Juan Carlos Rivera (2014–2015/Panama) Leading Mangrove Reforestation Project with Peace Corps
We are pleased to share recent news of 2014–2015 Fellow Juan Carlos Rivera of Panama, who is leading a mangrove reforestation joint project between the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá (UTP) and Peace Corps Panama. Together with UTP Professor Eny Serrano and two volunteers, Juan and fifty of his students have so far planted over 10,000 mangrove seedlings in the Azuero Peninsula—Mr. Rivera’s home region and the location of UTP’s Azuero Campus.
“This region has been severely impacted by deforestation and salinization due to unsustainable farming and shrimp farming practices,” Juan explains. “Cutting down mangrove forests affects marine nurseries and, in turn, our fisheries. Moreover, with the barrier that the mangroves once provided now gone, salty breezes make their way inland and deteriorate the soil.”
Juan and his team are working to reforest sixty abandoned shrimp farms with native mangrove trees.
