Panamá
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Panamá
Panama Canal in operation viewed from the operating deck. @ C.Michael Hogan
Pollution
Regional location map of Panama. Source: Vardion
Panama is the most southerly Central American nation, located between Costa Rica to the north and Columbia to the south. Panama connects the continental land masses of North America and South America. The Isthmus of Panama (also called the "Isthmus of Darien") is the narrow strip of land in the center of the country bisected by the 80 kilometer long Panama Canal that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
Major environmental issues in Panama include water pollution from agricultural runoff, threateningfishery resources; deforestation of tropical rainforest; land degradation and soil erosion, threatening siltation of Panama Canal; air pollution in urban areas; and mining operations that threaten ecosystems and natural resources.
History
Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela - named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When the latter dissolved in 1830, Panama remained part of Colombia. With US backing, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903 and promptly signed a treaty with the US allowing for the construction of a canal and US sovereignty over a strip of land on either side of the structure (the Panama Canal Zone). The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the US to Panama by the end of the century. Certain portions of the Zone and increasing responsibility over the Canal were turned over in the subsequent decades. With US help, dictator Manuel NORIEGA was deposed in 1989. The entire Panama Canal, the area supporting the Canal, and remaining US military bases were transferred to Panama by the end of 1999. In October 2006, Panamanians approved an ambitious plan to expand the Canal. The Panamax project, which began in 2007 and could double the Canal's capacity, is expected to be completed in 2014-15.
Source: CIA World Fact Book
Geography
Location: Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica
Geographic Coordinates: 9 00 N, 80 00 W
Area: 78,200 sq km (75,990 sq km of land, 2210 sq km of water)
Arable land: 7.26%
Permanent crops: 1.95%
Other: 90.79% (2005)
Coastline: 2490 km
Maritime Claims: Territorial sea to 12 nautical miles; a contiguous zone to 24 nautical miles; an exclusive economic zone to 200 nautical miles or the edge of continental margin.
Natural Hazards: Occasional severe storms and forest fires in the Darien area.
Terrain: Interior is mostly steep, rugged mountains and dissected, upland plains; coastal areas are largely plains and rolling hills.
Climate: Tropical maritime; hot, humid, cloudy; prolonged rainy season (May to January), short dry season (January to May).
Capital: Panama City
Ecology and Biodiversity
The subtropical and tropical Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot includes the northern two thirds of Panamá, from the border with Costa Rica to the Panama Canal. From the Panama Canal, the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Biodiversity Hotspot extends south and east into the wet and moist forests of Panama's Darién Province. The hotspot includes a wide variety of habitats, ranging from mangroves, beaches, rocky shorelines, and coastal wilderness.
Natural forested area within Panama.
The Eastern Panamanian montane forests are found in the highlands of eastern Panama, and occur at elevations from 500 to 1800 meters. Located on the land bridge between South and North America, complex forests cover this mountainous region and are home to extremely high diversity and endemism. Located in the mountainous regions of Costa Rica and Panama, the Talamancan montane forests ecoregion is one of Central America’s most intact habitats. The Isthmian-Atlantic moist forests cover most of Panama. This forest ecoregion evolved from unique combinations of North American and South American flora and fauna, which came together with the joining of these continents around three million years ago. The Chocó-Darién moist forests ecoregion is considered one of the most species rich lowland areas in the world, with exceptional abundance and endemism over a broad range of taxons that include plants, birds, amphibians, and butterflies. It extends from eastern Panama, in the provinces of Darién and Kuna-Yala, along almost the entire Pacific coast of Colombia.
Satellite view of the Gulf of San Miguel, Panama. Source: USGS
The exceptional biodiversity found in the Gulf of Panama mangroves corresponds with high variation in climatic conditions within small areas, and regular hurricane and El Nino disturbances that bring both high and low extremes in rainfall in a ecoregion where dry and rainy seasons are already extreme. The pacific coast of Costa Rica has a large number of embayments that provide shelter from wind and waves, which favor mangrove development. The Moist Pacific Coast mangroves ecoregion runs along the coastline of Central America from near the town of Jaco, Costa Rica to the southwestern corner of the Peninsula de Azuero, Panama. Mangroves are sparse in the Rio Negro-Rio San Sun ecoregion along the Atlantic coast, and are primarily found in estuarine lagoons and small patches at river mouths growing in association with freshwater palm species including Raphia taedigera, which has some salt tolerance and can be considered an element of mangrove forest.
