Panama

The Naso (also known as Teribe) are one of the first groups that settled in the Panamanian territory. After several European armed expeditions, the number of Naso had decreased drastically to the point that by the nineteenth century there were less than two thousand individuals remaining. At present there are approximately 4,000 Naso on both sides of the Costa Rican and Panamanian border, generally living in poor conditions. In Panama, they inhabit the province of Bocas del Toro, in the northwestern forests bordering the Teribe River, a larger tributary of the Changuinola River.

On 13, 14 and 15 April, coinciding with the celebration of the First Centenary of the Republic of Panama, the Kuna People feel that their ancestral rights have not yet been accepted nor contemplated by a major part of Panamanian society. They gathered and made the following statement:

By Cabinet decree 123 of 4 December 2002, the government of Panama decided to "excuse the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) from the requisite of selecting contractors and authorise it to hire CUSA (Constructora Urbana S.A) directly for the design, funding and construction of the ecological highway Boquete-Cerro Punta." This is the construction of a highway through Paso del Respingo which would cross the National Baru Volcano and La Amistad International Parks, violating the protected status of the zone.

Bordering with the Republic of Colombia, the Province of Darien is located at the extreme East of the Republic of Panama and is one of the areas in the Central American Isthmus with the greatest biodiversity. However, at present it is undergoing resource destruction at a fast pace. The region is inhabited by peoples of four ethnic groups: Afro-Colombians, Embera-Wounan indigenous people, Darienite peasants and settlers from other regions of the country --landless peasants seeking to improve their living conditions.

Panama has lost 60% of its forests in a deforestation process during which, according to the latest report by the Forestry Service, some 50,000 hectares of forest disappear each year.. The reasons leading to this situation are multiple and complex, ranging from external to internal causes. Although official circles usually accuse the poor peasants for the disaster, in fact it is the last link of a long chain of causalities originating both from unjust national policies and from the impact of the globalisation process and its multiple actors.

The accelerated destruction of forests is one of the most serious environmental problems of Panama, which at present retains only one third of its original forest cover. The best solution found by the State to tackle this problem has been to define protected areas, under the name of “parks”, which are generally inhabited by indigenous peoples. This is what happened, for instance, in the Darien National Park, where approximately 40 communities of the Kuna people (Pucuru and Paya) live, or in the La Amistad International Park, where both Naso-Teribe and Bri-Bri peoples live.

The isthmus of Panama stretches in Central America, one of the regions of highest natural and cultural diversity in the world. Different forest ecosystems constitute an essential component of such richness. Several indigenous nations have found in the forests their home and source of livelihoods. In Darién, San Blás and Panamá Oriente live the Emberá-Wounan and the Kuna indigenous people, while the Teribe occupy the area of Bocas del Toro, in the border with Costa Rica, together with the Ngobe-Bugle, who also inhabit part of the provinces of Veraguas and Chiriquí Oriente.