ENVIRONMENT: Urban gardens proposal for Panama City

A proposal o create a municipal program of urban gardens, in Panama city  will be discussed at a council meeting on Monday, September 28 and would be charge of the municipality, through the Directorate of Environmental Management, which will be responsible for its implementation and monitoring, in coordination with the community boards.

It is promoted by the representative of the Don Bosco district, Guillermo Willie Bermúdez, of the Panameñista Party and advocates  the use and exploitation of public spaces in the district to install orchards, as well as alliances between owners of land available for the development of crops

There are also urban gardens in homes and on private property, which would be those that can be developed in residences and spaces for common use under the horizontal property regime. There will be orchards in private property, whose owner authorizes the use of the plot for a specified time.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) maintains that urban agriculture, apart from helping to alleviate hunger in cities, is a key element of strategies to reduce the ecological footprint of cities, recycle urban waste, protect biodiversity, and strengthen resilience to climate change.

The FAO says that this practice is y widespread in countries such as Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia and Mexico.