Payments for ecosystem services: reforesting the Panama Canal
Watershed
An April 2005 cover article in The Economist entitled “Rescuing
Environmentalism” led with a analysis of the work by PRORENA, a
Panamanian NGO, to establish a diverse native forest cover across
extensive areas of deforested lands in the Panama Canal watershed.
There has been heavy support from the reinsurance industry, which
sees that a regular water flow is necessary for the long-term working of
the canal. The project works with local communities to identify a mix of
useful tree species, and to research optimal rearing and planting
options. It provides income streams for the communities, while
improving water retention and flow dynamics for the canal region. It
has demonstrated that large-scale ecological restoration in the tropics is
technically feasible, socially attractive and financially viable.
Source: The Economist 2005
Large water impoundments in Iraq have created
new habitats for resident and migrating species,
especially birds. More than 20 per cent of the
original Mesopotamian marshes in the Iraq area
were re-flooded between May 2003 and March
2004, with the marshlands exhibiting a 49 per
cent extension of wetland vegetation and water
surface area in 2006, compared to that observed
in the mid-1970s.
Invertebrates, including butterflies, comprise the vast majority of species.
Credit: Ngoma Photos
Restoration of the Mesopotamian marshes in Iraq DownloaD Graphic 2
River or canal
Marsh extension 1973
Water
Dry soil
Wet soil or very shallow water
Sparsh marsh vegetation
Medium marsh vegetation
Dense marsh vegetation
Other sparse vegetation
Other medium vegetation
Other dense vegetation
Source: UNEP 2006 8 March 2003 19 December 2005
ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT 39
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