Call to the national authorities of Panamá

Call to the national authorities of Panamá
We, national and international non-governmental organizations, demand that:
1. The Authority for Aquatic Resources of Panamá (ARAP) reestablishes the anterior tariffs
for fines and permits to cut mangroves, which were established with duly technically
supported arguments.
2. The Supreme Court reinstates the status of protected area of the Bay of Panamá Ramsar
Site, returning to the citizens the protection that these areas provide for their security and
welfare.
3. The Public Ministry provides, through a duly legal process, the effective legal guardianship
of natural resources, especially mangroves and other wetlands, in particular in the case of
the complaint posed against the possible environmental offense commission and
territorial structuring in the area of the Bay of Panamá wetland.
4. The National Authority for the Environment of Panamá (ANAM) upholds the integrity of
the Bay of Panamá Ramsar Site, revoking its request to the Ramsar Convention of 2009 to
diminish the established boundaries.
5. The ANAM assures and acts so that all projects that intend to destroy wetlands will not be
approved with an Environmental Impact Study lower than Category III, considering that
wetlands are critical areas over which both direct and indirect, accumulative and
synergetic, quantitative and qualitative negative impacts can present themselves, which
merit a much deeper analysis.
6. The ANAM contemplates measures that demand the proof of effective reaches and
threats of those projects in wetlands or within their zone of reach in the approval process
of an Environmental Impact Studies, as well as that the synergetic and accumulative
effects of projects, such as the hydrological regime that affects downstream wetlands,
such as the Watershed 188 of San Pablo River, which provides freshwater to the Montijo
Gulf Ramsar Site.
7. The ANAM guarantees that civil consultation is done adequately, and no cases like, for
example, the construction of two (2) hydroelectricity projects, who’s Environmental
Impact Studies omitted the consultation of the communities of Veraguas Province.
8. The Ministry of Housing and Territorial Structuring complies with the established existing
norms that protect the Bay of Panamá wetlands and others within national territory, and
does not approve Territorial Structuring Schemes that go against them nor those that
destroy mangroves or other wetlands.
9. The National System of Civil Protection (SINAPROC) clearly determines and widely divulges
the risks to which the population is exposed with the destruction of mangroves and other
wetlands and the construction of urban projects over floodable areas and that, moreover,
does not delay any longer the expedition of the Resolution that declares the wetlands of
Juan Díaz as zones of high vulnerability to disasters from flooding. The City does not
expect anything less than that the institution by law must protect the lives of all the
country´s inhabitants.
10. The ANAM and ARAP coordinate the work of documenting a list of possible newly
designated Protected Areas of coastal wetlands in Panamá.
11. The Mayor´s Office of Panamá City acts in coherence to a large period of consultations and
analysis completed in June to September 2012 with non-governmental organizations, the
Engineers and Architects Society of Panamá (SPIA), the University of Panamá, the
Panamanian Society of Company Executives (APEDE) and other institutions of the
government. The Mayor sent out a decree in June 2012 that prohibits the works of
earthmoving, filling or construction inside the area that forms the Bay of Panamá wetland.
Moreover, the Mayor committed to ´strengthen the actions of conservation, protection,
wise use and management of ecosystems with the aim of preventing ecological damage
that could be caused by construction with the area of the Bay of Panamá wetland´.
Although the Mayor could prove the disaster risks that populations neighboring the Bay of
Panamá wetland area are exposed to by the continued construction of land fillings and she
committed to establish a protected zone, the groups that answered to her call for
consultation are still waiting for that the proposal for the conservation of the wetlands
that was presented to them is elevated to a declaration of protection. Until today, the
Panamá City Municipality has allowed the advancement of unbridled destruction of the
Juan Díaz wetlands, joining the long list of authorities that have not been able to assert the
authority that they have to comply with their own norms.
Signed by:
Alianza para la Conservación y el Desarrollo (ACD) – Alianza por un Mejor Darién – Almanaque
Azul – Amigos del Parque Internacional La Amistad (AMIPILA) – ARTURIS-Coiba – Asociación
Agroecologista Macho de Monte – Asociación Agroecoturística La Amistad (ASAELA) – Asociación
de Productores Agroecologista La Amistad (ADPAELA) – Asociación de Productores de Cultivos
Exportables (APCE) - Asociación de Productores de Renacimiento (APRE) – Asociación de Derecho
Ambiental - Asociación Ecologista Panameña - Asociación Ecologista de Productores Orgánicos de
Rovira (ASEPOR) – Asociación Nacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (ANCON) – Centro
de Estudios y Acción Social Panameña (CEASPA) – Centro de Incidencia Ambiental (CIAM) – Colegio
de Biólogos de Panamá (COBIOPA) – Conservación Internacional (CI) – FUDIS – Fundación para el
Desarrollo Sostenible de Panamá (FUNDESPA) – Fundación Marviva – Fundación Panamá
Sostenible (PASOS) – Fundación para el Desarrollo Integral, Comunitario y Conservación de
Ecosistemas en Panamá (FUNDICCEP) – Fundación para la Protección del Mar – Fundación
Wetlands International – GITEC – Grupo Ecologista para la Protección del PILA (GERPROPILA) –
Grupo Orgánico de Productores Cerropunteños (GORACE) – REAL BOQUETE – Sociedad Audubon
Panamá – WWF
For more information:
Rosabel Miró, Exectuvie Director Audubon Panamá, rosabelmiro@mac.com, Office: +507 2325977
Julio Montes de Oca, Head of Office, Fundación Wetlands International - Panamá,
julio.montesdeocalugo@wetlands.org, Office: +507 317-1664 www.wetlands.org/panama
Alida Spadafora, Asociación Nacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (ANCON),
aspadafora@ancom.org Office +507 314-0060 www.ancon.org,