existence of an extensive forest canopy over the sources of the
Panama Canal's water (the area surrounding Lake Madden and Lake Gatun)
prevent silt collection due to soil erosion. "In recent years, however, migration has
put the fragile watershed under pressure. Population in the area has soared since
the opening of the trans-Isthmian highway in 1947. In 1960, just 37,000 people
inhabited the area; now more than 150,000 live there, many below the poverty
line. Many rural Panamanians see subsistence farming as their only means of
survival, leading to increased deforestation...Panama is clearing its forests faster
than any other [country], at a rate of 148,000 acres each year." Published: 1997
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| Affiliation: |
Christian Science Monitor |
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