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The "Naso Region" Of Protected Palo Seco Forest Between Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí (A World Heritage Site) To Become Indigenous Region


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World Heritage site to become indigenous region

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Amistad Iternational Park
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Thousands of hectares of two protected areas, one of them a World Heritage Site, will be granted to the Naso region under the protection of a bill endorsed in first debate, which creates that indigenous region.

The proposal, , creates the region on 125,141 hectares belonging to the Amistad International Park (PILA) and 21,722 hectares of the Protected Forest Palo Seco, between Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí.

The PILA was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco ), a distinction shared with neighboring y Costa Rica. Reports La Prensa.

The natural reserve has 400,000 hectares, with  193.000 are in Costa Rica and 207,000 in Panama.

Both the PILA and Palo Seco Protected Forest are part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, a chain of natural reserves that extends throughout Central America, to ensure their conservation.

Environment Minister, Emilio Sempris, said that the Legal Department is evaluating the scope of the bill.

Currently, the Naso district is a corregimiento inhabited by some 5,000 people distributed in 12 settlements.

The PILA would lose 125,000 hectares  Over  60% of the 207,000 thousand hectares that make up the Panamanian region of La Amistad International Park (PILA), between Bocas del Toro and Chiriquí, would become part of the Naso Tjer Di region.

This is established in Bill 656 that creates the region and that was approved in the first debate by the Indigenous Affairs Committee of the National Assembly.

The issue generates controversy because the PILA is a protected area of the country and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 by UNESCO.

 

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/panama/world-heritage-site-to-become-indigenous-region

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Indigenous King of Panama claims the right of his ethnic group to control their lands

Sun, 11/04/2018 - 19:40

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Naso people, one of the seven indigenous ethnic groups in Panama, are not willing to "create a republic within another republic" but have control of the lands they have been living in for centuries, said its leader, King Reynaldo Alexis Santana.

On October 25, the Panamanian parliament passed bill 656, creating the Naso Community and has yet to be approved by the country's president, Juan Carlos Varela, to enter into force.

The monarch, on the throne since 2011, explained that the bill establishes that the Naso people "will perpetually own the rights and will enjoy" a territory of more than 160,000 hectares in the province of Bocas del Toro, in the Panamanian Caribbean.

"We do not want to be a republic within another republic and we are not going to dismiss the Government or the Constitution. We are Panamanians, but we want to have control over our lands," he said.

The creation of the region, which would be officially the sixth region in Panama, is a historical claim of this indigenous people who live in the mountains of western Panama and which has been governed for centuries by a kind of assembly monarchy.

"We know exactly what we have to do if Juan Carlos Varela does not sign the law. The seven original peoples of Panama are very coordinated and we will close the borders with Costa Rica and Colombia if we do not get our region," he said.

Santana, who assures that the Naso people are the last indigenous kingdom of America, said that the constitution of this autonomous territory will force the Panamanian Government to request authorization from its people to undertake any type of project.

Environmentalist are concerned about the management of the forests and have opposed the bill, since the possible region will cover more than 125,000 hectares of La Amistad International Park.

This park is an exuberant nature reserve that is part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor and was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1983.

"We have been protecting our forests for more than 500 years, because we love it. It is part of our essence, and in the hands of the Government, our resources are in danger because they can sell them, as they did with the land where the hydroelectric plant is located," he recalled.

Santana, whose family has been reigning for at least two centuries, was convinced that the demarcation of the territory will bring welfare to the Naso people, made up of about 5,000 inhabitants who live scattered in a score of semi-isolated villages where there is no water and electricity.

The region, he said, will also stop the migration of young people to the cities and the loss of traditions.

The Naso people have one of the most unique cultures in Latin America. The throne used to pass from parents to children, but for a few years the own subjects are the ones who choose the monarch among the members of the royal family who decide to present themselves to the "elections", including women.

The current king, who relies to govern in an advisory council and in the traditional authorities of justice, competed seven years ago against a cousin and an uncle for the crown of eagle feathers and the scepter of cocobolo.

