La Amistad/Bocas del Toro

Mangrove islets Bastimentos Island National Marine Park Bocas del Toro © Nicole Balloffet/The Nature Conservancy

Stretching from Costa Rica and encompassing most of the province of Bocas del Toro in Panama, the bi-national site of La Amistad/Bocas del Toro connects high mountains, low-lying wetlands, mangrove islands and coral reefs.  La Amistad/Bocas del Toro also has a unique blend of indigenous BriBri, Ngöbe, Naso and Bugle, as well as Afro-Caribbean and Latino cultures.

Location

Located in the northwestern corner of Panama, the Amistad/Bocas del Toro site includes the area surrounding and including Bastimentos Island National Marine Park and, on the mainland, the National Protected Areas of San San Pond Sack Wetlands, La Amistad International Park, and the Palo Seco Protected Forest.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site

The Amistad/Bocas del Toro region, recognized as both a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site, contains a rich mosaic of ecosystems that in total spans 2.5 million acres. The heart of this area is La Amistad International Park, recognized as one of the largest remaining tracts of undisturbed forest in Central America.

Plants
This area, renowned for its biodiversity, contains at least 180 plant species found only in the Amistad/Bocas del Toro region or which are limited exclusively to Panama.  Among the region’s diverse vegetative cover, one can find four different species of mangroves (red, white, black and pineapple) as well as other important vegetative types such as sea grass, flooded coastal forests, cloud and lowland forests.

Animals

Three-toed Sloth © Nicole Balloffet/ The Nature Conservancy

These diverse habitats also provide shelter for the numerous species of wildlife, including a variety of species unique to the region.  The region houses three species of sea turtles (leatherback, green, and hawksbill), the West Indian manatee, caimans, Baird's tapirs, jaguars, the brown-throated three-toed sloth, Hoffman's two-toed sloth and the red frog, whose skin produces a venom used by the Pre-Colombian Indians to poison their arrows.

The Bocas del Toro region also hosts more than 350 species of birds, including 27 North American migrants such as the wood thrush, prothonotary warbler, and the Magnolia warbler.  Bocas del Toro lowlands are also an important flyway for Swainson's hawks, Mississippi kites, scarlet tanagers, and purple martins. The only Panamanian colony of the rare red-billed tropicbird is found in Bocas del Toro.

Threats

With its two long coasts, Panama has long relied on its marine resources. Unfortunately, some of the once common marine species, such as lobster and conch, have become harder to find within the archipelago.  They are threatened by habitat loss, sedimentation, and water pollution due to unsustainable agricultural practices, development, and unregulated tourism. On the mainland, threats include deforestation, habitat loss, and water pollution due to unsustainable agricultural practices, colonization and urban development.

What the Conservancy Is Doing

• Eleven indigenous communities in the Bocas del Toro region asked The Nature Conservancy to help them create an umbrella organization, ADEPESCO, to lead conservation efforts, establish guidelines for natural resources conservation, identify alternatives to over-fishing and monitor populations of key species. 
  
• At Bastimentos National Marine Park, the Conservancy organized a committee to prepare the  management plan for the park. The committee's formation represents the first time that all stakeholders in the park have met and worked together toward common goals. The Conservancy is now working with the National Environmental Authority to approve the management plan.
  
• The Nature Conservancy and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Station teamed up to study the population of 3 species of lobster in the Bocas del Toro archipelago. Lobster has been identified as a highly threatened species due to overharvesting throughout the region. This study was the first thorough mapping that has been done of the lobster populations, their abundance, and their spatial distribution.
  
• Currently the Conservancy is part of a consortium of national and international organizations that is preparing a common agenda for the conservation of biodiversity of the region. Among these organizations are the Environmental Ministries of Costa Rica and Panama, the World Bank-funded Biological Corridor Project, Conservation International and World Wildlife Fund.
  
• We are working with partners to implement environmental education programs to rise awareness on the conservation status of endangered species such as lobsters and crabs that are affected by overfishing.
  
• The Conservancy and partners are working to promote the creation of an altitudunal biological corridor linking La Amistad International Park to the coral reefs of the archipelago.
  
• This area is also a Parks in Peril site for the Conservancy.
  

Helping Indigenous Communities Create Networks

The Conservancy is working closely with communities to help them create alternative means of livelihood. It has empowered these communities by helping them create networks towards a common vision, sharing risks and opportunities. These community networks are actively involved in tourism and park management activities in partnership with local governments. 

In the Caribbean sector of the park, 17 community groups from the Talamanca Indigenous Reserve in La Amistad have formed the Indigenous Tourism Network, known in Spanish as Red Indígena de Turismo. On the Pacific side of Amistad, four local communities organized themselves under the Quercus Network, known in Spanish as Red Quercus.

Indigenous communities in La Amistad find ecotourism to be an attractive development alternative because it allows them to use the region’s natural resources without outright exploitation and destruction. These communities are those most directly affected by the establishment of parks and protected areas, and they also stand to profit the most by their conservation if equipped with the means to engage.  The Conservancy is working closely with these networks to establish community businesses, provide tourism training and develop compatible economic activities such as handicraft production and tour guiding.  

The Conservancy is also working to develop payments for environmental services by creating water use fees, where private sector industries dependent on the region’s watersheds make “environmental services payments” that support community development and natural resources management.