Long famous as the last gap in the highway system that runs from Alaska to Patagonia, Panamá's remote Darién province may soon acquire another distinction.
"What we do in the Darién will be a model for all of Latin America," said IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias at a June meeting of an international advisory committee that is reviewing the preparation of a sustainable development project for the province. The project, which is pending final approval from the IDB's Board of Executive Directors later this year, aims to reconcile economic exploitation and environmental preservation through an unprecedented process of community consultation and planning.
The Darién faces problems similar to many other areas in Latin America where advancing human settlement is threatening irreplaceable ecosystems (see the Special Report on this issue). Here, where the flora and fauna of two continents met 2.5 million years ago, live a large number of unique species. Recognizing the region's value to biodiversity, UNESCO declared the Darién National Park a World Heritage Site in 1981 and a Man and Biosphere Reserve two years later.
Panamá's largest province, Darién also has the country's highest indices of poverty and by far the highest rate of deforestation. A major part of the problem is a population growth rate of 4.5 percent annually-also the country's highest- that has tripled the number of people in the province in the past 20 years to 60,000.
The influx of newcomers has resulted in conflicts among the three main ethnic groups: the indigenous people, declining numbers of Afro-Latin Americans, and growing numbers of Latin American colonists. Exacerbating the problem is the general poverty of the rainforest soils. Only an estimated 7 percent of the province's area is suitable for agriculture, but nearly three times that amount is under cultivation. After settlers exhaust one piece of land, they move on to repeat the process elsewhere, sometimes in areas claimed by indigenous communities. Other disputes take place between large landowners and small-scale farmers.
While 41 percent of the province is under some form of protection, and indigenous territories comprise another 26 percent, boundaries are poorly defined and frequently ignored.
The IDB-financed project will address these problems by bringing order to what is presently a chaotic process of settlement and economic exploitation. Included are measures to demarcate protected areas and indigenous territories; land titling; land use zoning; and improving and diversifying production. A series of studies is being carried out to provide a solid technical and scientific foundation.
"Our objective is to create a dynamic equilibrium among the human, ecological and economic factors," says the IDB's Helí Nessim, project team leader.
DOUBLE-EDGED ROAD
Project plans also include rehabilitating a road that extends to the town of Yaviza, halfway through the province toward the border with Colombia. Although an all-weather road will certainly speed up the process of change, most of the Darién residents are in favor of it. "We want the road," said Narciso Pacheco, advisory committee member and leader of the Emberá Wounaan indigenous reserve. "But we also want to preserve what God has given us."
The principal means for achieving orderly and sustainable development is consultation with all affected groups, a process that is taking place on a larger scale than in any previous IDB project.
The results of 45 workshops already held throughout the province are now being analyzed, and some 60 activities proposed by the participants are being considered for inclusion in the project.
Meanwhile, the advisory committee met three times prior to June, twice in Washington and once in Panama. Its members include senior representatives from The Nature Conservancy, the Smithsonian Institute, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the Central American Commission on Environment and Development. National members represent the government, the Catholic Church, nongovernmental groups and indigenous communities. International nongovernmental groups have also been consulted.
While those working on the project are optimistic, they are also realistic. "Whatever we do, or whatever we don't do, there will still be conflicts," said Hugo Guiraud, advisory committee member and special representative of the president of Panamá in the Darién. "More than economic incentives, the project must be founded on solid legislation and a strong interagency executing unit," he said.