Steps to maintain Panama's watersheds
INTRODUCTION
The most important hydrographic basin in Panama is the Canal Hydrographic Basin. For this reason, the study of actions to maintain hydrographic basins has been based on the analysis of the current situation and actions that are being taken to maintain the most important river basin in the country.
The Canal Basin is vital for Panama, both for the water it supplies to its most populated areas and for the transit of ships through the Canal.
Just as we take care of our personal health with periodic medical examinations, Panama must safeguard the health of its most important watershed. It should be possible to better understand the state of the natural resources of the Basin, the processes that alter it and obtain vital information to guide the decisions taken to manage it.
The Hydrographic Basin of the Panama Canal comprises the territory that captures, stores and supplies the water that makes possible the operation of the interoceanic route and the supply of the main cities and populated centers, in which half of the country's inhabitants are concentrated..
Guaranteeing the quantity and quality of water in this Basin is vital for the economic, social and environmental well-being of Panamanians.
GENERAL OBJECTIVE OF THE INVESTIGATION
Determine the current situation of the Panama Canal Watershed and the measures and actions that are being taken and that must be taken to maintain it in the 21st century.
METHODOLOGY
The final elaboration of this work was carried out by searching for documentation in ANAM and SMITHSONIAN as base information. To complement it and to be able to establish judgments, current problems and final conclusions, press articles published during 2001 in the newspaper La Prensa, related to the main hydrographic basin of Panama: The Canal Basin, were consulted.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:
Man's interest in the environment and the problems that surround it is not recent, but goes back many centuries, from Rome where the first vestiges of environmental law appeared. However, in the second half of this century, a special emphasis has been placed on the environmental issue.
Currently, there are international and regional conventions on biodiversity, climate change, forest management and conservation, and the prohibition of the importation and trafficking of toxic waste.
The management of the environment, although it is a function of the public administration, cannot have the desired success, if it is not complemented with the action of citizens, and even, at a time when there is talk of the reduction of the state, the organizations of the Civil society and local powers have in a subsidiary way to replace the State in many of its functions.
Due to the predominance of tropical climates, Panama has considerable water resources. It has about 350 rivers.
All this potential is affected by deforestation and inappropriate land use, which causes erosion.
The legal protection of the water resource is found in our legislation in the constitutional, legal and regulatory fields.
A basin can be defined as a territory or geographic area in which water falls by precipitation, runs off and joins to form a main course or body of water. In other words, a basin is a geographic area where the water that falls in that area, due to rain and other sources, infiltrates the ground or runs along the surface, reaching a common body of water that can be a main river, lake, lagoon, estuary and others.
A basin is made up of five basic components: the physical, biological, demographic, cultural and economic component:
Physical component: Represents the existing natural resources in the basin, among them we can mention: location, surface, relief, formation of natural resources, climate, water, soils, erosion, sedimentation and others.
Biological component: It refers to the existing wildlife resources in the basin, among them we can mention: nature, vegetation, coverage of tree characteristics, life zones, wildlife, flora and aquatic resources.
Demographic component: It refers to the characteristics of the human communities that inhabit the basin or that are located in the areas of influence; Among the main elements of this component are: size and distribution of the population, population growth, classification by age, sex and occupation, economically active population and others.
Cultural Component: Refers to the skill level of the communities. Among its main elements we can point out: knowledge, beliefs, norms and patterns of conduct, state and political system, educational institutions, coordination institutions.
Economic component: It refers to the productive activities carried out by the communities of the basin, its main indicators are: land use, production and consumption system, employment and occupation, land tenure, credit and marketing.
A basin is important for the environment because in its forests they produce oxygen, purify the air we breathe and also keep the local climate pleasant and stable. It is where the water reserve that maintains the flow of rivers, lakes and provides food for fish and birds is collected and remains. In relation to the progress of a country, the importance of a basin lies in the fact that it constitutes an appropriate territorial unit for the planning of economic-sustainable development; in other words, a new style of development through the rational use of natural resources and guarantees the well-being of future generations. This provides the opportunity to carry out comprehensive actions for the protection and good use of resources.
The Panama Canal Basin is located in the central part of the provinces of Panama and Colon. It is the most important basin in the country, since the multiple use of its waters favors the operation of the Panama Canal, which is the backbone of the country's economy, and supplies drinking water to the main cities of the country.
The Canal Basin, according to the Canal Commission technicians, occupies 330,000 hectares including Gatún and Alhajuela lakes. There are also 6 priority sub-basins located as follows: to the east of the basin, the sub-basins of the Chagres, Boquerón and Pequení rivers. On the other side, to the west, are the Gatún, Trinidad and Cirí Grande rivers.
You can find many important rivers: the Chagres, Pequení and Boquerón, which feed Lake Alhajuela, in addition to the Gatún, Cirí Grande and Trinidad rivers, which feed Lake Gatún.
The Basin is an important biological shelter for thousands of animal and plant species, which constitute a large part of the biological wealth of Panama. It serves as a habitat for many tropical ecosystems that have survived deforestation and human impact.
The number of plants found in the Canal Basin is 2,587 different species, which represents 35% of the flora known in the country. 146 of the 1,200 autochthonous plant species reported for the country are also found in the area.
There are currently 114 threatened plant species in the Canal Basin, 10 in danger of extinction, 18 rare and 24 vulnerable.
With regard to fauna, there are 70 species of amphibians, 112 species of reptiles, 546 species of birds and 160 species of mammals in the Basin. It is estimated that 30 of the mammalian species listed nationally as in danger of extinction are found in the Basin.
The Population of the Basin is estimated at 134,000 inhabitants. 43% of the total area of the Basin is destined to national parks and protected areas; 35% is occupied by agricultural operations, 12.3% is occupied by human settlements and other uses, and 10% is water.
IMPORTANCE OF THE BASIN:
1. For the Panama Canal:
a) Its vegetation cover, made up of forests, parks and plants of all species, acts as a large regulating sponge of the volume of water necessary that goes down to the Canal for its optimal functioning.
b) Within it is where the water required for its daily operation is collected and stored, 365 days a year.
c) Each ship that passes through the locks requires approximately 52 million gallons of water to make the journey. There are an average of 35 ships that pass through these locks daily, which means that an average of 1,820 million gallons of water is required per day. The figures become difficult to express when they are calculated for a year, since it is an approximate total of 664.3 billion gallons of water that it uses annually.
d) It is essential for the operation of the channel. If it were destroyed, the lower part of it would be flooded periodically, the hydroelectric dams would stop working due to the sedimentation that occurs in the soil, agricultural production would decrease, the flow of rivers would decrease and therefore aquatic life would disappear, forests would disappear and the fauna loses its habitat.
In conclusion, simply and simply the Panama Canal would lose its viability, it would not exist, because there would be no regulation of the amount of water necessary to feed it and make it work. The repercussions would be global in scope, since the Panama Canal is the hub of world trade; The international and national economy would be affected, which would generate problems of a political, social, cultural, environmental, physical and other nature in Panama. In addition, the production of electricity and drinking water would be affected for the cities of Panama and Colón, which is where approximately half of the national population is concentrated.
2. For the residents of the Basin:
a) Guarantees the supply of drinking water for the cities of Panama and Colón.
b) The Madden dam thermoelectric plant is located in the continuation of the Chagres River when it flows from the Alhajuela Lake to the Canal. This generates a significant portion of the electrical energy used for the operation of the Canal, as well as part of the electricity for the inhabitants of the Basin, in addition to those of the cities of Panama and Colón.
c) The basin offers the space, site and raw material for the development of a large number of productive, industrial, agricultural, livestock and fishing activities in the area.
HUMAN ACTIVITIES THAT CAUSE AN IMPACT IN THE BASIN
Agriculture and livestock are the activities that cause the greatest impact, followed by population growth (peasant migration), industrialization and mining.
Agriculture and Livestock
• Agricultural activity pollutes the soil, water, and air, due to the use of agrochemicals.
• Livestock activity induces the indiscriminate felling of many hectares of forests to be used in the creation of pastures.
• Inappropriate use of land and deforestation produced by the conversion of forested lands to areas for agricultural and livestock use.
• 34% of the land in the Canal Basin is used for extensive cattle ranching with an additional 6% for urban development.
Poultry and swine activities
• This activity generates a large amount of organic waste that reaches rivers and streams quickly.
Construction sector
• This activity pollutes the soil and water due to the various types of waste (solid and aqueous) generated by both industries and neighborhoods.
Logging
• Causes erosion, sedimentation, loss or migration of fauna and floods. Burning is a clear example of how soil exposure pollutes the air, loss of species of fauna and flora.
Population
• Research indicates that between 1980 and 1990 there was an approximate increase of 154 new communities, with a population increase of 36,000 inhabitants.
• Growth of towns that destroy the remaining forests and national parks within the Basin, by seeking new areas for their development.
• The disorderly style of development of human settlements and their respective activities.
• Launch of sewage and garbage from communities and urbanizations established in the area, causing widespread contamination of rivers, streams and sectors of the Gatún, Alhajuela and Miraflores lakes.
• Housing projects and changes in the topography of the land that produce contamination by erosion and sedimentation.
• Growth of towns that destroy the remaining forests and national parks within the Basin, by seeking more areas for their development.
IMPACTS CAUSED BY THESE ACTIVITIES
Agriculture and Livestock
• Soil erosion due to poor cultivation practice
• Soil erosion and decreased water absorption capacity, loss of diversity of plant and animal species.
• Livestock degrades and compacts soils, obstructing water infiltration and increasing runoff, which causes soil erosion, which subsequently sediments in lakes.
• Excess waste caused by poultry and swine activities can lead to excessive growth of aquatic plants and even the nutritional enrichment of lakes, which could make navigation through the Canal difficult.
• Agricultural colonization has almost totally replaced the original forest vegetation, which causes sedimentation problems in the lakes and contamination of their waters due to erosion and chemical use of the soil.
• The felling of forests causes erosion, sedimentation, loss or migration of fauna and floods. Burning is a clear example of how the exposure of bare soil can cause the loss of nutrients and microorganisms from the soil, pollutes the air, as well as the loss of species of fauna and flora.
• Pollution of water courses caused by deforestation, erosion and sedimentation.
• Deforestation, erosion, sedimentation and pollution constitute the most critical environmental problems of the Canal Basin. These environmental problems have a direct and short-term impact on the Basin area.
Population
• The human being, like the industry, generates a large amount of organic and inorganic waste that affects the quality of the water in rivers and streams, which can even kill species, animals and plants, important to the ecosystem. It is also important to mention the solid particles that cause air pollution, particles generated by industries such as cement.
• Increase in economic activities that affect the quality and availability of water.
• The decrease and changes of the natural inhabitants which diminish and endanger the existence of wild species.
Industries and Chemicals
• Gradual process of contamination of the waterway, product of the accumulation of organic waste and spills of hydrocarbons and dangerous substances.
• Accelerated contamination of soil and water with agrochemicals due to the development of agricultural activities.
BACKGROUND AND CURRENT SITUATION
MONITORING PROJECT OF THE CANAL BASIN –2000
In 1991 and to protect the watershed of the Panama Canal, the governments of Panama and the United States signed a grant agreement for a natural resource management project called MARENA. One of its objectives was to establish a monitoring system that would consolidate the capacity of the then National Institute of Renewable Natural Resources (INREARE) –now ANAM- to monitor them permanently. This system would serve as a means to facilitate the making of the best decisions for the sustainable management of the region.
In mid-1995, the director of USAID in Panama requested STRI to formulate an environmental monitoring project for the canal basin and technical and scientific strengthening of INRENARE. Several STRI scientists developed the outline for this study, which was called the Panama Canal Watershed Natural Resources Monitoring Project, better known by its acronym PMCC.
The PMCC was formally started in March 1996. This project was carried out during a period of great fluctuations. It was hoped that using methodologies from both natural and social sciences, they would allow forging an integrated vision on the environmental impact of development in this basin and at the same time offer clear recommendations for the best use of natural resources.
This project was carried out during a period of great climatic fluctuations. Originally it was supposed to last 2.5 years, its closing date being June 1998. However, the value of the information gathered motivated the participating institutions to extend it until December 1999. Likewise, to take the first steps to ensure its continuation more beyond 2000, to serve as an instrument for the better management of the natural resources of this ecosystem.
The program came to an end in late January 2001.
Two clear lines emerge from the concept of monitoring:
1. The Surveillance of Environmental Quality and the State of Biodiversity.
2. Monitoring of Actions in the Basin.
This last line is still pending implementation.
For its realization, the following indicators were studied:
• Biological integrity index (IBI): Biological integrity is the ability to support and maintain a balanced, integrated and adapted community of organisms that have a species composition and functional organization comparable to those of the natural habitat of the region. To assess biological integrity, an index that examines a multitude of biological attributes (metrics) known as the Biological Integrity Index has been used.
• Physical Integrity Index (IFI): The Conservation Physical Diagnosis is a method developed by the Inter-American Center for Environmental and Territorial Development and Research (SIDITA) - Mérida, Venezuela, through which different physical parameters of a basin or sub-basin are evaluated, in order to estimate the critical value of the erosive factor, indicative of its state or condition with respect to that parameter. By means of this, the Physical Integrity Index is determined, which provides a comparative quantitative evaluation of the environmental health of the basin or sub-basin under study.
• Anthropogenic Intervention Analysis: The Anthropogenic Intervention Diagnosis on natural resources is a method developed by the PMCC by means of which different parameters of human intervention of a basin or sub-basin and their effect on natural resources, water, vegetation, soil and human health itself, in order to determine its levels of deterioration. The Anthropogenic Intervention Index is an indicator derived from the method that weighs and correlates the different parameters of the anthropogenic diagnosis, qualifying the impact of human intervention on the natural resources of a basin, sub-basin or micro-basin.
General Diagnosis Obtained from the Canal Watershed Monitoring Project
The ecological conditions of the basin are such that they represent a great wealth of natural resources in good condition.
1. The flora of the basin has a good part of the biodiversity of Panama with 26% of the species represented.
2. Likewise, the fauna, among which birds, amphibians and reptiles stand out, is representative of the great natural wealth of the country.
3. Regarding edaphological resources, soils with agricultural suitability are relatively scarce, with only 19% among those of categories II, III, IV and IV that are the classes recognized by the US Department of Agiculture, that have the aptitude for agricultural activity. Most of the soils, due to their morphology and taxonomy, are indicated for conservation and agrosilvopastoral management.
4. Water, the most exploited economic wealth in the basin and the engine of Canal activities, presents an abundant supply due to the high rainfall in the area and the system developed to exploit it.
5. The basin lacks the environmental threats that plague other regions such as hurricanes and earthquakes.
All the characteristics make it a unique basin in the world, where sustainable exploitation has been combined through the operation of the interoceanic road, with great potential in terms of the use of natural heritage, based on an integrated and consistent management.
Negative aspects:
1. Anthropogenic actions of concern: industrial development, timber extraction, urbanization, commercial activities, and mining, all occur effectively, on a certain scale; More than 150,000 people live in the region, whose way of life represents, in one way or another, pressure and threat on the environmental health of the basin.
2. The area of the eastern region of the basin has 48% of remaining forest cover, the rest being used in extensive uses (pastures), mainly livestock. The estimated deforestation rate is 1.5% annual equivalent, between the years 70 and 98.
3. Regarding pollution, the conditions are not critical at a macro level since the quality of the waters of the Gatún and Alhajuela lakes is adequate for the operation of the supply plants that use it and also support a wide variety of aquatic ecosystems. and wealth. However, there are worrisome threats that result from the generation of contamination in critical areas of human intervention, mainly the Trans-isthmian Corridor, where the existence of sources of contamination derived from discharges of untreated water from human establishments, industries, and garbage and agricultural activities. There are micro-basins that show high levels of contamination in terms of organic load and coliforms. The exposure and use of this water by communities settled along the watercourses,it is a matter of great concern.
