New plan to manage Camino de Cruces National Park

The Camino de Cruces National Park, in Ancón, with over 4,000 hectares of primary forests, which holds some of the stone paths dating back to colonial times is one of the basic pillars for the functioning and conservation of the Canal watershed and a new management plan is being developed to safeguard the heritage.

Since it was created in 1992  it has been disappearing to make way for private and state construction projects  There are currently a series of problems and shortcomings, which generate direct and indirect threats to the natural and cultural resources of the protected area says a La Prensa report.

its management plan expired in 2010 which has allowed construction of projects on the site, such as the City of Health of the Social Security Fund, the third transmission line of the Transmisión Eléctrica, SA (Etesa) or Merca Panama, of the state company National Markets of the Cold Chain.

There are private sector quarries landfills or real estate projects inside or in the buffer zone of the reserve.

The Ministry of Environment and Etesa have tendered a $65,000  consultancy to update the management plan of the park. The new plan must be in harmony with the realities that exist in the site, the incorporation of new limits, the development of roads that cross the area, as well as facilitating the participation of the different actors in the protected area – authorities, environmentalists, and residents, among others.

In addition, the plan would involve the elaboration of an “order” of extractive exploitation activities or any other activity that affects the biological and historical cultural resources of the protected area

The funds are being provided by Etesa, as “compensation” measure for the passage of the third transmission line within the boundaries of the park, which runs from Panama to La Chorrera.