New Publication about an Experience in the Bay of Panama Wetlands (06/07/07)

In the month of April, 2007, the publication “Building a Participatory Experience for Conservation. Lessons learned from community biomonitoring in the Bay of Panama wetlands” was published; it presents an on-going participatory conservation experience.

Participatory biomonitoring is a tool for constant gathering of data concerning the environmental situation and even though it stills lacks scientific rigor, it is important to encourage environmental awareness because it involves those who depend from natural resources and forges links among scientists, the local populations and the governmental institutions. There are very few field experiences such as this, and the Bay of Panama, with its universally recognized ecological value as an internationally important wetlands (Ramsar site), as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and as a site for the Migratory Birds Hemispheric Network because its mangroves and mudflats serve as resting and feeding places for thousands of migratory seabirds, was the site chosen to develop this experience.

The publication was made possible thanks to the cooperation of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Panama Audubon Society (PAS) and the Ramsar Regional Center for the Western Hemisphere (CREHO), who joined forces to enrich the limited literature available on this subject.

It is hoped that this experience will inspire others and will foster other initiatives geared towards strengthening the conservation and rational use of wetlands.

Cristina Tzanetatos
Communications Assistant
Ramsar Regional Center for Training and
Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere
City of Knowledge, House 826 A, Panama
Tel (507) 317 12 42
Fax (507) 317 08 76
www.creho.org

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