Protection and Mitigation Measures
1. The authorities involved in the protection of the Basin, mainly ACP and ANAM, have established institutional protection measures for some time: creation of protected areas, establishment of water quality standards, community programs for solid waste management, among others.. To this end, they have had the support of multi and bilateral financing agencies - as in the case of the PMCC - among which are USAID, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, the International Cooperation Agency of Japan. (JICA), to name some of the most committed to environmental work.
2. In the last five years, with the promulgation of Laws 21 (Regional Plan), 41 (ANAM) and 19 (ACP), an important legal step has been taken to establish the essential legal and regulatory framework. The recent creation of the Interinstitutional Commission of the Canal Basin (CICH) represents a very important step in terms of interinstitutional coordination.
3. There are management plans, at different levels of development, designed to control and mitigate the verified threats. What is required immediately is that these plans be integrated in order to make efficient use of available economic resources and make the population aware of the importance of the role it plays in this context.
4. The communities of the basin, most of them with economic dynamics that are under pressure on natural resources, require incentives to develop environmentally friendly activities. A realistic territorial and ecological planning, the ability to effectively enforce laws and environmental education are key elements in this regard.
5. A Monitoring Program is absolutely essential for the integrated management of the region. Only through the clear perception of the daily actions that represent environmental threats can a synergistic effort be structured that provides a framework of sustainability for the Canal Basin.
Recommendations emanating from the Canal Watershed Monitoring Project:
From biological integrity studies:
a) Execution of a biannual monitoring associated with this indicator, necessary to establish and monitor the degree of deterioration or recovery of the quality of the environment according to a decision-making process.
b) Prioritize the sub-basins and micro-basins of greatest interest in terms of their state of contamination.
c) Designate those who can prepare the basic information for analysis, determining missing data and needs for elaborated information.
d) Disseminate and discuss the results at the inter-institutional level, using the CICH as a convening and dissemination agent.
From Physical Integrity Studies and Hydrological Studies
a) Carry out the IFI evaluation once every five years, since its application is linked to the interpretation of satellite images that reflect appreciable changes in land use between periods.
b) Maintain a periodic program for updating the data used in determining the IFI.
c) Carry out research work on the physical characteristics of soils, in order to have a better understanding of the erosive process that affects them, as well as the different conservation practices necessary to protect them.
d) To reduce the areas affected by erosion, it is necessary to protect and adequately manage the vegetation cover, as well as to organize the productive processes, agricultural and livestock practices in a sustainable way.
e) Execute a program to relocate the meteorological stations to correct the current deficiencies in terms of their inadequate horizontal and vertical distribution, since 20 or 30 stations are below 100 meters above sea level and are concentrated in the vicinity of the Canal.
f) Extend the limits of the Altos de Campana National Park to the west, to include Cerro Negro. This action would protect part of the headwaters of the Cirí Grande and Trinidad rivers, important tributaries of Lake Gatún.
g) It is considered advisable to continue with the studies of the Agua Salud river sub-basin, since it has the equipment required to carry out detailed and precise hydrological studies, which will allow adjusting the criteria on the hydrological response according to the degree of intervention of the basins.
From the analysis of Anthropogenesis
a) Every 10 years a demographic and socioeconomic study of the Canal Basin should be carried out by township and sub-basin, updating the data and identifying the areas of expulsion and concentration of the population and their living conditions.
b) It is necessary to carry out a stricter control of the drainage of the poultry and swine establishments in the Basin since they are presumably responsible for the contamination of the waters of the Trans-isthmic Corridor region. The measures adopted in this regard should include a monitoring mechanism for farm discharges.
c) The association between health and water quality, in a region of high dependence on surface waters such as the area of influence of the Trans-isthmic Corridor reinforces the need for an urgent response in this regard. Urban infrastructure works such as waste collection, treatment and disposal, sewage treatment plants, and emission control devices should be implemented in industrial plants that contribute to mitigating the impacts of the main anthropogenic activities of environmental deterioration.
d) Specific studies should be carried out on the water resources of the study region, incorporating hydrological and quality modeling, as a starting point for the adequate planning and management of the sub-basins. Within this line, it is recommended to develop an investigation on point sources of pollution from industrial and agro-industrial activities, to determine the respective responsibilities, and characterize the polluting loads from non-point sources, in particular livestock and human settlements.
e) It is important to delimit a buffer area and develop a management plan that protects the Filo de Santa Rita area.
f) It is necessary to increase the area of gallery forests along the courses of the Gatún and Aguas Claras rivers in order to reduce the effects of erosion and sedimentation on these rivers because their banks have very steep slopes and the Riparian areas are used for grazing animals. Gallery forests also contribute to the absorption of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) that would otherwise reach the riverbeds.
g) In terms of health, it would be important that the morbidity records be made by place of town to establish more precisely the relationship between that and the environmental situation.
h) Inter-institutional coordination activities for the main state agencies and stakeholders in the basin should be systematized and strengthened through the CICH.
i) It is necessary to generate awareness programs and community training on environmental health and quality of life and awaken interest in cooperation in environmental monitoring and incorporate the community (schools, NGOs and other related organizations) to carry out simple tasks of all data to facilitate greater coverage and distribution of samples.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
All these recommendations obtained from a project in which a large amount of resources have been invested are extremely important, so they should be implemented immediately and not only in a report, and above all, carry out the measures of control and monitoring necessary for its maintenance.
The current basin can produce enough water to run the Canal and the third set of locks for the next 100 years, but it must be conserved and maintained at its natural efficiency. For this, the following measures should be taken: stop deforestation and promote reforestation with native species; prohibit reforestation, within the Canal basin, with Teak, Tectona grandis and Pine, Pinus caribaea, alien species that promote soil erosion. There are hundreds of native species that can be used in mixed plantation systems, which is the closest there is to our native forests.
ANAM should facilitate reforestation projects as much as possible and eliminate the complicated technical-bureaucratic procedures and service charges that currently exist and that discourage many interested parties. This has been denounced by the Forestry Chamber recently.
Situations are not justified such as that during the rainy season last year in the Canal basin it rained for two or three days in a row, and the erosion was so great that the channel of the Canal was filled with logs, shrubs and other floating garbage, to the point that it was considered to close the road temporarily. The spillways of the Alajuela and Gatún Lakes also had to be opened, since the water levels reached their maximum.
Agro-industrial activities or projects that contaminate the basin should be prohibited. It is inexplicable, for example, that the ANAM and the ACP (and the MINSA) have approved, after a few months after the Americans left, the construction and operation of one of the largest pig farms in the country in the middle of the Canal basin. a short distance from La Arenosa, in Panama Oeste. With about 20 thousand pigs, this pigsty has its natural drainage in a river that goes to La Laguna de las Mendoza, where the new aqueduct of the Briwater de Panamá Oeste is located. As if this were not enough and in front of everyone, next to the Pan-American Highway, at the entrance to Arraiján, these same authorities approved the construction of a shopping center that meant the destruction of a native forest area of the Canal basin.,including the destruction of the Perico River basin, which flows into the Canal itself. It was an impossible environmental impact study, but it was approved despite the opposition of many experts.
In a developed country (economically and mentally), the project would have already been closed, sanctioning the officials responsible for having approved it, and imposed a millionaire fine on the company.
The environmental and health security of the people is worth a thousand times more than the legal security of any company. In addition, the Canal's water is being polluted, and the basin is deteriorating.
Although it is true that ANAM is responsible for ensuring the resources to guarantee the ecological and environmental stability of the sources, or the raw material and initial part of the chain, the institution should not be left without economic and technical support to strengthen and guarantee the integral management of the hydrographic basins that will supply raw water to the water treatment plants.
This is of vital importance in these moments of serious environmental problems in the Canal's hydrographic basin, related to deforestation, erosion, sedimentation and domestic and industrial pollution, added to the significant growth of the population in the metropolitan region, which houses in its territory is about 48% of the total population of the country and which, according to estimates by specialized population organizations, will continue to be concentrated in the metropolitan area.
