Environmentalists seek ban on mining from new government

ENVIRONMENTAL groups have announced that they will ask Panama’s new government to ban strip mininf concessions in the country by reviewing mining laws.

 At a Monday June 16 press conference of Ecological Collective Voices (COVEC), the Ecological, Social and Agricultural Network Veraguas (resave) and members of the Mesoamerican Movement Against Extractive Mining Model (M4), among other groups, urged the new government to halt mining concessions in the country.

 “We asked the new government to press for a law to declare to Panama as a nation free of metal strip mining,” said Olmedo Carrasquilla COVEC representative.
The request occurs at a number of mining projects that have caused environmental damage, such as Petaquilla, in the northern province of Colon, which led to the deforestation of large areas within the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor of the Panamanian Atlantic (CBMAP), over which hangs a complaint that they were developed without the approval of the Environmental Impact rating 3.
 In 2011 the copper mining project in Cerro Colorado, in Ngobe Bugle region, sparked riots in the western region of the country, leaving two dead and dozens injured.
 Carrasquilla announced that they have lodged legal moves in Panamanian and international courts to end the mining activity, as well as to force companies tocomply with the standards and
Meanwhile, Francisca Mendoza, resave leader said that environmentalists “will join forces to reject mining projects, because they affect water quality, natural resources and agricultural production of smallholder communities” to surrounding developments miners.
Newly appointed director of the National Environmental Authority (ANAM), Mirei Endara, predicted that the new administration will perform audits of environmental impact studies.