TF002 IAI

Community visions for a sustainable Darién: aiming for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the Balsas River basin in Panama (TF-002)

Principal Investigator (PI): Helene Muller-Landau, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá,

E-mail: mullerh@si.edu 

Co IP: Juan Carlos Villarreal A., Université Laval, Canada

E-mail: jcvil9@ulaval.ca 

Duration and amount: 

June 2025 – June 2026 USD 10,000 

Co-funding: 

SENACYT Panama USD 20,000

Participating countries:  

Panama, Canada

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

In the Chocó-Darién ecoregion, one of the 25 most biodiverse regions on the planet, growing integration into the market economy is threatening ancient forests. This proposal focuses on the Balsas River basin, located in the province of Darién, Republic of Panama. The upper part of the Balsas is inhabited by the Emberá, while the lower part of the river is inhabited mainly by Afro-Darienitas, Emberá, and peasants from the central provinces of Panama. The contrast between the two parts of the basin is striking: the lower part is dominated by wetlands and shows a greater impact from deforestation, livestock farming, and logging. In contrast, the upper part of the Emberá territory, which was incorporated into the Darién National Park (1981), protects 125,000 hectares of intact forests with large carbon reserves that provide an important ecosystem service of climate regulation. Local needs and the vision of the ecosystem in the context of global biodiversity, climate change, and social problems (such as drugs and migrants) are not well understood in the region. Our project, “Community Visions for a Sustainable Darién: Aiming for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Balsas River Basin in Panama,” seeks to learn from these two regions in order to define a joint work agenda for forest conservation and sustainable development in the Balsas River communities, discovering local needs and viable socioeconomic alternatives for local communities. In the long term, we hope to support the development of local governance plans in the communities of the basin to ensure forest conservation, sustainable agriculture and livestock farming, as well as cultural survival and food security.

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