Page 312 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

310 CONTEXTS EnvironmEntal issuEs
Mining and hydroelectric projects
Another area of environmental concern is the mining industry. After the hiatus in
mineral exploitation during the 1990s due to its unprofitability, prices have begun
to rise again, and the threat looms once more. In 2008, Panamanian environmental
watchdog CIAM (Centro de Incidencia Ambiental) revealed that the amount of land
involved in mining concessions that had either already been granted or were awaiting
consideration totalled three times the country’s surface area. Though many projects
have not yet been realized or have stalled since then, significant degradation has been
caused by those mining operations that have been pushed through. Top of the list of
offenders is the vast Petaquilla open-cast copper and gold mine in Colón province,
which restarted operations despite still owing $2 million in fines and damages for
environmental negligence and trampling on local people’s rights. Although the mine is
now bankrupt and its CEO, “father of Panamanian mining” Richard Fifer, is behind
bars for non-payment of employees’ social security, the damage has been done.
Cerro Colorado, potentially one of the world’s largest copper mines, lies in the
middle of the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, where the indigenous population is also
defending its territory against the many micro-hydroelectric projects underway or
planned for western Panama – more than seventy in Chiriquí at the last count – one
of which has already resulted in intervention by the Interamerican Human Rights
Commission. In 2012, the Ngäbe and Buglé managed to bring the country’s economy
to a standstill by blocking the Interamericana for six days, though the protest ended in
violence as the police were sent in, leaving at least three dead and many wounded.
Thankfully, Panama is now also looking towards alternative, more renewable energy
sources, establishing its first wind farm outside Penonomé in Coclé province in 2015 –
the largest in Central America – as well as a huge photovoltaic power station on the
Azuero Peninsula.

Tourism and environmental impact
It’s a difficult balance between promoting tourism and limiting its environmental and
social impact. Indigenous communities are being encouraged to engage in cultural
ecotourism, inviting visitors to learn about their traditional ways of life and selling
their handicrafts. With little financial support from the government, some groups
have benefited from assistance from NGOs or local Peace Corps workers. Emberá
communities along the Chagres, in particular, have gained valuable income from
cruise-ship tours and day-trip groups from travel agencies in Panama City because
of their proximity to the capital. But the long-term effect when large groups swamp
small villages in high season, eroding the land and tramping en masse down the same
rainforest trail, is more difficult to gauge. Moreover, the impact on the marine
environment of the cruise-ship industry – the area of tourism in which the government
has invested most heavily – is also unknown.
Visitor numbers are small in most indigenous communities that engage with tourism,
except in the western end of Guna Yala. This is partly due to the road across the cordillera
from the Panamerican Highway, which has allowed faster, cheaper access. Day-tripping
Panamanians and beach-loving backpackers make up the bulk of the visitors: for small,
overpopulated islands with inadequate sanitation and often ad hoc waste disposal, there’s
untold pressure on the natural resources. The beautiful islands of Bocas del Toro, the most
visited region outside the capital and Canal area, suffer from similar problems as water,
sanitation and electricity systems struggle to cope with pressure from high visitor
numbers and the substantial expat population. On the positive side, turtle watching is
taking off here, and in other areas of Panama, which as an income-generating project
might eventually help protect their nesting sites.

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