Panama Must Protect
Canal Basin
Panama must protect its
5,527square km
rainforests and its two
artificial lakes to
ensure Panama Canal's
future as a transit
point for the world, the
director general of the
National Competitiveness
Center told a Wednesday
conference.
"One of the dilemmas we
have at present is how
to incorporate other
development areas, on
the Atlantic coast just
as much as the Pacific,
without attacking the
rich biodiversity on
both sides of the
Canal," said the
director, Nicolas Ardito
Barletta, during the
Panama Development and
the Sustainable Use of
Marine and Coastal
Resources conference.
Both environmentalists
and Canal authorities
are worried about the
Panama City's sprawling
development, which has
reached the banks of the
Canal.
"We must find a balance
between urban
development, tourism and
trade without attacking
the ecological balance
around the inter-ocean
channel, which plays
host to three percent of
world trade," he told
the conference.
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