Paving the Path of the Quetzals

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Paving the Path of the Quetzals (Cont.)


	Environmental battleground: The Sendero de los Quetzales (Ronni Flannery)

By paving the Sendero de los Quetzales, the Moscoso administration aims to connect Boquete with the rich farming region around Cerro Punta, where over half of Panama's vegetables are grown. Administration Press and Information Adviser Mario Rognoni says building a road will make the area more accessible to tourists via the Inter-American Highway (turning a one-hour drive around Volcán Barú into a ten-minute straight shot through the park), and would shorten the distance between highland village communities to the north.

So what's the administration's rationale for selecting a route that slices through the biosphere reserve? The Sendero de los Quetzales traverses a less rugged landscape than alternative routes, making it the least expensive construction option. "All residents want a road built," says Rognoni, "The controversy arises in the route selected, not the road itself. Even those who favor the alternate route are interested in the road."

But opponents of the project say that a paved byway through the park would allow predators easy access to quetzal nests, destroy seed trees the quetzals depend upon for food, and facilitate poaching, illegal logging, and other habitat-destroying activities. Over the past months, a broad coalition of activists and concerned citizens has launched a campaign to stop the road, marking the rare appearance of an environmental issue on center stage in Panamanian affairs. Lider Sucre, executive director of ANCON, Panama's foremost environmental advocacy group, said, "Rarely have we seen such a level of activity from such a broad spectrum of entities. [In Panama] it's very rare that an environmental issue causes so much activism in a rural area. This has really been a watershed crusade."

Despite public opposition, Moscoso has rejected counter-proposals to site the road outside the critical quetzal habitat. In December 2002, facing organized demonstrations, Moscoso declared the road of "notorious urgency"—a designation intended for disaster relief in cases of hurricanes, floods or other natural catastrophes—and awarded the $4.6 million construction contract to a firm of her choosing, avoiding review and public comment processes, and subsequently triggering a lawsuit from ANCON. In an effort to ensure that the project would be pushed through, the Moscoso administration then introduced an amendment changing the regulations that govern Volcán Barú National Park—the first-ever alteration to the park's charter—and by executive fiat legalized all previously proscribed activities associated with the road's construction.

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