PANAMA, Escudo de Veraguas Island - January 2012
Alternative cooking technology, signage, and mooring buoys for the protection of species including Pygmy sloths
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Escudo de Veraguas, a 1.3 square mile island located off the Caribbean Coast of Panama´s Bocas del Toro region, is home to several endemic species, including the critically-endangered pygmy three-toed sloth (Bradypus pigmaeus) and neotropical fruit bat (Artibeus incomitatus). The island is ringed by 618 acres of mangrove forest – the only known habitat of the pygmy sloth – and 247 acres of coral reef with 55 coral species. Escudo de Veraguas is traditionally considered the birthplace of the Gnobe Bugle people, but until 15 years ago it remained largely unpopulated. However, this all has changed as Gnobe Bugle fishermen from nearby coastal towns moving in, first using the island as a departure point for fishing parties and later turning it into a permanent settlement. Now a permanent population of 120 fishermen and their families use the island as a base for their fishing for their own consumption as well as selling to local markets and resorts. Local dwellers depend on cutting mangrove trees to make charcoal for cooking; the forest, habitat for the pygmy sloths, has been reduced by 25 percent. To help reduce cutting of mangroves for charcoal, as well as provide a healthier alternative to women who are exposed to high levels of carbon monoxide by cooking with charcoal indoors, Seacology is providing two environmentally-sound cooking alternatives, the “Hotpot” solar energy-based ovens and the “Vesto” stove, to each household to reduce dependence on charcoal and, hence, the cutting of red mangrove. Seacology is also providing signage and mooring buoys to mark access areas and allow anchoring that does not harm fragile coral reef.
