Panama
Panama officially called the Republic of Panama (Spanish: República de Panamá), is a country in Central America.
It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia (in South America) to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south.
The capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half of the country’s 4 million people.
Panama was inhabited by several indigenous tribes prior to settlement by the Spanish in the 16th century. Panama broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela named the Republic of Gran Colombia.
When Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada remained joined, eventually becoming the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the Panama Canal to be built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914.
In 1977 an agreement was signed for the transfer of the canal from the United States to Panama by the end of the 20th century, which culminated on December 31, 1999. We are a small charity focused in a tiny little country but incredibly important in the maintenance of the environmental balance of the Americas. If you want to find out more complete our contact form or call and one of our team will be in touch.
We develop partnerships with companies across a wide range of industries, delivering clear business benefits for them, and vital funds for our work protecting biodiversity and helping impoverished communities in Panama.
We know that each company we partner with is unique – with their own vision, brand mission and strategic priorities. That’s why we always tailor-make our approach, to help you get the most out of your partnership with us.
Panama’s diverse ecosystems are reflected in its astonishing terrestrial and marine biodiversity. The biomes found in Panama include tropical lowland humid forests, tropical mountain forests, tropical dry forests, freshwater wetlands, mangroves, coral reefs, and tropical islands. The importance of Panama in the region is even greater when considering its connection with the highly diverse tropical areas in North and South America.
Panama constitutes a vital part of a biological corridor, which connects North and South America and is referred to as the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor allowing a rich exchange of plants and animals. The livelihoods of all communities around Panama’s national parks very much depend upon the use of primary resources. This dependency is even more evident at the local level, particularly among the eight distinct indigenous and other traditional groups that inhabit these regions.
The protection of Panama’s natural resources is vital for the genetic exchange and movement of animals and plants species throughout the American continent. There are so many yet to discover species in Panamanian forests that could help scientists find new medicines for human diseases.
Panama is a hotbed of biodiversity; its tropical habitats are home to some of the most diverse and exotic species of plants and animals on Earth. Covering almost half the country’s land surface are immense tracts of rainforest, mangrove wetlands and mountain cloud forests.
In all, Panama is home to over 10,444 plant species including 1,200 orchids, 678 fern species and 1,500 species of tree. As well as 255 species of mammal, 972 indigenous bird species and 222 different species of amphibian. All this biodiversity in just a very small country about the size of Scotland.
Successful conservation requires collaboration and specialized knowledge. PWCC brings together international institutions and experts to develop help conserve the endangered species and ecosystems, providing a unique opportunity for the joint collaboration between local and international organisations to facilitate international conservation work. PWCC is seeking to address 6 core issues based on Panama’s geographical position and unique biodiversity within the country:
1.Education as a Tool for Environmental Conservation and Sustainable Development
Panama is a developing country with few resources invested directly in conservation and education, in particular funding and time, are very scarce. Today PWCC is deciding where to invest, what conservation tools to employ and how to adapt to this ever-changing world.
Our conservation programmes in local communities are vital to ensure that conservation is both cost-effective and successful.
Local primary and secondary schools are our main target, we work closely with scientists to deliver key and easy to understand information about biodiversity and the importance of protecting habitats and their dwellers.
2.Amphibian Conservation, making the case for the harlequin toad recovery.
The decline of Atelopus species has been widely reported, and their restricted ranges and habitat make them highly vulnerable. Atelopus varius started to disappear from its original geographic range in 1988 due in part to the spread of an infectious disease. In less than 20 years all known populations in Panama disappeared, but an unaffected population hasrecently been found in Santa Fe National Park.
However, with the construction of a new road traversing the park, the increasing interest in uncontrolled development, and the unknown impact these threats may have on this and, as yet, undiscovered populations, it appears that theirfuture maybe hanging in the balance. We need to fully understand how threats may undermine these populations and develop new measures to protect them, working closely with local residents.
3.Sea Turtles Conservation, delivering hope for critically endangered sea turtles in the Tropical Eastern Pacific.
The longest-living marine species to ever ply the world’s oceans. They survived devastating asteroid impacts and outlived the dinosaurs. But the charismatic hawksbill and the leatherback sea turtles, the largest turtle in the world, are on the brink of extinction, and scientists question whether these animals will survive into the next decade.
Scientific information about the foraging and nesting sites of the hawksbill have just begun to be discovered, while information about the Eastern Pacific subpopulation of leatherback species in Panama is non-existent.
Today PWCC aims to continue the monitoring programme of the hawksbills of Coiba Island, in Coiba National Park, and identify nesting sites in Veraguas Province for leatherbacks for the first time. These valuable data will provide information to help develop a set of urgent protection and management actions.
Our work will support different conservation efforts aimed at the survival of these emblematic marine species.
4.The last Jaguars of Panama. How can we protect them?
A large proportion of Panamanian forests are now being used for cattle ranching and encounters with jaguars have become increasingly common. Local ranchers blame the jaguars for the loss of their cattle and react by killing these big cats.
Our main objective is to understand the extent to which the jaguars create a conflict with cattle ranchers and how to avoid it. Radio collaring is the only technique that produces the robust science needed to quantify the loss of cattle to jaguars,as well as to estimate how many jaguars are illegally killed.
These approaches will allow us to experiment with cattle husbandry, such as corralling young and vulnerable animals, and demonstrate to reluctant cattle ranchers which techniques truly help reduce their losses.
The objective of this programme is to reduce the ranchers’ motivation to kill jaguars and promote their tolerance for these amazing animals. If we succeed, jaguars will be safer and local communities and ranchers around Panama’s rainforest will learn a better way of coexistence with this symbol of Mesoamerica biodiversity.
5.Wildlife Surveillance. The animals of Cerro Hoya National Park need a voice
Cerro Hoya National Park (CHNP) is the last redoubt of rainforest left in the southernmost area on the Azuero Peninsula, in central Panama. Despite the intense human pressure, this park is mostly pristine and unexplored. However, around the park, exists around 25 villages and nearly 3,000 inhabitants.
The residents of these villages rely strongly on cattle ranching and subsistence agriculture. Some areas of the park reportpoachers’ activity and forest clearance due to inefficient government patrolling and a lack of environmental education.
The ranchers have been facing conflicts with wildlife especially jaguars and pumas, since they sometimes attack cattle, causing the rangers to hunt and kill these wild cats. However, many species considered extinct in this area, have recently been observed by local residents in temporal patches along the buffer zone, e.g. the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari).
PWCC aims to fill the gap in knowledge about the natural history of some wild species , and provide science-oriented information to drive the action of government authorities.
Our long-term surveillance programme will focus on critically endangered species like jaguars, pumas and the white-lipped peccary. We will use this information to feed a local environmental education programme to schools and communities, to monitor the status of the wildlife in the area and the effectiveness of the conservation efforts, and to produce education materials to promote local awareness of wildlife and its conservation.
6.Sustainable Eco-tourism. Forgotten communities will have a new life
Over the years, PWCC members have been working with remote communities inside Cerro Hoya and Darien national parks in Panama.
We have been trying to support applied research, environmental conservation, traditional and ancestral practices and therefore local economies.
Today our projects aim to bring external funding to encourage and create sustainable business practices including conserving water and energy, supporting community conservation projects, recycling and treating waste, hiring staff from the local community, paying them just wages and providing training, and sourcing locally produced products for restaurants and gift shops.
PWCC aims to use its international reputation to attract supporters and organise custom-made rainforest experiences inside these incredible regions attracting new responsible travellers.
Therefore, promoting a sustainable tourism enhancing the well-being of local communities and making positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage.