Panama NGOs have called on the National Environmental Authority to repeal a resolution that threatens watersheds and allows large-scale projects such as hydroelectric dams to use up to 90% of the water in rivers, lakes and other ecosystems.
Panama City, Panama. Three Panamanian non-governmental organizations have presented a formal petition to Panama’s National Environmental Authority (ANAM), asking it to revoke a resolution that limits to 10% the environmental flow of all the rivers in Panama. The petition calls on the government to create a regulation for environmental flow that takes into account the environmental, human and cultural values of rivers. The NGOs also offer explanation of the importance of taking into account the specific characteristics of each ecosystem in terms of their ecology and their capacity to meet the needs of the people that depend on them. The NGOs also called for the public to be given the chance to participate in determining the environmental flow of rivers.
The NGOs that made the presentation are the Environmental Advocacy Center of Panama (CIAM), the Foundation for Integral Development and Conservation of Ecosystems in Panama (FUNDICCEP) and the Friends of La Amistad International Park (AMIPILA). They prepared the petition and the proposal for regulating environmental flow to protect the environment and human rights in collaboration with attorneys and scientists from the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW) and the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA).
"The existing regulation affects everyone in the country, especially communities in the province of Chiriqui and Veraguas, where a large number of hydroelectric dams have severely threatened rivers and water availability," said CIAM attorney Luisa Arauz. "Our petition explains how the current ecological flow resolution breaches national and international regulations by ignoring the needs of communities and requirements of the ecosystems."
Panama’s government has international obligations to protect water ecosystems and ensure the human rights of the people that depend on the water flow. "We presented a letter to ANAM highlighting the most relevant international obligations and case studies supporting the petition and the regulation proposal," said AIDA lawyer Haydée Rodríguez.
ELAW attorney Pedro León said, "The proposal will allow the ANAM to grant water-use permits and concessions based on the actual load capacity of water sources, making it possible to guarantee an effective protection of the human right to water and a healthy environment."
The petitioners asked ANAM to strengthen public participation in water management by convening a public consultation to discuss the proposal. The proposal calls for a classification of existing water resources based on their degree of use and by taking into account the biological characteristics and the human uses that rivers must satisfy. It also recommends the application of holistic methods to assess environmental flows in fresh water ecosystems to guarantee their adequate and sustainable use.
AIDA defends the individual and collective right to a healthy environment through the development, implementation, and enforcement of national and international law. "Freshwater Preservation" is one of our five areas of institutional focus. Clean water is a cornerstone of human and environmental health, and AIDA works to protect ecosystems that serve as vital freshwater resources for nearby communities and biodiversity.
