Projects That Never Happened: Ecological Insights from Darien, Panama

Early ecological research on Darien, Panama, demonstrated the critical importance of thorough and rapid data collection to evaluate large-scale environmental impacts. Studies conducted in the 1960s by Frank Golley and colleagues provided essential insights into the structure and biodiversity of the Darien tropical rainforest, which significantly influenced the abandonment of two major development projects: Project Plowshare (a proposed sea-level canal using nuclear explosions) and the Pan American Highway. These findings highlighted the ecological, economic, and cultural costs of such projects, leading to the establishment of Alto Darién Protection Forest in 1972 and later, Darién National Park. The research underscored the need for timely ecological data to prevent irreversible environmental damage and informed the conservation efforts that protected one of Central America's most biodiverse rainforests.

Covich, A. P. (2015). Projects That Never Happened: Ecological Insights from Darien, Panama. The Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 96(1), 54–63. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1890/0012-9623-96.1.54