Panama Canal Climate Plan Would Ease Shipping, Disrupt Rural Life

TaiwanPlus News

The Panama Canal is faced with longer dry spells that make it harder to operate. But the plan to address this issue with a massive dam and reservoir comes with cons and well as pros.

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00:00For 110 years, the Panama Canal has been the shortcut between the Pacific and Atlantic

00:07Oceans, carrying 2.5 percent of global seaborne trade and letting thousands of ships per year

00:13go where they're going much faster.

00:15But climate change is putting this engineering marvel, so crucial to global trade, under

00:20strain.

00:21The dry season is growing longer in this part of the world.

00:26Experts are making it harder to keep the canal running.

00:29And scientists predict the water shortage will only get worse, leaving the canal with

00:34a problem.

00:35The Panama Canal is a canal that works with fresh water, and that imposes a relative disadvantage

00:43in relation to all the other systems of maritime navigation in the world.

00:47The canal's administration has a plan, but it will be costly in more ways than one.

00:53Rural Tres Hermanas in western Panama is a world away from the bustling canal locks.

00:59But its fate, and that of the hamlets around it, may end up tightly linked to the canals.

01:04The two schools, the church, the clinic and all the farmland here may be underwater in

01:09six years' time, as plans to build a massive US$1.6 billion reservoir by around 2030 gain

01:16momentum.

01:181.25 billion cubic meters of fresh water would collect here, letting as many as 15 more vessels

01:24transit the canal per year.

01:27But the over 2,000 farmers living here, the exact number isn't yet worked out, will need

01:32to leave.

01:33But local residents say that while they aren't necessarily against this change, these conversations

01:53aren't happening.

02:03There's also debate about the environmental impact.

02:27Canal administrators say the reservoir will provide much-needed drinking water to Panama's

02:31thirsty and growing population.

02:35But environmentalists foresee damage to endemic species, and more bad ecological outcomes

02:40than good.

02:42The project isn't inevitable.

02:44It still needs to pass a public consultation, discussion in the cabinet, and an OK from

02:50the National Assembly.

02:52But local activists say if it does, one of the biggest changes it would bring would be

02:57the disappearance of a rural way of life.

03:15No matter the final decision, Panama may find it has to sacrifice something as climate pressures

03:21mount.

03:22The smooth running of a global trade artery that helps sustain the nation, or the natural

03:27diversity and rural rhythms that risk disappearing under the floodwaters.

03:31Patrick Chen and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.

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