Environment Ministry extends ban on logging

The Ministry of Environment (Miambiente) has extended – for one year – the granting of special subsistence forest use permits and has convened, a roundtable of all key actors in the environmental sector “to collect technical, social and legal inputs that serve to prepare a draft forestry law with the aim of strengthening forest governance …”.

According to Miambiente, the decision is based on technical studies carried out by the institution (such as the 2019 Forest and Other Wooded Lands Diagnostic), which show a decrease in forest cover in the last seven years, it reaches the figure of 56,369.49 hectares; which represents an average of 8,052.78 per year.

The diagnosis establishes that the highest balances of this reduction correspond to the province of Veraguas, with a decrease of 6,965.44 hectares; Panama, with 4,390.76 hectares and Darién, with 2,225.80 hectares

The technical reports also indicate that expansive agricultural activities, without the application of sustainable techniques, forest use without permits, and the increase in infrastructure projects, are among the causes of deforestation at the national level. And, on the other hand, the confinement due to Covid 19, has severely affected the processes of monitoring and control of forests, Miambiente said.

The National Police, the National Border Service, and the National Air Naval Service were asked “for their active participation to prevent and repress the commission of criminal acts and misdemeanors”, such as illegal logging throughout the country.