(Panama Digest) A National Environmental Authority report indicates that Panama has lost two percent of its forest cover in the last decade.
If the math is correct and Panama proceeds to lose its trees at a similar rate, all of the forest could be eliminated in just 500 years.
Carlos Gomez, a forest engineer with the Authority says that nearly 5 million acres have been deforested and only 185,000 replanted.
Most of the country’s trees are located in the provinces of Darien, Panama and Bocas del Toro, as well as in the reserve of the Embera indians. The Los Santos, Herrera, and Cocle provinces, as well as the Ngöbe Bugle Shire, are the most deforested, mostly due to farming and cattle-ranching activities.
Forest loss results in the loss of biodiversity, erosion and affects the quality of water resources.
Deforestation in Panama / PHOTO Dirk van der Made