Sustainability Analysis in La Amistad Panama Biosphere Reserve

This study is a valuation model of sustainability in a biosphere reserve. It was applied to the La Amistad Panama Biosphere Reserve (RBLAP), located in the northwest of the Republic of Panama, in Central America. The evaluation model is intended to be widely used in the analysis of whole sustainability and nature conservation status in any other biosphere reserve of the world. As the main methodology were used the indicators recommended by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD indicators). They were chosen because they are the most complete set of indicators available. They have been discussed in extensive global consultations and adapted with consensus on the global agenda on this topic. This study also shows, in the sense of a didactic exercise, how recommendations on sustainable development issues were evolving in global forums, especially since 1980 with the publication of the World Conservation Strategy of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of the Nature) and the Brundtland Report of 1987 and subsequent United Nations conferences about development and environment. Based from these ideas, the concept of the Biosphere Reserve developed the own conceptual framework, or guidelines of sustainable development, beyond the biological issue of biodiversity conservation by itself. The valuation of each of the CSD indicators in LAPBR was necessary to define with certainty the extent of the area of the biosphere reserve. This study analyzed the boundaries of the core, buffer, and transition zones of the LAPBR. The map of LAPBR was clearly defined, because many indicators under analysis required a precise area for the analysis. The result of sustainability analysis is based on a network of indicators that are grouped in three pillars. These three main theoretical pillars of sustainable development are presented in this research: The social, the environmental (segregated in general and nature conservation) and the economic pillar. These pillars are divided into sub-issues in order to deal with more specific analysis. Thus, the RBLAP has a total of 56.3% of progress in sustainability, which is a low percentage compared to the acceptable minimum (>70%). In the pillar analysis, the best progress in sustainable development is the environmental pillar with 73.3%, 46.7% for social pillar and 36.1% for the economic pillar. The progress for the environmental sub-pillar about general-physical indicators was 71.64% and for the environmental sub-pillar of nature conservation was 75%. The synopsis of the study shows that if the CSD indicators are segregated into subpillars and themes then they can be used for the public and decision-makers, and of course, for development programs and projects in a biosphere reserve with the purpose to improve the levels of advances in sustainable development. The conclusions show that the whole set of CSD indicators used are adequate to properly assess sustainability, including analysis of nature conservation within a biosphere reserve, and therefore can be seen as the best way to incorporate a priority and biologically rich area within the global agenda of sustainable development.