Panama’s Indigenous Communities Fund conservation with biodiversity data
Summary and headline written by AI from the source article. How we work
Four Wounaan and Emberá-Wounaan villages in Panama’s Darién forest began a biodiversity monitoring project to protect their land from illegal logging and agricultural expansion.
The communities surveyed 18,000 hectares of forest and identified over 200 species, including the jaguar, Baird’s tapir (a large Central and South American mammal), and crested eagle. At least 15 of the documented species are considered threatened.
The communities are now using this data to enter the biodiversity credit market, hoping to create income in a region with limited economic opportunities. They employ bioacoustic monitoring and camera traps, supported by the FSC Indigenous Foundation and Health In Harmony, and follow a methodology developed by Savimbo, a biodiversity credit company co-founded by indigenous members.
Samuel Cheucarama, a resident of a Wounaan village, reported that the project has already changed local behavior, with community members now discouraging hunting and advocating for forest protection.
