Cobre Panama and MiAmbiente work for the conservation of the Donoso and Omar Torrijos Herrera Managed Resources Area.

– MiAmbiente staff visits and learns about the Reforestation Program carried out by Cobre Panama.

– As part of its environmental commitments, Cobre Panama collaborates with the conservation of 17% of Panama’s terrestrial protected areas.

Panama, July 26, 2023 – Cobre Panama and the Ministry of Environment (MiAmbiente) continue to strengthen their operational capabilities by recognizing the opportunities provided by this strategic alliance for the conservation of the Donoso and Omar Torrijos Herrera Managed Resource Area.

The Ministry of the Environment staff that executes the programs in this protected area visited one of the most important operational centers where Cobre Panama carries out the reforestation process: the nursery located in San Juan de Turbe, in the province of Colón.

During this visit they were able to learn about the magnitude of Cobre Panama’s Reforestation Program, which to date has reached 4,300 hectares throughout the country, as well as the experience gained by the team in charge of executing this commitment.

Biologist and forestry technician José Deago showed them the facilities and explained in detail the methods and techniques used to reproduce the thousands of seedlings that grow every year in this nursery, as well as in the temporary satellite nurseries that are distributed in the different provinces of the country.

During this tour, they also visited the facilities of the Seed Bank, which has the capacity to preserve the seeds of endemic and agroforestry flora for decades, thus guaranteeing the conservation of species in the face of current challenges such as climate change.

In the same province of Colón, they toured one of the farms that is part of this reforestation program, which directly benefits the residents of neighboring communities. The agroforestry plants that are now growing on this farm were germinated in the San Juan de Turbe nursery and are now providing economic benefits to a family. This success story emanating from Cobre Panama’s Reforestation Program is one of many that demonstrate that sustainable community development is possible.

In addition, authorities from the Ministry of the Environment and Cobre Panama personnel jointly flew over the Donoso and Omar Torrijos Herrera Managed Resources Area to identify illegal logging points and settlements in order to establish reforestation and conservation strategies, as well as to reinforce control and surveillance activities.

These initiatives are part of a functional model whose mission is to achieve forest recovery in more than 274,000 hectares in protected areas, including the Donoso and Omar Torrijos Herrera Managed Resources Area, Santa Fe National Park and Omar Torrijos Herrera National Park. These initiatives are backed by Cobre Panama’s environmental commitments to the Ministry of the Environment and represent 17% of the total protected land areas in the country.