Protected Areas
The Coiba National Park and its Special Zone of Marine Protection is one of the last relics of tropical moist forest in Pacific Central America, a site of great beauty and great marine and terrestrial diversity, preserving endemic and endangered species. The coral reefs exemplify successful reef growth under sheltered but very restricted conditions and serve as a refuge and source of species replenishment for other islands, including the Cocos and Galapagos, during and after El Niño disturbances.
International Environmental Agreements
Panama is party to Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, and Whaling.
People and Society
Population: 3,360,474 (July 2009 est.)
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 29.3% (male 501,950/female 481,750)
15-64 years: 63.9% (male 1,085,435/female 1,061,530)
65 years and over: 6.8% (male 106,934/female 122,875) (2009 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 1.503% (2009 est.)
Birthrate: 20.68 births/1000 population (2008 est.)
Death Rate: 4.71 deaths/1000 population (2008 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 77.25 years
Total Fertility Rate: 2.53 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Languages: Spanish (official), English 14%; note - many Panamanians bilingual
Literacy: 91.9%
Economy
Panama's dollarized economy rests primarily on a well-developed services sector that accounts for 80% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Services include operating the Panama Canal, banking, the Colon Free Zone, insurance, container ports, flagship registry and tourism. Economic growth will be bolstered by the Panama Canal expansion project that began in 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by 2014 at a cost of $5.3 billion: about 25% of current GDP. The expansion project will more than double the Canal's capacity, enabling it to accommodate ships that are now too large to transverse the transoceanic crossway, and should help to reduce the high unemployment rate. Strong economic performance has reduced the national poverty level to 29% in 2008; however, Panama has the second most unequal income distribution in Latin America. The government has implemented tax reforms, as well as social security reforms, and backs regional trade agreements and development of tourism. Not a CAFTA signatory, Panama in December 2006 independently negotiated a free trade agreement with the USA, which, when implemented, will help promote the country's economic growth.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $38.49 billion (2008 est.)
GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $23.42 billion (2008 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 8.3% (2008)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $11,600 (2008 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
Agriculture: 6.2%
Industry: 16.1%
Services: 77.6% (2008 est.)
Industries: Construction, brewing, cement and other construction materials, sugar milling
Natural Resources: copper, mahogany forests, shrimp, hydropower
Currency: Balboas (PAB)
Shipments of Petroleum through the Panama Canal by Type, 2002-2005. (Source: Panama Canal Authority)
Energy
In 2005, approximately 27.7 million tons of crude oil and petroleum products passed through the Panama Canal, 17 percent of which was crude. Petroleum shipments represented 15 percent of total canal traffic in 2005, up from 12 percent in 2004. About 70 percent of petroleum shipments go from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. In 2005, less than 1 percent of total U.S. crude oil imports and around 3 percent of U.S. petroleum product imports passed through the Panama Canal.
See Energy profile of Central America
Further Reading
- The CIA World Factbook
- World Wildlife Fund Homepage
- Energy profile of Central America from the Energy Information Administration
Return to Panamá's country profile
Return to the Latin America and the Caribbean Collection
Citation
World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International (Lead Author);C Michael Hogan (Contributing Author);CIA::Eia (Content Source);Juan Pablo Arce (Topic Editor) "Panamá". In: Encyclopedia of Earth. Eds. Cutler J. Cleveland (Washington, D.C.: Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment). [First published in the Encyclopedia of Earth January 9, 2010; Last revised Date May 31, 2011; Retrieved February 10, 2012 <http://www.eoearth.org/article/Panam%C3%A1>
The Authors
Known worldwide by its panda logo, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) leads international efforts to protect endangered species and their habitats. Now in its fifth decade, WWF works in more than 100 countries around the globe to conserve the diversity of life on Earth. With nearly 1.2 million members in the U.S. and another 4 million worldwide, WWF is the world's largest privately financed conservation organization. WWF directs its conservation efforts toward three global goals: 1) saving endangered ... (Full Bio)
A U.S.-based, international organization, Conservation International (CI) is a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
CI applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth's richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the biodiversity hotspots, high-biodiversity wilderness areas as well as important marine regions around the globe. With headquarters in Washington, D.C., CI works in more than 40 ... (Full Bio)
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