PANAMA, Kuna Yala Archipelago - July 2010
Waste management system for Carti Island communities
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Kuna Yala is an autonomous territory or comarca in Panama, inhabited by the Kuna indigenous people. Kuna Yala is 924 square miles and has a population of 36,487 people (2004). About 36 of the comarca’s 365 islands are inhabited by Kuna communities, with an additional 13 communities located on the mainland coast. Kuna Yala also houses a biosphere reserve, the Narganá Protected Area, which covers 386 square miles. Kuna Yala´s beaches are one of the least impacted and best protected nesting grounds for the critically-endangered Leatherback sea turtle. Carti is a group of island communities totalling about 1,000 residents located in the western side of the Kuna Yala Indigenous Territory. Relatively easy access to Carti and the incredible beauty of its white sand beaches are the main reasons that tourism has significantly increased. Tourism has brought a problem: a major increase in garbage. Seacology is providing equipment for a comprehensive waste management and recycling system for the five island communities where the Kuna have installed homestay facilities. In exchange for the equipment, the Kuna Indigenous Congress along with the Carti community leadership will draft waste management regulations for the area, comprising more than 7,413 acres of marine, island and coastal habitat. It is expected that the improvised landfills and the pollution they bring will begin to disappear, helping secure the long-term survival of this mostly pristine natural environment and turning tourism into a more sustainable and less polluting economic activity. 
UPDATE September 2010 - As of September 2010 field representative Lenin Riquelme reports that he traveled to Kuna Yala to meet with the community leaders who agreed on a project work plan, installment schedule and fiscal administrator but have not yet signed the community covenant. After a second meeting with 5 of the community leaders and a member of the Kuna General Congress in Panama City, the Congress officially approved the project and the community leaders are ready to sign the covenant. They plan to have a signing ceremony at a community gathering in the Carti area.
UPDATE December 2010 - According to Field Representative Lenin Riquelme, all equipment needed to establish the waste management system has been purchased, including 18 can crushers, 12 manual shredders, 12 plastic shredders and 90 55-gallon barrels. Elias Pérez, a Kuna teacher and community leader, has signed a six-month agreement with CONAVI, starting in January 2011, to be the project´s field coordinator. Unprecedented rains and flooding have impacted Eastern Panama, including Kuna Yala, in late November/early December, preventing the delivery of the equipment. The Pan-American highway flooded in several sections along the way to the El Llano-Carti Road that connects Panama City with Kuna Yala. The El Llano-Cartí road closed due to major mudslides, and airplane service to Kuna Yala is scarce as of 12/13/10; the few incoming flights are either delivering emergency food and assistance or taking locals and tourists out of the area. Equipment delivery and related field activities have been put off until weather conditions improve and the El Llano-Cartí road is re-opened, hopefully in early 2011.
UPDATE June 2011 - Now that repairs to the roads after the floods have finally been completed and the Kuna Congress has issued permission to proceed, delivery of equipment has recently started. One mid-sized truck is allowed twice a week, leaving the equipment at Nigga Kantule, a coastal pick-up point. From there, Elias Perez - the project´s field coordinator- picks it up and brings it aboard his 25-foot boat to deliver it to the beneficiary island communities. Can crushers, manual shredders and plastic shredders have reached their destinations already while the 55-gallon barrels are steadily being transported, 10 units at a time, given their size and the safety precautions strongly enforced on the road. With road conditions improved and relatively mild weather, delivery of equipment should be completed before late May, when a waste management instructor, already under contract, will conduct training in island communities.
Indicates full or partial funding by Seacology UK
