If you dont protect your nature... who will?

"We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment".

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The antecedent:

One of the problems we still have in Panama, when greed and avarice blindfolded those who want more, is the disregard for our nature.

Many property owners forget or pretend to forget that there are rules written in our constitution and environmental law. The worst is when the biggest cancer of capitalism - corruption - kicks in and spreads to those individuals that are supposed to defend our laws, people, nature and patrimony.

For several decades, money has been paid under the table to proceed with illegal constructions, but nobody cared. There has been several cases, but the ones that hurt the most, are the ones that destroy our ecosystem.

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Not everything is dark, so today I would love to share with you a recent battle that was won by civil groups that are tired of the same story. Civil groups which include locals and expats, children and adults, professionals that still have faith in a better future, a faith that was already lost by our old generations that live here.

In Bocas del Toro, Panama, there is a law that has never been respected when it comes to construction, which is that you can’t build on less than 10 meters from the high tide of the coast.

• Law of July 1st 1998, Chapter VII, Art. 73. Where clearly says Marine and coastal resources are public property and of the State.
• Law 80, 31st of December 2009 Says that in the Atlantic side, the beach shore cannot be titled from the highest level of the tide plus 10 additional meters.

Due to our still centralized government, municipalities from the countryside don't have enough funds to cover their budgets, but also, it’s easy to assume that money is not very well managed. This is one of the reasons why we lack of human resources within governmental entities, such as the one that is suppose to work for our environment.

How is it possible that only 2 government employees without even a car or a boat have to do all the work and take care of an entire archipelago of 9 main islands and around 300 small islands? It’s impossible!

But there is hope, these groups of young smart people have gotten together to make sure that the law is respected.

About the battle won:

One of the expats living here, the owner of a property on this Island, has decided to build what seems to be a house in front of the ocean. This property owner, unfortunately, has a bad reputation for doing things her way most of the time, which is not necessarily bad until you break the law.

As expected, like the rest of construction on the coast, this gated property does not have access to the water or beach for citizens and tourists. In our country, the constitution says that nobody can close access to any beach nor rivers. Beaches are public, and can not be fenced in.

As if that wasn't enough, this person also had the brilliant idea to build a wall to protect “her beach” from erosion, in the ocean, right on top of the coral, where plenty of species live. Regardless of the coral being dead or not, these type of coral provides habitat for many marine animals such as octopus, lobster and fish.

Agaricia Coral reefs, (here in panama) their highly complex skeletal structures provide habitat for dozens of species even after the coral itself had expired. Science researchers in Almirante catalogue the invertebrate diversity still living among the skeletons. Their searching uncovered more than 2,500 living invertebrates from 40 different taxonomic groups, including reef urchins, brittle stars, hermit crabs, and snails.

Here is part of the wall the owner was building:

A good citizen decided to record a video when he discovered this atrocity and another citizen came with his drone for better video shot:

These videos went viral. Our community has several facebook groups to stay informed, and things started to get heated with the videos. People started to get mad about the situation.

The property owner made a long statement. It’s always fair to listen to both versions of the story. See image below:

The point is not about her intentions, clearly the owner cares more about the property investment than about the trees. By the way, all those constructions close to the beach, without proper measurement from high tides, also worsen on the erosion of the soil.

Climate change does exist, and we the humans are responsible for it. And by the way, you can’t stop the course of nature by building a wall in the ocean.

”I just don't see it fair to be punished to do now after considerable thoughts, what everyone along that stretch has done to protect their private properties”

This reminds me of a previous post: Busted Littering!, so because there is trash in the street, then it’s ok to continue littering.
So because others are building seawalls and doing whatever they want without proper permits, it should be ok for her to do the same. Really? I mean what type of argument is this?

What did the civil groups do to win this battle?

Well, things are not like back in the 80’s or even the 90’s. Before things were done and people found out much later, when it was too late to stop illegal constructions. There is an infinity of stories where permits were given by just paying whoever was in charge.

Now we have technology, digital cameras, drones, social media, but most important, a lot of young and passionate people that are ready to speak out when it’s needed.

Let's talk about these interesting facts: there was no municipal permit, nor the most important one, which is the Environmental Impact Study. Also, the owner of the property had her workers building that seawall only during the weekends!.

A lot of people started to rant over social media. Civil groups started to contact authorities, the mayor, police, and the Director of the Environmental Department of the region. They had to react because internet is our best ally, right?

Here is a picture of the local authorities visiting the area to make their report:

Now the owner is removing what she has done so far and will face a serious legal repercussions.

This person, may not be a bad person, although people talk about this property owner as a criminal. Still I feel sorry for this property owner. The good thing is that this person will think twice before avoiding the legal procedures again.

Conclusion:

It’s true, there are more horrifying things going on in this planet, probably after reading this you have thought about similar situations in your town. Still, learning how to pick your battles is something you only learn through life. If it was it for me, I would love to be an Environmental Super Hero, but thats not possible.

What is possible, is to speak out and do what you can with what you have to stop things that are wrong.

Is it dangerous? It could be, of course. That is why education is important, you can do a lot by joining social groups in your town that help the environment and animals.

Remember something, we all live in the same home, Planet Earth!

If you don’t protect your nature, then who will?

Waiting for others to do it instead, is also being part of the problem.

Thanks!

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Special thanks to @evecab who took my thumbnail picture, one of the most beautiful pics of our home.

Sources:
Law July 1st 1998
Law 80, 31st of December 2009

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