New bicycle route opens in Soberanía National Park
Panama City, Panama . April 27, 2009:-The National Environmental Authority (ANAM, per its acronym in Spanish) and the Biker’s Off-Road Association (BOA) with USAID support conducted a test run of the bicycle route opened between the Soberanía and Camino de Cruces national parks with the objective of diversifying the sustainable uses of the resources of the park and provide recreational opportunities in natural surroundings.
Sustainable Tourism Guide Launched
Panama City, Panama . April 24, 2009: -With the support of USAID, three environmental NGOs launched the Sustainable Tourism Guide of Panama, with the objective of promoting best practices that contribute to the sustainability of the resources as a basis for the tourism activity of Panama. Tourism operators, environmental NGOs, members of communities that offer tourism, and tourism promoters among others, attended the event.
USAID promotes the use of appropriate technologies and natural resources conservation on vegetable farms
Boqueron Abajo, Panama-April 22, 2009- The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Conservation of Biodiversity Activity in the Panama Canal Watershed is implementing technological innovations in five pilot farms located in the communities of Salamanca, Boquerón, and Santa Librada in the Panama Canal Watershed.
One of the pilot farms is that of Mr. Narvay Hernández, located in the Boquerón Abajo community, where visitors can observe production of 31 different vegetables, the application of mini-irrigation with water savings, various methods of conservation of soils and the use of organic fertilizers.
USAID coordinates these actions with the National Environmental Authority, the Panama Canal Authority, the Institute of Agricultural Research of Panama, and the Ministry of Agricultural Development. Pilot farms were strategically selected in order to maximize the dissemination of the new practices to other farms in the Panama Canal Watershed.
Communities in the Río Boquerón, Chagres National Park Promote Sustainable Recreational Activities
Chagres National Park . April 15, 2009-The Visitors Services Project for the Boquerón River, located in the Chagres National Park, continues to progress with great determination. This past Holy Week, when many visitors came to the area to spend a pleasant time with the family and enjoy the attractions, was a prime example of how well the communities are managing visitors. Each visitor to the river site now receives Behavior Guidelines and Visitor’s Best Practices, developed to make visitors aware of what is allowed and not allowed at the site, the locations of specific attractions, and those activities authorized by law in the Chagres National Park.
With this information, guidance, and services provided by participating communities, visitors enjoyed a better stay and followed guidelines that are helping prevent water pollution and encouraging greater conservation of the natural resources in Chagres National Park. The “Visitor Services Project in the Río Boquerón, Chagres National Park,” sponsored by the USAID/Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Fund, has been implemented since March 2008 by a community based organization called the Association for the Shared Management of the Chagres National Park (ACOCHA, in Spanish). The project has promoted a co-management model with community participation that supports actions to reduce the environmental footprint left by visitors and tourists to the river site.
USAID/CBC INTRODUCES TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY BUSINESS
Gatún River-Panama . March 27, 2009. In the midst of the natural surroundings of the Ella Drua indigenous community on the Gatún River, USAID/CBC held a workshop seminar on Technological Innovations for Environmentally Friendly Businesses.
Fifty-two new rural entrepreneurs, 36 of them women, attended the event where experts in computers and information systems presented and demonstrated cutting edge uses of the Internet and how these innovations can be applied to the participants' small businesses.
As part of its strategy for technological innovation USAID/CBC has promoted alliances with Dell-Panama and the international non-governmental organization NETHOPE, which donated computers to four indigenous communities to reinforce their promising ecotourism businesses.