In recent months, Panama Canal traffic has slowed to a crawl as El Niño-caused drought lowered water levels so drastically that some boats couldn't pass through the intricate system of locks and levies. Another environmental problem threatening the busy, 50-mile long waterway is unchecked deforestation.
Each ship that passes through the canal uses 50 million gallons of freshwater, all provided by the normally ample rainfall that falls in the forest surrounding the canal watershed. Rainfall is collected from forest rivers and stored in two artificial lakes, Gatun and Madden. Drought has reduced the current level of Madden by 90 percent. As trees are razed to make way for farms and cattle pastures, the seasonal downpours wash tons of sediment into rivers that empty into the lakes. More than 70 percent of the canal watershed is deforested.
In an attempt to curb the damaging soil erosion, a US development organization called TechnoServe is teaching rural community leaders the basics of environmentally friendly farming. From October 1996 to March 1997, 57 farmers who own land in the canal watershed studied water and land management, agroforestry, leadership, and business management with TechnoServe experts.
"One of the first things we try to teach is that the richness of the soil is not inexhaustible, that we must care for the soil and strengthen it," explains Jose Agustin Espino, director of the TechnoServe program in Panama. Espino says the success of the program, which was supported by a $750,000 grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), depended on the leadership qualities of students selected for the course. The hope was that they would teach soil-saving to their neighbors. Now, a year after the course, Espino says he can see the positive impact of the TechnoServe training. Graduate Emerito Rodriguez, whose farm borders Lake Gatun, has already shown many of his neighbors what he learned during the course and is part of a community organization that is teaching other farmers. Since his graduation, Genaro Rivera has built barriers to conserve the soil on his farm in the village of La Florida and uses charred rice hulls for fertilizer instead of expensive chemicals. With fellow trainee Benicio Ovalle, he is holding workshops for his neighbors, passing on information about organic farming, soil conservation, and watershed protection.
As part of the USAID Central America Regional Project, PROARCA/CAPAS, TechnoServe is now working with eight communities outside Chagres, Altos de Campana and Soberania National Parks, all located in the Panama Canal watershed. TechnoServe experts are studying how the protected areas benefit residents and how they can best participate in park management. Espino notes that in July, an agroforestry course will be offered to cattle ranchers. "If cattle farming in the zone isn't managed correctly, he warns, "it could be very explosive." He adds that the government of Panama wants to reduce the current 346,000 acres of cattle pasture in the watershed to 15,000 by the year 2025.
Contacts: TechnoServe, Urb. Los Angeles, Calle 62 Oeste, Casa 25, Apdo.
6-2045, El Dorado, Panama, tel 507/279-0421, fax 507/279-0423; in the US,
49 Day Street, Norwalk, CT 06854 203/852-0377, fax 203/838-6717
This article is provided from the Rainforest Alliance's Conservation Media Center,
based in San Jose,Costa Rica. For more information, contact Diane Jukofsky or Chris Wille,
Rainforest Alliance, Apdo. 138-2150, Moravia, San Jose, Costa Rica; Phone: 506-240-9383;
Fax: 506-240-2543; Email
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