The people also have the power to dismiss and exile the sovereign, as was done with King Tito, who unilaterally authorized the construction of the Bonyic hydroelectric dam in the sacred waters of the Teribe river.

"We are the only indigenous people in America that is still governed by a king.  For us it is an achievement to have maintained this monarchical regime so far and the region will do us justice," he said.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/indigenous-king-panama-claims-right-his-ethnic-group-control-their-lands-8301

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Panamanian indigenous threaten with protests if autonomous region is not created

Tue, 12/04/2018 - 18:52

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Indigenous authorities threatened today to organize protests and "close roads" if the Panamanian government does not create an autonomous region for the Naso people, one of the seven original ethnic groups in the country.

"Today is the 40th working day that the president had to formalize the Comarca Naso; we want him to tell us what he is going to do, because if his intention is to back down, the indigenous peoples of Panama will go out to protest and close roads," the maximum leader of the Naso people, King Reynaldo Alexis Santana, told Efe.

On October 25, the Panamanian parliament passed bill 656, which creates the Comarca Naso in the mountains of the western part of the country and must be approved by Panamanian president, Juan Carlos Varela, to enter into force.

The bill establishes that the Naso people "will perpetually own the rights and will enjoy" a territory of more than 160,000 hectares in the Caribbean province of Bocas del Toro, which in practice implies that the Government will undertake to ask for authorization to carry out any type of project.

The creation of the region, which if finally became official would be the sixth in the country, is a historical claim of this indigenous people that has been governed for centuries by a kind of assembly monarchy.

"We have our own customs, our own language, and we are the only people in Latin America that is governed by a king, so it is necessary to create the region to safeguard our culture," the monarch said after attending a press conference with leaders of other ethnicities.

"We have been protecting our forests and natural resources for more than 500 years and we will continue to do so," he added.

In Panama there are about 400,000 indigenous people, who represent about 11 percent of the total population and are grouped into 7 main ethnic groups: Emberá, Wounaan, Guna, Ngäbe, Buglé, Naso and Bri-Bri.

Many of these people live in the five indigenous regions that currently have their own legal recognition and autonomy: Embera-Wounaan, Guna Yala, Ngäbe-Buglé, Madugandi and Wargandi.

The management of forests is the main concern of environmentalists, who have opposed the bill, since the Naso region would cover more than 125,000 hectares of La Amistad International Park, a lush natural reserve that is part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

"The Naso region is not a danger for protected areas; on the contrary, multiple scientific studies show that the recognition of indigenous lands is the most profitable, efficient and sustainable means of conservation," said the National Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples (Coonapip) and general cacique of the Emberá Wounaan people, Elibardo Membache.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/panamanian-indigenous-threaten-protests-if-autonomous-region-not-created-8585

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President of Panama vetoed establishing indigenous environmental

Sun, 12/16/2018 - 14:10

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The president of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela, vetoed as "inconvenient" a bill approved by the Parliament, which has an opposition majority, which creates a new indigenous region in the country, the Panamanian government reported today.

On October 25, the Parliament approved a bill that creates the Naso Tjer Di indigenous region, which would be the sixth in Panama and would be located in the western zone, near the border with Costa Rica.

The Executive said in a statement released by local media that the delimitations of the new region proposed in the legislative project "incorporates land that currently belongs to the La Amistad International Park (...) and the Protected Forest Palo Seco, both protected areas "

Panama and Costa Rica share La Amistad International Park, which has an area of 401,000 hectares and was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1983, which also declared it International Peace Park in 1988.

The Palo Seco Protected Forest covers an area of 254,445 hectares, was created by Executive Decree 1983, and its varied habitats serve as a refuge for a great diversity of flora and fauna species, including numerous endemic highland species of Panama.

"Objection is made because it alters the condition of protected areas established by current law, to allow occupation under the figure of collective property, to the detriment of the preservation, renewal, and permanence of forests, land and water," according to the information. official.

