State of Conservation (SOC)

Requests Approved: 0 (from1982-1997)
Total Amount Ap proved: 276,350USD

Urban Pressure, Poaching/Hunting 

Road construction between the Volcan Baru National Park (VBNP) and Amistad National Park World Heritage property (LANP), both on the Panama side of this transboundary World Heritage property, remains a very sensitive issue in Panama at the time of the preparation of this document.  A completion is expected within the next several weeks to months.   Although the road would not run within the boundaries of the LANP, it would create an ecological barrier to the movement of some species between the VBNP and LANP, which could affect the latter’s ecological integrity.   A socio-economic feasibility study (Economic Analysis of Three Road Investments Through Western Panama’s Baru Volcan National Park and Surrounding Areas) has demonstrated that greater benefits would accrue to local communities if the road were to be built along a different route, taking it out of the VBNP.  The World Heritage Centre received a copy of a letter from the World Bank dated 3 January 2003 to the Minister of Public Works and to the head of the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) expressing doubts over the project and requesting a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).  The World Heritage Centre had sent a letter in January 2002, followed by a second letter in mid-January 2004, requesting further information on the project in line with paragraph 68 of the Operational Guidelines.  No response to either letter has been received.  A much-criticized EIA was presented for public input in January 2004, but the director of the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) resigned after having refused to validate it.   The project is at a standstill and the ANAM has not yet received a revised EIA study to review.