environment

Hydro plans at issue

UNESCO officials have expressed concern about proposed hydroelectric projects in Changuinola, in the province of Bocas del Toro, because of their potential impact on the Parque Internacional La Amistad (PILA).

The agency is also concerned about the increase of agricultural activities on the borders of the park, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1983.

Complaints about the issues facing the park were filed with the agency by several environmental groups, including the Alianza para la Conservación y el Desarrollo (ACD) and the Center for Biological Diversity.

UNESCO officials discussed those complaints at a meeting held in July in Quebec City, Canada. That discussion included eyewitness accounts from UNESCO officials who toured the park in February.

The agency decided not to include the park on its endangered list, but asked the Panamanian government to submit a report before Feb. 1, 2009, outlining the measures being taken to maintain migratory corridors for aquatic species that live in the Bonyic and Changuinola rivers. Both those waterways will be impacted by proposed hydroelectric plants.

“There is an absence of measures to mitigate the impact of dams on seven aquatic species,” a UNESCO report stated.

The report also asked the government to begin monitoring the health of the park’s biosphere.