tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:/xml/panama1Panama news from mongabay.com2013-05-07T15:28:45Ztag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/113842013-05-07T15:15:00Z2013-05-07T15:28:45ZFrankenfish or scientific marvel?: giant GM salmon await U.S. approval It is hard to think of a more unlikely setting for genetic experimentation or for raising salmon: a rundown shed at a secretive location in the Panamanian rainforest miles inland and 1,500m above sea level. But the facility, which is owned by an American company AquaBounty Technologies, stands on the verge of delivering the first genetically modified food animal—a fast-growing salmon—to supermarkets and dinner tables.Jeremy Hance8.775747-82.433009tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/110992013-03-25T17:34:00Z2013-03-25T17:44:09ZIndigenous protester killed by masked assailants in Panama over UN-condemned dam<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/13/0325.boulders.panamadam.DSCF1153.150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>A Ngäbe indigenous Panamanian, Onesimo Rodriguez, opposing the Barro Blanco hydroelectric dam project was killed last Friday evening by four masked men. His body was then thrown into a nearby stream where it was discovered the following day. Onesimo Rodriguez was attacked with a companion in Las Nubes, after they had attended a demonstration in Cerro Punta, Bugaba, against the dam. His companion, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, received serious injuries but managed to escape and is having his injuries tended to by the local indigenous community.Jeremy Hance8.248612-81.668859tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/110642013-03-19T13:24:00Z2013-03-20T17:10:45ZPanama's indigenous people drop REDD+The National Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples in Panama (COONAPIP) has announced it is withdrawing from the United Nation's REDD+ program following a series of disagreements. The exit of COONAPIP from the negotiating table with UN officials and the Panamanian government will likely be a blow to the legitimacy of REDD+ in the central American country. REDD, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, is a program to reduce emissions by safeguarding forests. Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/105902012-12-18T19:12:00Z2012-12-18T19:32:16Z2 small companies recognized for tropical forest-friendly approachesTwo Latin American companies have won the WWF Switzerland Tropical Forest Challenge, a competition that aims to highlight and support for-profit entities that have a positive impact on conserving tropical forests.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/105732012-12-13T20:56:00Z2013-04-11T04:50:10ZRainforests teem with insects, most of which are unknown, finds study Researchers in Panama have published the results of the most comprehensive survey of arthropods in a small area of tropical rainforest. At a high level, the findings surprise no one: the Panamanian rainforest is full of insects, spiders, and crustaceans. Yet the results also show how little is known about this large group of organisms — 60-70 percent of the species are thought to be new to science.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/101732012-09-18T17:15:00Z2012-09-18T20:46:45ZScientists name new snake species to criticize mine plans in Panama (photos)<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay-images/12/Sibon.150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>While scientists increasingly name new species after celebrities in order to gain much-needed attention for the world's vanishing biodiversity, researchers describing a new snake species from Panama have taken a different route. Dubbing the new serpent, Sibon noalamina ('no to the mine!' in Spanish), the scientists are hoping the multicolored snake's unusual name will draw attention to mining and deforestation issues in Panama's remote Tabasará mountains. Jeremy Hance8.054471-81.647758tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/100792012-08-30T17:32:00Z2012-09-04T19:33:07ZIndigenous groups in Panama wait for UN REDD to meet promises<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/panama/150/panama_0184.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>A dispute over the implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) in Panama has pitted the United Nations (UN) against the nation's diverse and large indigenous groups. Represented by the National Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples in Panama (COONAPIP), indigenous groups charge that the UN has failed to meet several pledges related to kick-starting REDD+ with their support, including delaying a $1.79 million payment to the group to begin REDD+-related activities. The on-going dispute highlights the perils and complexities of implementing REDD+, especially concerns that the program might disenfranchise indigenous groups who have long been the stewards of their forest territories.Jeremy Hance9.001061-79.533577tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/95602012-05-24T00:12:00Z2012-05-25T17:56:04ZLess than 100 pygmy sloths survive<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/j/Sloth-ball_ZSL.150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>The pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus) is one of the world's most endangered mammals, according to a detailed survey of the population, which found less than 100 sloths hanging on in their island home. Only described by researchers in 2001, the pygmy sloth lives on a single uninhabited island off the coast of Panama. But human impacts, such as deforestation of the island's mangroves, may be pushing the species to extinction.Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/95462012-05-22T16:19:00Z2012-05-22T16:40:03ZNew frog species leaves scientists' fingers yellow<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/j/newfrog.yellowdyer.2774-G-3-layout.150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>A beautiful, yellow frog species has been discovered in western Panama, according to a new paper in ZooKeys. Scientists were surprised when handling the new species to find their fingers stained bright yellow by its skin, but even after laboratory research the purpose of this dye remains a mystery. The new species, named Diasporus citrinobapheus, is a member of the large rain frog family, whose members skip the tadpole stage and instead are born directly from eggs as tiny froglets. Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/86232011-11-01T19:59:00Z2011-11-01T20:10:12ZPicture of the day: cookies and cream moth? This moth species from Panama has not yet been identified by mongabay.com. Moths makes up the bulk of the insect-family Lepidoptera, which also includes butterflies.Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/84372011-09-26T17:59:00Z2013-02-24T04:19:35ZPanama canal drives forest conservation, offers insight on value of ecosystems<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/mongabay/panama/150/panama_0007.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>As demonstrated by growing enthusiasm for conserving forests and the rise of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) program, the public is increasingly aware of the role forests play in delivering ecosystems services — like clean air and water — that benefit mankind. Yet, science still lags conventional wisdom — researchers have yet to fully quantify much of what healthy forests provide. Bridging this gap is key to unlocking the full value of protecting and restoring tropical forests. The ambitious Agua Salud Project in Panama is attempting to do just that. Rhett Butler9.182092-79.697571tag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/82352011-08-01T21:54:00Z2011-08-01T21:56:44ZAnimal picture of the day: the Jesus Christ lizard The basilisk lizard walks on water. To escape danger the lizard will race across a stream, sprinting, literally, off the water's surface. But despite its nickname of 'Jesus Christ lizard' this is not a miracle, but adaptation. Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/77992011-04-28T17:41:00Z2011-04-29T14:02:19ZScientists scramble to save dying amphibians<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://mongabay.s3.amazonaws.com/11/0428panama-_1147_150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>In forests, ponds, swamps, and other ecosystems around the world, amphibians are dying at rates never before observed. The reasons are many: habitat destruction, pollution from pesticides, climate change, invasive species, and the emergence of a deadly and infectious fungal disease. More than 200 species have gone silent, while scientists estimate one third of the more than 6,500 known species are at risk of extinction. Conservationists have set up an an emergency conservation measure to capture wild frogs from infected areas and safeguard them in captivity until the disease is controlled or at least better understood. The frogs will be bred in captivity as an insurance policy against extinction.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/74962011-02-27T16:07:00Z2011-02-27T16:27:33ZTreasure chest of wildlife camera trap photos made public <table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/j/smith.150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Photos taken by camera traps have not only allowed scientists to study little-seen, sometimes gravely endangered, species, they are also strangely mesmerizing, providing a momentary window—a snapshot in time—into the private lives of animals. These are candid shots of the wild with no human in sight. While many of the photos come back hazy or poor, some are truly beautiful: competing with the best of the world's wildlife photographers. Now the Smithsonian is releasing 202,000 camera trap photos to the public, covering seven projects in four continents. Taken in some of the world's most remote and untouched regions the automated cameras have captured such favorites as jaguars, pandas, and snow leopards, while also documenting little-known and rare species like South America's short-eared dog, China's golden snub-nosed monkey, and Southeast Asia's marbled cat.Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/73002011-01-15T20:18:00Z2011-01-15T20:18:36ZItaly and Panama continue illegal fishing, says new reportOn Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its biennial report identifying six countries whose fisheries have been engaged in illegal, unreported, or unregulated (IUU) fishing during the past two years. The report comes at a time when one-fifth of reported fish catches worldwide are caught illegally and commercial fishing has led to a global fish stock overexploitation of an estimated 80 percent.Morgan Erickson-Davistag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/65122010-07-19T19:03:00Z2010-07-19T19:17:30Z30 frog species, including 5 unknown to science, killed off by amphibian plague in PanamaWith advanced genetic techniques, researchers have drawn a picture of just how devastating the currently extinction crisis for the world's amphibians has become in a new study published in the Proceedings of the Nation Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Studying frog populations using DNA barcoding in Panama's Omar Torrijos National Park located in El Copé researchers found that 25 known species and 5 unknown species have vanished since 1998. None have returned. Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/62052010-06-06T21:53:00Z2010-06-06T22:04:25ZTwo new frogs discovered in Panama amidst amphibian plague <table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/j/newbigfrog.thumb.jpg " align="left"/></td></tr></table>Researchers working to save Panama's frogs from a fatal disease have stumbled on two species unknown to science. In Omar Torrijos National Park they found a bigger version of a common species, which is now known to be a unique species, and near the Colombian border they discovered a new frog that has been named after Spanish for DNA. Both frogs were discovered while researchers searched for frog populations in chytridiomycosis-infected areas. The highly contagious disease chytridiomycosis has devastated frog species worldwide and is believe to be at least in part responsible for some 100 extinctions of amphibians. Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/58262010-03-16T19:55:00Z2012-12-02T22:22:21ZForgotten Species: the marooned pygmy three-toed sloth<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/j/IMG_7888small.thumb.jpg " align="left"/></td></tr></table>Many people consider tropical islands mini-paradises: sanctuaries cut-off from the rest of the world. Some species flourish on islands for the same reason. With few predators and a largely consistent environment, once a species has comfortably adapted to its habitat there's little to do but thrive. That is until something changes: like humans showing up. Changes in confined island ecosystems often have large and rapid impacts, too fast and too big for marooned species to survive.
Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/50982009-11-06T21:40:00Z2009-11-06T21:50:45ZDeveloper uses cover of national holiday to clear rainforest near Colon, Panama<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/09/1106.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>On Tuesday, November 3rd, while Panamanians celebrated Independence Day Holidays, heavy machinery unexpectedly entered and began cutting down tropical forest and mangroves near Galeta outside of Colon, Panama, report local sources. mongabay.com confirmed that the latest clearing has been carried out "almost in secret during national holidays so there would be no reaction from the public or the media." The clearing, conducted by a transportation cooperative called Serafin Niño, from Colon, is occurring in the buffer zone of the Galeta Protected Landscape and near Galeta Point Marine Laboratory, a facility of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The land will likely be used to store transportation equipment that moves cargo to and from the ports of Colon and the Free Zone.
Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/50522009-10-25T19:10:00Z2012-05-24T00:32:53ZThe faster, fiercer, and always surprising sloth, an interview with Bryson Voirin<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/troufs/tree-1.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Sloths sleep all day; they are always slow; and they are gentle animals. These are just some of the popular misconceptions that sloth-scientist and expert tree-climber, Bryson Voirin, is overturning. After growing up among the wild creatures of Florida, spending his high school years in Germany, and earning a Bachelors degree in biology and environment at the New College of Florida, Voirin found his calling. At the New College of Florida, Voirin "met Meg Lowman, the famous canopy pioneer who invented many of the tree climbing techniques everyone uses today."Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/49512009-09-08T20:50:00Z2010-09-17T15:47:44ZConcerns over deforestation may drive new approach to cattle ranching in the Amazon<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://travel.mongabay.com/brazil/150/brazil_0488.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>While you're browsing the mall for running shoes, the Amazon rainforest is probably the farthest thing from your mind. Perhaps it shouldn't be. The globalization of commodity supply chains has created links between consumer products and distant ecosystems like the Amazon. Shoes sold in downtown Manhattan may have been assembled in Vietnam using leather supplied from a Brazilian processor that subcontracted to a rancher in the Amazon. But while demand for these products is currently driving environmental degradation, this connection may also hold the key to slowing the destruction of Earth's largest rainforest. Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/48412009-08-13T17:37:00Z2009-08-13T17:46:41ZTropical plant expert Stephen P. Hubbell wins this year's Eminent Ecologist Award Stephen P. Hubbell has won the 2009 Eminent Ecologist Award. Hubbell is a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA. Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/47742009-07-29T20:24:00Z2009-07-29T20:34:11ZExtinction debt can last millions of yearsExtinction can be set in motion millions of years before a species' actual demise, suggesting that present-day drivers of habitat destruction and degradation may have already doomed many species to eventual extinction, report researchers writing in Proceedings of the Royal Society B online.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/46982009-07-02T15:30:00Z2009-07-02T15:38:35ZREDD readiness plans for Panama, Guyana approved but rejected for IndonesiaThe World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) has approved REDD readiness plans (R-Plans) for Panama and Guyana, and rejected a plan for Indonesia, reports the U.N. and the Bank Information Center</a>, an advocacy group.
Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/46882009-06-29T17:58:00Z2009-06-30T16:22:26ZSaving one of the last tropical dry forests, an interview with Edwina von Gal<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/troufs/edwina_von_gal1-2.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Often we hear about endangered species—animals or plants on the edge of extinction—however we rarely hear about endangered environments—entire ecosystems that may disappear from Earth due to humankind’s growing footprint. Tropical dry forests are just such an ecosystem: with only 2 percent of the world’s tropical dry forest remaining it is one of the world’s most endangered ecosystems. A newly established organization, the Azuero Earth Project, is working not only to preserve some of the world’s last tropical dry forest on the Azuero peninsula in Panama, but also to begin restoration projects hoping to aid both the forest’s viability and the local people. Edwina von Gal, a landscape designer, is one of the founders of the Azuero Earth Project, as well as president of the organization. Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/45252009-05-04T19:33:00Z2009-05-05T18:46:27ZFirst-ever photo of jaguar on Barro Colorado Island<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/09/0504jag.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Researchers have captured the first-ever photo of a jaguar on Barro Colorado Island, a key tropical forest research site in Panama, reports the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). The picture was snapped by a camera trap set up by Montclair State University zoologist Jackie Willis and her husband Greg. The pair have been using the traps — which use infrared to detect and photograph passing wildlife — for animal surveys on Barro Colorado since 1994.
Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/44242009-03-29T17:25:00Z2009-03-30T04:13:36ZPlant communities changing across the globe, says scientist Sasha Wright<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/troufs/sashaDBH_GR-1-1.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Having studied plant communities across three continent and within widely varied ecosystems—lowland tropics, deciduous forests, grasslands, and enclosed ecosystems on hill-tops—graduate student Sasha Wright has gained a unique understanding of shifts in plant communities worldwide as they respond to pressures from land use and global climate change. “Plant communities are certainly changing,” Wright told Mongabay.com in a March 2009 interview. “These changes are undoubtedly affected by an increased occurrence of extreme weather events, temperature fluctuations, atmospheric CO2 concentrations, human land use, and in some cases urbanization of populations.” Jeremy Hancetag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/34062008-10-19T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:15:36ZMass amphibian die-offs affect ecosystemsLarge-scale die-offs of amphibians due to the outbreak of a killer fungal disease is impacting the forest ecosystem in which they live, reports a new study published in the journal <I>Ecosystems</I>.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/34322008-10-12T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:15:42ZArmageddon for amphibians? Frog-killing disease jumps Panama CanalChytridiomycosis — a fungal disease that is wiping out amphibians around the world — has jumped across the Panama Canal, report scientists writing in the journal <i>EcoHealth</i>. The news is a worrying development for Panama's rich biodiversity of amphibians east of the canal.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/33602008-09-01T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:15:27ZCarbon market may fund dam in Panama that threatens natural reserveThe UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) — a scheme that provides funds to projects that reduce emissions in developing nations — may be used to finance a hydroelectric dam in Panama which, according to environmentalists, threatens a biologically rich World Heritage site and an indigenous tribe, the Ngobe. Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/32122008-08-21T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:14:53ZSTRI goes carbon neutral as Panama indigenous community to see carbon payments from forest conservationThe Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), the Panama-based branch of the Smithsonian Institution, will offset its carbon dioxide emissions by working with an indigenous community to conserve forests and reforest degraded lands with native tree species. The agreement was announced Sunday, August 17, 2008.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/30992008-07-29T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:14:32ZResearchers discover "artistic" moth in PanamaResearchers have discovered a new species of Bagworm Moth that wraps its eggs individually in "beautiful cases" fashioned from its golden abdominal hairs, according to a new paper published in the <i>Annals of the Entomology Society of America</i>. The behavior is unique among insects.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/31032008-07-28T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:14:33ZClimate change will increase the erosion of coral reefsCoral reefs are particularly susceptible to climate change. Warming waters have been shown to bleach coral, killing off symbiotic algae that provide them with sustenance, and often leading to the death of the coral itself. Much attention has been placed on bleaching coral, but now scientists have discovered an additional danger to coral reefs in a warming world: erosion.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/31122008-07-24T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:14:34Z14 countries win REDD funding to protect tropical forestsFourteen countries have been selected by the World Bank to receive funds for conserving their tropical forests under an innovative carbon finance scheme.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/29732008-05-19T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:14:08ZFrog chooses whether to lay eggs on land or in waterResearchers in Panama have discovered a frog that can choose whether it lays its eggs on land or in water. It is the first time such "reproductive flexibility" has been found in a vertebrate.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/29882008-05-14T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:14:10ZNew research shows wild sloths sleep less than captive slothsWild sloths are considerably more active than their counterparts in captivity, reports the first electrophysiological study of sleep in a wild animal.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/28982008-04-21T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:13:55ZCache of rare and undiscovered species under threat in PanamaRare and previously undiscovered species are under threat by loggers, ranchers, and poachers in an isolated patch of cloud forest in Panama, a prominent group of scientists has warned. The group, the Association for Tropical Biology and conservation (ATBC), has called on the Panamanian government to immediately provide protected-area status to the region.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/29182008-04-04T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:13:59ZBats protect crops from insectsBats eat as many insects at night as birds do during the day, according to research published in the journal <i>Science</i>.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/29202008-04-03T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:13:59ZBats eat as many insects as birdsBats eat as many insects at night as birds do during the day, according to research published in the journal <i>Science</i>.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/27822008-02-04T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:13:31ZThe Panamanian golden frog declared extinct by BBC Natural History crewA national symbol of Panama has been declared extinct by BBC filmmakers. The crew was in Panama to film the unique frog for David Attenborough's most recent series on reptiles and amphibians, entitled Life in Cold Blood. The filmmakers achieved their objective and captured the golden frog on film, including rarely seen behvaior.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/26402008-01-13T14:30:39Z2008-12-16T10:13:09ZScientists discover four species of anole lizards in 24 hours in PanamaIn January of 2006 a biological expedition uncovered four anole species in a single day. Dr. Gunther Koehler, a member of the expedition, described the discoveries as "a once in a life time experience; during expeditions before, we had found new species, one at a time--but four species within 24 hours, that was incredible!"Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/23352007-09-09T14:30:39Z2008-12-29T06:46:44ZTwo new species of salamander discovered in PanamaScientists have discovered two new species of salamanders from the mountainous Costa Rica-Panama border region. The findings, published by David B. Wake, Jay M. Savage, and James Hanken in the journal Copeia, push the number of salamanders known in the region to 24, making it a hotspot in terms of salamander biodiversity.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/22112007-08-23T14:30:39Z2008-12-29T06:46:20ZGroups demand AES withdraw from Panama dam projectsMore than 50 green groups demanded Thursday that AES Corporation withdraw from three controversial hydroelectric projects that are threatening La Amistad International Park in Panama. Environmentalists say the dams threaten to displace wildlife and local communities -- the Naso and Ngobe people -- in the World Heritage site.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/22532007-08-13T14:30:39Z2008-12-29T06:46:28ZLow deforestation countries to see least benefit from carbon tradingCountries that have done the best job protecting their tropical forests stand to gain the least from proposed incentives to combat global warming through carbon offsets, warns a new study published in Tuesday in the journal Public Library of Science Biology (PLoS). The authors say that "high forest cover with low rates of deforestation" (HFLD) nations "could become the most vulnerable targets for deforestation if the Kyoto Protocol and upcoming negotiations on carbon trading fail to include intact standing forest."Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/19902007-06-26T14:30:39Z2008-12-29T06:45:37ZSet back for AES on rainforest dam project in PanamaThe World Heritage Committee moved to assess threats to La Amistad International Park, a World Heritage site shared by Panama and Costa Rica, from AES Corporation's planned construction of four hydroelectric dams on the park's border. The decision was based on an April 2007 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity and more than 30 other organizations in the United States, Panama, and Costa Rica.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/20612007-06-06T14:30:00Z2009-09-08T04:20:24ZCan cattle ranchers and soy farmers save the Amazon?<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/07/0607jcc2-150.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>John Cain Carter, a Texas rancher who moved to the heart of the Amazon 11 years ago and founded what is perhaps the most innovative organization working in the Amazon, Alianca da Terra, believes the only way to save the Amazon is through the market. Carter says that by giving producers incentives to reduce their impact on the forest, the market can succeed where conservation efforts have failed. What is most remarkable about Alianca's system is that it has the potential to be applied to any commodity anywhere in the world. That means palm oil in Borneo could be certified just as easily as sugar cane in Brazil or sheep in New Zealand. By addressing the supply chain, tracing agricultural products back to the specific fields where they were produced, the system offers perhaps the best market-based solution to combating deforestation. Combining these approaches with large-scale land conservation and scientific research offers what may be the best hope for saving the Amazon.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/20832007-06-03T14:30:39Z2008-12-29T06:45:55ZRural population decline may not slow deforestation<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://www.mongabay.com/images/external/2006/satellite/sat_braz_amazon_32x.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>A new paper shoots down the theory that increasing urbanization will lead to increasing forest cover in the tropics. Writing in the July issue of the journal Biotropica, Sean Sloan, a researcher from McGill University in Montreal, argues that anticipated declines in rural populations via urbanization will not necessarily result in reforestation--a scenario put forth in a controversial paper published in Biotropica last year by Joseph Wright of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama and Helene Muller-Landau of the University of Minnesota. Wright and Muller-Landau said that deforestation rates will likely slow, then reverse, due to declining rural population density in developing countries.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/20812007-06-03T14:30:00Z2009-01-27T15:44:57ZGlobalization could save the Amazon rainforest<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/07/0530dan_nepstad_1a.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>The Amazon basin is home to the world's largest rainforest, an ecosystem that supports perhaps 30 percent of the world's terrestrial species, stores vast amounts of carbon, and exerts considerable influence on global weather patterns and climate. Few would dispute that it is one of the planet's most important landscapes. Despite its scale, the Amazon is also one of the fastest changing ecosystems, largely as a result of human activities, including deforestation, forest fires, and, increasingly, climate change. Few people understand these impacts better than Dr. Daniel Nepstad, one of the world's foremost experts on the Amazon rainforest. Now head of the Woods Hole Research Center's Amazon program in Belem, Brazil, Nepstad has spent more than 23 years in the Amazon, studying subjects ranging from forest fires and forest management policy to sustainable development. Nepstad says the Amazon is presently at a point unlike any he's ever seen, one where there are unparalleled risks and opportunities. While he's hopeful about some of the trends, he knows the Amazon faces difficult and immediate challenges.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/18482007-05-31T14:30:39Z2008-12-29T06:45:11ZColorful marine creatures discovered off Panama<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://photos.mongabay.com/07/0531cerberilla_chavezi1.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Researchers have discovered five new species of sea slug off the coast of Central America. Surveys have found that the region, known as the Tropical Eastern Pacific, is characterized by large numbers of endemic and previously unknown species. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) reports that recent expeditions have turned up 5 new species of nudibranchs--a group of mollusks lacking outer shells. The discoveries are important because nudibranchs have developed "sophisticated chemical defense mechanisms" which can help with the development of novel medicinal products.Rhett Butlertag:news.mongabay.com,2005:Article/19762007-05-02T14:30:39Z2008-12-29T06:45:34ZClimate change could dramatically change forests in Central America<table align="left"><tr><td><img src="http://travel.mongabay.com/panama/150/pan01-0657.jpg" align="left"/></td></tr></table>Drought could cause dramatic shifts in rainforest plant communities in Central America, reports a new study published in the May 3 issue of Nature. The research shows that many rainforest plants are ill-equipped to deal with extended dry periods, putting them at elevated risk from changes in climate projected for the region.Rhett Butler