Audubon fighting to protect Panama Bay wetlands

Panama’s renowned Audubon  Society has stepped to the fore in what could be a high profile battle, as yet one more protected  natural area of Panama faces “development” This is what  they say:

Last week the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court provisionally removed the protected status of the Bay of Panama Wetlands. This was in response to a lawsuit against ANAM claiming that it had no right to place the wetlands in the protected area system without first consulting with the local people. 

 At the end of last year, the Supreme Court, in an almost identical case, had found that ANAM did not need public consultation to declare a protected area. Because of this precedent, no one expected that another lawsuit currently before the court would succeed.

But unknown to everyone, there was an additional lawsuit asking to have the protection removed, apparently basing the suit on a law dating back to 1943. Two of three judges ruled in favor of the plaintiff and as a result, the Bay of Panama Wetlands has no status as a protected area.  There are still laws against destroying mangroves and the site it is also protected under the international treaty of the Ramsar Convention, but these protections are often ignored.
As Panama Audubon Society (PAS) has been preaching for several years, mangroves and the wetlands behind them help filter out pollutants from urban and agricultural runoff, are nursery areas for most of Panama’s commercially valuable fish and shrimp, help support large populations of migratory shorebirds, and sequester more carbon than equivalent areas of upland forest.
Close to the city, low lying areas behind the mangroves, and even some mangroves that formerly served as catchments for flood water from storms have been filled for development over the past few years and this process has accelerated recently.

 In the last week several sections of the city were flooded from heavy rain and the Municipal Engineer attributed this to filling in of some of these low lying areas, including some mangroves that had been illegally filled without an environmental impact statement. Many people in the city are concerned that the removal of protection for the mangroves will lead to more filling and possibly more floods, in particular flooding of the runways of the international airport.
On Friday, about 15 people from several conservation NGOs met to plan the response to the removal of protection. . PAS has set up a Facebook page 'Salvemos la Bahía de Panamá' with the latest news and relevant information.
PAS will be working with our local and international allies to organize opposition to this decision. …If you have any good ideas for helping us save the Bay of Panama wetlands, please let us know. 

info@audubonpanama.org /audubon@audubonpanama.org?
Facebook: Sociedad Audubon de Panamá?                     
                     Salvemos la Bahía de Panamá