environment

Canal expansion project gets greener

Anam and the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá are considering implementing an environmental management plan for areas affected by the expansion.

A reforestation project of 115 hectares in the Parque Nacional Camino de Cruces will start on Aug. 1.

Carlos Lemos/LA PRENSA

green ratio: Anam regulations call for companies to reforest an area equal to double the land disturbed by the Canal expansion project.1065161

The Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (Anam) and the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP) are considering drawing up an environmental management plan for the areas designated for the Canal expansion project.

Specifically, the plan would recommend that companies performing excavations for the expansion project be made to reforest an area equal in size to the excavation sites.

Anam already has existing reforestation regulations. The agreement with the ACP would simply place the expansion project under these guidelines, something that is already being done on an informal basis.

The ACP already plans to plant 625,000 trees over a four-year period in areas chosen by Anam, most likely within the Parque Nacional Camino de Cruces and Altos de Campana.

This year, about 1,000 hectares will be replanted, representing a doubling of the 500 hectares being cleared for the Canal expansion, said Daniel M. Muschett Ibarra, the project’s environmental manager.

The Panamanian companies Geo Forestal, S.A. and the Sociedad Nacional para el Desarrollo de Empresas y Áreas Rurales (Sondear) won the contracts for the Camino de Cruces and Campana reforestation in a public bid.

A reforestation project within the Parque Nacional Camino de Cruces is scheduled to begin on Aug. 1. Some 115 hectares will be planted at a cost of $278,000.

Next year, another reforestation project to compensate for land disrupted by the Canal expansion will include a total of 300 hectares in the national parks Volcán Barú, Omar Torrijos, Chagres, Internacional La Amistad and the Centro de Investigación Forestal, according to Joaquin Díaz of Anam’s Departamento de Desarrollo y Manejo Forestal.

The land designated for reforestation are currently covered by wild sugarcane, a fast-growing grass from Asia introduced to the area during the Canal’s construction. The grass has been deemed an invasive species because it has spread to several of the country’s national parks, said, Geo Forestal director Jacobo Melamed.