ALM UNDP

Summary:

The poor populations of rural areas in Panama are highly dependent on land and water resources and are extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, such as drought and flooding. The first vulnerability study carried out in Panama, which focused on the Santa Maria River basin, situated in Arco Seco, revealed that climate change could reduce the supply of surface water and crop yields, bring about land loss due to surface run-off, and increase the incidence of acute diarrheic diseases and influenza, among other impacts. Between 2000 and 2004 there were 440 natural events associated with climate variability in Panama, including floods, windstorms and landslides, affecting 59,077 people and causing millions of dollars’ worth of material damage. This demonstrates that it is vital for Panama to implement measures to adapt to, and mitigate climate change in order to reduce the vulnerability of its inhabitants, particularly the poorest.

The programme will work on developing an Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy for the four priority watersheds and will focus on the agriculture and forestry sectors since it is felt that that the implementation of adaptation and mitigation measures could have a major impact on these sectors.

The problems of unsustainable land and water management and climate change are intricately linked, since degraded areas are highly vulnerable to extreme climate events such as drought and flooding, which give rise not only to major economic losses but also to serious health problems. Moreover, according to Panama’s First National Communication, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Panama is changing land use, mainly as a result of the increasing area of land under cultivation. It is for this reason that the programme focuses on the promotion of sustainable land and water management practices in order to increase the capacity to adapt to climate change and to contribute to its mitigation.

The adaptation and mitigation measures to be implemented will include reducing land degradation and promoting the optimal use of water resources. Soil degradation is reaching critical levels with up to 27% of land classified as degraded, as a result of poor land management practices and land use that is inconsistent with its biophysical characteristics. In addition, water resources are threatened by the insufficient and inadequate treatment of solid and liquid waste, and by the rural population’s inadequate access to water. Only 22% of Panama’s rural population has access to sewers or septic tanks, while only 57% have access to a safe supply of drinking water. These unsustainable land and water management practices endanger the food security, health, and living conditions of rural populations.

The programme will benefit the country’s most vulnerable population groups, who lack the strategies and resources to undertake concrete sustainable land and water management measures. The focus will be on four critical watersheds: Tuira and Chucunaque in Darién, Tabasara in the Ngobe Buglé Territory and La Villa in Arco Seco. These watersheds are situated in three geographical areas: Arco Seco (part of the provinces of Coclé, Veraguas, Herrera and Los Santos), the Ngobe Buglé Territory and Darién province. These have been chosen because of their high levels of degradation and pressure on natural resources, as well as their extreme poverty. The beneficiary population is estimated at 400,364 inhabitants, comprising 206,707 men and 193,657 women, according to the 2000 census.
The programme will incorporate a gender perspective, since women play an important role within the community as well as in water supply, hygiene and food security within the home, and are therefore highly vulnerable to many of the effects of climate change.

The programme is aligned with national environmental policies and programmes, including the National Policy on Climate Change, the Panama National Action Plan on Combating Drought and Desertification, the Policy on Integrated Water Resource Management, the Law on Watershed Management, the National Environmental Strategy for 2008-2012 and the Strategic Vision for Economic Development and Employment to the year 2009. In addition, the programme also adopts the principles of the National Programme on Strengthening Local Government and Supporting Decentralisation (2005-2009).

Moreover, it complements the outcomes of ongoing projects on adaptation and mitigation of climate change, sustainable land use and integrated water resource management, whose valuable experiences will be relevant to the agencies and national counterparts participating in this programme. Furthermore, the programme provides a high level of added value due to the integration of the issues of climate change adaptation and mitigation issues with the sustainable management of land and water resources.

The programme includes many innovative elements with great potential for replication throughout the region. Although efforts have been made to define some of the parameters through the regional project, “Building Capacities for Stage II Adaptation to Climate Change in Central America, Mexico and Cuba”, the design and implementation of a Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Strategy in Panama would be an unprecedented achievement in Central America. The financial sustainability of these efforts will be achieved by introducing payment for environmental services projects. At present, there are some PSA proposals in the initial stages of implementation in other parts of the country, however, no such projects have been established in the Programme area. Moreover, the development of a methodology for forestry projects to apply to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) offers an important opportunity for this sector, as Panama does not have any reforestation projects registered as a CDM. Additionally, new practices will be promoted for the integrated and sustainable management of land and water resources which will reduce vulnerability to climate change through the implementation of adaptation measures in the selected area.

The Programme promotes coordinated actions and synergies among the Conventions on Climate Change, Desertification and Drought and Biological Diversity, with the aim of maximising national efforts, as well as joint inter-agency work. The Programme mainstreams the gender theme in all its actions and applies a multicultural focus, with the beneficiary populations being both the non-indigenous residents and the indigenous communities of the area. The lessons learnt from the Programme will be disseminated through publications and other media so that the actions can be replicated in other watersheds of the country and in other countries.

The Programme will make a significant contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, principally Goal # 7 – Guaranteeing Environmental Sustainability – and Goal # 1 – Reducing Extreme Poverty and Hunger. In addition, the Programme’s activities are compatible with the goals of the ‘Red Iberoamericana de Cambio Climático´ [Latin American Climate Change Network] (RIOCC) and the ´Programa Iberoamericano de Cambio Climático’ [Latin American Climate Change Programme] (PIACC), to which Panama belongs. Lastly, the Programme will contribute to the UNDAF Expected Outcome, “Environmental Sustainability (water resources, biodiversity, forestry development, the stabilisation of climate change and disaster prevention) strengthened with the support of regulatory frameworks, national strategies and local action”, in the area of cooperation: “Social guarantees for the exercise of human rights”.

_Source: Integration of Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Measures in the Management of Natural Resources in Four Priority Watersheds in Panama, Concept Note, June 2007._