In collaboration with local landowners, Azuero Earth Project (AEP) is restoring habitat along a corridor of more than 120 km in Panama. With an area of nearly 25,000 hectares that includes nearly 400 privately-owned properties, the project aims to gradually restore a critically important tropical dry forest ecosystem and support sustainable land use practices in the Azuero.
A group of scientists and local landowners founded AEP to share their appreciation of natural ecosystems through restoring the dry forest that they and the surrounding communities depend on. Since 2010, they have been dedicated to reforestation, habitat restoration, sustainable land management, and environmental education. AEP's mission is to preserve the earth’s ecosystems, protect biodiversity, and promote healthy communities by helping people to make informed decisions, take sustainable actions, and share knowledge. It combines community outreach with science and fieldwork to create models that are scalable and replicable worldwide.
AEP supports reforestation on farms near a biological corridor that will span the entire peninsula and connect Cerro Hoya National Park with the Achotines Forest through the following strategy:
- Determine the ideal location of the corridor using GIS (Completed, 2013)
- Form a growing movement of landowners in the corridor area dedicated to reforestation and sustainable land management, determining individual and collective needs and resources (In progress)
- Work with landowners to provide technical and, when appropriate, financial assistance to support reforestation (In progress)
AEP supports its sustainable land management and habitat restoration initiatives through 3 in-house programs:
- Tree Seedling Nursery: Each year AEP grows thousands of native, fruit and timber seedlings for planting out in the field during the June-July reforestation season.
- Organic Garden: AEP's garden serves as a trial ground for testing organic agricultural practices that can be applied on a broader scale.
- Seed Bank: AEP collects seed from local plants and trees to exchange with other community members and local seed banks.
AEP also works with Initiative 20x20 partner Alianza por el Millión to scale up the restoration movement across Panama.
Country
Panama
In collaboration with local landowners, Azuero Earth Project (AEP) is restoring habitat along a corridor of more than 120 km in Panama. With an area of nearly 25,000 hectares that includes nearly 400 privately-owned properties, the project aims to gradually restore a critically important tropical dry forest ecosystem and support sustainable land use practices in the Azuero.
A group of scientists and local landowners founded AEP to share their appreciation of natural ecosystems through restoring the dry forest that they and the surrounding communities depend on. Since 2010, they have been dedicated to reforestation, habitat restoration, sustainable land management, and environmental education. AEP's mission is to preserve the earth’s ecosystems, protect biodiversity, and promote healthy communities by helping people to make informed decisions, take sustainable actions, and share knowledge. It combines community outreach with science and fieldwork to create models that are scalable and replicable worldwide.
AEP supports reforestation on farms near a biological corridor that will span the entire peninsula and connect Cerro Hoya National Park with the Achotines Forest through the following strategy:
- Determine the ideal location of the corridor using GIS (Completed, 2013)
- Form a growing movement of landowners in the corridor area dedicated to reforestation and sustainable land management, determining individual and collective needs and resources (In progress)
- Work with landowners to provide technical and, when appropriate, financial assistance to support reforestation (In progress)
AEP supports its sustainable land management and habitat restoration initiatives through 3 in-house programs:
- Tree Seedling Nursery: Each year AEP grows thousands of native, fruit and timber seedlings for planting out in the field during the June-July reforestation season.
- Organic Garden: AEP's garden serves as a trial ground for testing organic agricultural practices that can be applied on a broader scale.
- Seed Bank: AEP collects seed from local plants and trees to exchange with other community members and local seed banks.
AEP also works with Initiative 20x20 partner Alianza por el Millión to scale up the restoration movement across Panama.
Country
Panama