It is known that the drinking water consumed almost entirely in the metropolitan region comes from surface waters from the Chagres River and its tributaries, stored in Lake Alajuela, which indicates the high level of pressure and demand for water in the next years.
We believe that financial and technical problems can be solved with political will, availability of financial resources and efficient administrative management of them. However, the problem of the availability of water sources will depend on a well carried out program of conservation and environmental management of the hydrographic basins.
The State must be able to guarantee the environmental stability of water sources so that they become safe and sustainable sources of supply.
GLOSSARY
ACP: Panama Canal Authority.
Agrosilvopastoral: Compound word: Agro: Extensive and fenced land, intended for cultivation. Silvo: From the Jungle, Silvestre. Pastoril: Own or characteristic of shepherds.
ANAM: National Environmental Authority
Anthropogenic: Pertaining to or related to anthropogenesis. Evolution and development of man.
Biodiversity: Variety of animal and plant species in their environment.
Canalera: Canal. Water that falls through it when it rains.
CICH: Interinstitutional Commission of the Canal Basin
Basin: Territory whose waters all flow into the same river, lake or sea
Deforestation: Action and effect of deforesting. Stripping a land of forest plants.
Edaphological: Belonging to or related to edaphology. Science that aims to study the soil, in its relationship with plants.
Hydrological: Pertaining to or related to hydrology. Part of the natural sciences that deals with waters.
Indicators: That indicates or serves to indicate.
Interinstitutional: Word composed of: a) Inter: Means between or in the middle. b) Institutional: Belonging to the institution or concerning it.
Interoceanic: Word composed of: a) Inter: Means between or in the middle. b) Oceanic: Pertaining to the ocean or concerning it.
Microbasin: Word composed of: a) Micro: Prefix that means small. b) Basin: Territory whose waters all flow into the same river, lake or sea.
Mitigation: Action and effect of mitigating. Moderate, appease, diminish or smooth something harsh or harsh.
Monitoring: Observe and / or supervise a given situation.
Morphology: Part of biology that deals with the shape of organic beings and the modifications or transformations they undergo.
Oscillations: Oscillation. Oscillate Action. Increase and decrease alternately, with more or less regularity, the intensity of some things.
Rainfall: Amount of rainfall that a site receives in a given period of time.
PMCC: Canal Watershed Monitoring Project.
Reforestation: Action and effect of reforesting. Repopulate a land with forest plants.
STRI: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Sub-basin: Basin immersed in another or below it. Secondary basin included in a larger one.
Taxonomy: Science dealing with the principles, methods, and purposes of classification. It is applied in particular, within biology, for the hierarchical and systematic ordering, with their names, of groups of animals and plants.
USAID: United States Agency for International Development.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SOPENA UNIVERSAL ENCYCLOPEDIA. Illustrated Dictionary of the Spanish Language. 10 vols. Barcelona. Editorial Ramón Sopena SA, 1972.
SMITHSONIAN INSITUTE OF TROPICAL RESEARCH. The Canal Basin: deforestation, urbanization and pollution. Monitoring Project of the Panama Canal Watershed. Executive Summary of the Final Report. Editors: Stanley Heckadom-Moreno, Roberto Ibáñez and Richard Condit., 1999.
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE GUIDANCE ASSOCIATION OF PANAMA.
Manual of Environmental Legislation of Panama, December 1996.
TYLER, Miller Jr. Ecology and Environment. Mexico. Grupo Editorial Iberoamérica, 1992. Second Edition.
ODUM, EP Fundamentals of Ecology. Mexico. Editorial Interamericana, 1986.
MORENO, Roberto. The Panama Canal in the 21st century is everyone's responsibility. Panama. s.edt, 1999.
INDEX
1. Introduction
2. General objective of the research
3. Methodology
4. Theoretical framework
5. Background and current situation
6. Conclusions and recommendations
7. Glossary
8. Bibliography
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