The project approved by the National Assembly, of 71 seats, the great majority in the hands of the opposition, establishes that the lands located within the territory Naso Tjer Di "are the collective property of that people, who will administer it, will possess their rights in a perpetual way and it will benefit, in order to achieve its economic, social, cultural and political well-being ".

As with the protected reservations of the United States and in Venezuela, a country located in northern South America, there are also aborigines who are the absolute owners of the lands south of the world's fifth largest oil exporter, but they are destroying their environment. The lands are devastated, what will happen in Panama with this national park?

Now it would be necessary to see if in the ecosystem of this Panamanian national reserve there is no deforestation by the so sensitive habitats of the zone and the endemic animals as well as species of the region.

President Varela urged in his communiqué on Saturday that there be a consensual and balanced proposal that fits within the territory that the Naso people really occupy for their economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing.

In Panama there are about 400,000 indigenous people, who represent about 11 percent of the total population and are grouped into 7 main ethnic groups: Emberá, Wounaan, Guna, Ngäbe, Buglé, Naso and Bri-Bri.

Many of these people live in the five indigenous regions that currently have their own legal recognition and autonomy: Embera-Wounaan, Guna Yala, Ngäbe-Buglé, Madugandi and Wargandi.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/president-panama-vetoed-establishing-indigenous-environmental-8682

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Indigenous Naso receive new support from the Parliament of Panama for “comarca”

Fri, 02/22/2019 - 13:48

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The Naso people, one of the seven indigenous ethnic groups living in Panama, is backed by the Parliament, which rejected a presidential veto and approved the creation of its district, although everything points to the fact that it will be Supreme Court will have the last word.

The Panamanian Parliament approved on Wednesday night "for insistence" a law that protects that territory and that was previously vetoed by the Panamanian president, Juan Carlos Varela, informed this Thursday official sources.

The National Assembly, of 71 deputies and of the opposition majority, approved Law 656, by which the Naso Comarca is created in the mountains of the northwestern Caribbean province of Bocas del Toro and it is expected that Varela will send it to the highest court to decide whether or not its creation proceeds, or that it changes his mind and sanctions the law.

"We have the right to have a territorial security that recognizes our region, we are a people with a culture of our own", said the leader of the Naso, King Reynaldo Alexis Santana, to Acan-Efe.

The law was approved by Parliament last October, but vetoed two months later by Varela, for being "inconvenient and unconstitutional".

The president argued that the initiative needs to be more discussed because the delimited land covers more than 125,000 hectares of La Amistad International Park, a lush natural reserve that is part of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

"We have no hope that the government will sign the law, but we will continue to press and we will organize meetings with the seven presidential candidates (in the elections next May) to make sure we are on the agenda of the next government", Santana said.

The law establishes that the Naso people, composed of some 5,000 people, "will perpetually own the rights and will enjoy" a territory of more than 160,000 hectares in Bocas del Toro, which in practice implies that the Government will be obliged to ask for authorization to undertake any type of work.

The creation of the region, which will be the sixth in Panama, is a historical claim of the Naso, who have been ruled for centuries by a kind of assembly monarchy and claiming to be the only people in Latin America with a king.

In Panama there are about 400,000 indigenous people, who represent about 11 percent of the total population and are grouped into seven main ethnic groups: Emberá, Wounaan, Guna, Ngäbe, Buglé, Naso and Bri-Bri.

Many of these people live in the five indigenous regions that currently have their own legal recognition and autonomy: Emberá-Wounaan, Guna Yala, Ngäbe-Buglé, Madugandí and Wargandí.

Although the Central American country is one of the fastest growing in the region, the situation of indigenous people is precarious, as poverty affects 96.7% of the population and chronic malnutrition affects 72% of children under 5 years of age, according to the latest official survey.

 

https://www.panamatoday.com/panama/indigenous-naso-receive-new-support-parliament-panama-comarca-9334

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