User:Msalceda1/Panama Canal

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While the Panama Canal has brought numerous advantages for Panama, we cannot ignore all the downsides that come with it. The Panama Canal has had a huge negative impact on the environment and the ecosystems near the Panama Canal Zone. This includes water pollution, oil spill incidents, more invasive species, higher Green House Gasses emissions and more.

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In 1978, it was published that "clearing the forest in the watershed might kill the canal". In 1985, the forested portion had dropped to 30%. As of 2000, deforestation through growth of human population, land degradation, erosion, and overhunting continued to be threats to the ecosystem of the Panama canal watershed. Deforestation causes erosion, raising the bottom of the Gatun and Alajuala lakes lowering their water holding capacity. Ship traffic routinely contaminates the water; in 1986, a crude oil spill east of the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal killed plants and invertebrates.

The shipping industry is one of the main contributors to the emission of greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, methane, etc. These emissions mainly happen in places called chokepoints, which are narrow passages where ships pass through. One of the most famous chokepoints worldwide is the Panama Canal. There is a lot of congestion, traffic, and inefficiency that causes the shipments to burn more fuel and emit more gasses. GHG emissions are at an all-time high because of the increasing use of maritime trade, industrial activities and use of fossil fuels for combustible. People are looking for sustainable ways to hinder this since this affects climate change, environmental sustainability and operating costs.

The environment around the Canal has suffered even more since the third set of locks was inaugurated in the Panama Canal expansion in June 2016. This caused an increase in worldwide trade that proportionally increased maritime traffic and more congestions in the trade routes. Additionally, it led to more invasions since now it is easier for invasive species to travel from one place to another. These species cling to the ship and move from one place to another, something that without the boats they would not have been able to do.   One great example is the "Asian Green Mussel". This invasive specie was first found in the Caribbean waters in the late 1990s and slowly spread throughout the Panama Canal.

The practice of river damming has become increasingly popular because of the high demand of hydroelectric power and water near the Panama Canal area. While it has multiple benefits, it also has many draw backs such as negatively affecting the environment around it. This includes the animals, ecosystems, habitats, and the water quality itself of these rivers. An example of this is the enormous amount of water they use for every operation "An average of 200,000,000 L (52,000,000 US gal) of fresh water is used in a single passing of a ship." This water comes from the Gatun Lake, which is the capital's primary source of potable water. It is alarming how much water they use, which is water taken away from this community. On 2019, Panama faced one of its worst droughts in history because of the excessive amounts of water the Canal was using for its operations, severely lowering the water levels of the Gatun Lake.

the Gatun Lake faced a severe drought because References

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2. Lariccia, Dante “Empire, Globalization, Environmental Management: Regulating Pollution at the Panama Canal”. Published in June 2024. https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-abstract/48/3/398/7619564?redirectedFrom=fulltext

3. “Long-term consequences of river damming in the Panama Canal” by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Published on July 10, 2020 https://phys.org/news/2020-07-long-term-consequences-river-panama-canal.html

4. Fuentes, Gabriel and Adland, Roar “Greenhouse gas mitigation at maritime chokepoints: The case of the Panama Canal” Published in May 2023

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8. "Location, location, location – Why the Panama Canal matters" Wallenius Wilhelmsenhttps://www.walleniuswilhelmsen.com/insights/location-location-location-why-the-panama-canal-matters#:~:text=An%20average%20of%20200%2C000%2C000%20L,critical%20artery%20in%20global%20shipping.