Project
Photo: Alejandro Balaguer / Fundación Albatros MediaVictory: Panama Bay is Legally Protected
Panama Bay, one of the world’s most important nesting and roosting sites for migratory birds, is now permanently protected, thanks in part to AIDA’s expertise in international law.
The bay supports endangered species, including jaguars and loggerhead turtles, as well as the vast majority of the country’s fishing industry. Its coastal mangroves capture 50 times more carbon pollution than a tropical forest of similar size. Mangroves also protect coastal communities from storm surges that grow in severity as the climate warms. Panama has already lost 75 percent of its mangroves.
In 2012 tourism developers had secured a Supreme Court decision overturning the National Environmental Authority’s decision to protect the bay as a wildlife refuge.
AIDA worked with the Environmental Advocacy Center (CIAM), a Panamanian environmental law organization, to defend Panama Bay’s protected status. We submitted a brief containing arguments based on international law. We made analogies between Panama Bay and Las Baulas National Marine Park in Costa Rica. In a legal case about Las Baulas, a balancing test found that the public right to a healthy environment outweighed the interests of tourism developers.
Then, on February 2, 2015—World Wetlands Day—Panama passed a law creating Panama Bay Wetland Wildlife Refuge. The law emphasizes the importance of an ecosystem approach to management and the rational use of wetlands, as described in the Ramsar Convention.
AIDA and CIAM will continue working to see that the law is implemented properly and to ensure the protection of Panama Bay wetlands.
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As people from 10 different countries who have been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, in addition to other environmental defenders, who are contributing to the protection of the environment and the struggle for life, who have come together today in Bogotá with colleagues from throughout our region, we express our solidarity with advocates and communities in Colombia and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean that are currently facing the highest level of risk for their work to protect life on Earth. Therefore, we call on governments, companies, financial institutions, investors, and entities to actively and effectively protect and respect the life and rights of advocates, those of their families, and their communities. We are aware of the serious human rights violations of vulnerable populations, especially of local communities and indigenous people, communities of African descent and farmers, which we face in Latin America and throughout the world. We demand an end to legal persecution and criminalization of our brothers and sisters who defend life and justice, and justice for those whose lives have been forcibly taken from them in this struggle. We hope that our work inspires many young people and others, whose work in turn inspires many more globally. We are convinced that, together, we can address the climate crisis—through collaborative work focused around knowledge and respect for the rights and diverse communities of the world. We call on humanity to stand in solidarity and act in accordance with the work of advocates, and to use peaceful means, art, and motherly love to continue achieving the transformation that the planet and humanity require to protect both people and life. We urge Colombia to continue promoting the dream of achieving peace between Colombians and nature. Turning the page on violence is the path for the next generations to inherit: a better Colombia, Latin America, Caribbean and world. Signatories Francia Márquez (Colombia) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2018 Bertha Zuñiga Cáceres (Honduras), daughter of Bertha Cáceres, Goldman Environmental Prize, 2015 Ruth Buendía (Peru), Goldman Environmental Prize, 2014 Nohra Padilla (Colombia) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2013 Sofía Gatica (Argentina) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2012 Francisco Pineda (El Salvador) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2011 Humbero Ríos Labrada (Cuba) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2010 Jesús León Santos (Mexico) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2008 María Elena Foronda Farro (Peru) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2003 Jean La Rose (Guyana) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2002 Elías Díaz Peña (Paraguay) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2000 Oscar Rivas (Paraguay) Goldman Environmental Prize, 2000 Jorge Varela (Honduras) Goldman Environmental Prize, 1999 Berito Kuwaruwa (Colombia) Goldman Environmental Prize, 1998 Juan Pablo Orrego (Chile) Goldman Environmental Prize, 1997 Evaristo Nugkuag (Peru) Goldman Environmental Prize, 1991 Stiefen Petrust (Suriname) Eliana Torrico Tejada (Bolivia) Danielle Duarte Gomes (Brazil) Antonia Melo Da Silva (Brazil) Liliana Ávila (Colombia) Juana Hofman (Colombia) Javier Ibarraga Ospina (Colombia) Alix Mancilla (Colombia) Blanca Inés Pérez (Colombia) Rosa Peña (Colombia) Astrid Puentes Riaño (Colombia, Mexico) Andrea Cerami (Mexico) Jorge García Lucas (Guatemala) Severina Morales Pérez (Guatemala) Joaquín Raymundo González (Guatemala) Jovita Tzul (Guatemala) Julián López (Mexico) Marcelina López (Mexico) Leydy Aracely Pech Martín (Mexico) Elena Villafuerte (Mexico) Liliana Caruhuaz (Peru) Eddy Peña (Peru) Katherine Sánchez (Peru)
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