An ecological disaster in the making!

Well, it has been a while since our last posting. As you may imagine, the fight against the real estate absurdity of building monstrous towers near Panama's pristine periurban forests takes quite a bit of time.

The project Clayton View as other Panama's destroying projects, however, does not rest and keeps on selling itself. Newspaper and internet ads continue to pour around us to entice propective buyers such as american and european retirees to buy out and destroy the natural resources of Panama, the most delicate land link in the Americas.

One of the ads being posted in internet says that the design of the project is "ecological". Sorry we cannot publish their ads or their pictures because freedom of expression against commercial ventures that destroy Panama may be penalized -yes, it seems odd but it has happened-. Commercial foreign investment has the right-of-way versus open, honest and frank verbal and written opposition. And besides, the architect of the project happens to be the vice-minister of tourism, who is now in Europe promoting Panama's tourism, but nothing stops him on selling his project while not in official business. We just hope Panama's taxpayers money is not being used to finance or cover any expenses of the promotion of this project there or anywhere.

It is easy to see, when the area of the project is examined, that the project is not ecological, in fact, Clayton View project will be an ECOLOGICAL DISASTER! It will set a precedent on the destruction of the beauty of tropical rain forests in a periurban setting in the Americas, and perhaps in the whole world!

Allegations that the project will be "ecological" is millions of kilometers away from the truth. Just open a search engine and punch "Clayton View", and see for yourself. Where in the world you can find three apartment towers 18-stories high in the middle of two forests which have only 4 to 5 stories height? Try Google, try any other search engine, the closer you will see something similar is in the eastern Europe where 5 to 6 stories apartment buildings are being constructed near pine forests, but that's it. Other site is Japan, but there they reach only to 8 stories.

To illustrate our point of view, and you will be convinced is the right point of view, first check the first figure. That is the average satellite photo view of Clayton, north of the city of Panama.

In this photo you can see how green is Clayton. A few houses, not higher than two to three stories, spread over leaving plenty of open green spaces, most filled with beautiful trees. (A warning note: the Ministry of Finances is planning the sale of almost all these green rainforest areas to more developers for the following four months!)

Animals, such as medium and small mammals, amphibians and reptiles as well as thousands of tropical and migratory neotropical birds, move around these fragmented forest areas, in what are essentially wildlife corridors. These passage greenways are shown next, based on actual observations of movement of these animals.

The green arrow lines show the actual wildlife passages observed day and night for many years before the government started selling off the unbuilt land. The passage indicated with yellow arrows (which is oriented NW to SE) is specially critical since it maintain connection between the riparian forest to the SE, and the forested hill to the NE. It happens to be the location of the project Clayton View. The next picture shows an aerial perspective of the area.

The yellow arrow indicates the place for the project. Check in the next picture for a closer satellite view of the site. Where you see the centered white cross (too thin) is where the middle of three 18-stories tower of the project might be built.

The next picture shows in more detail how animals, terrestrial and aerial pass through the site.

This was a fact not mentioned by the environmental impact study but nevertheless it was approved by the national environmental authority. Tropical endangered bird species such as the tucan, pass through and some even live there. The next picture shows you exactly the location of the project in red frame.


Notice how the towers, marked by the red frame, are in the way of the passage, acting like a blockade, a great wall. To be even more precise so you, our dear reader and person concerned about the destruction of Panama, the next picture shows a closer view of the site. In the foreground is the forested hill with the water tank on top, and in the background the riparian forest of the Cardenas river. To the center is one of peaceful low-residential neighborhoods of Clayton. The passage most birds use here is shown with a yellow arrow.

Notice the size of the houses: simple single- and two-stories dwellings. In the next picture, you have a rendering, ours based on the project environmental study and ads published in local newspapers and the internet. No image from the developers has been used, we do not want to be sued for stealing "intellectual" property or infringe copyrights, of the three 18-stories monstrous towers of the project.

It is obvious that the project will be overwhelmingly high. It will be a "great wall" that will block the passage of wildlife, especially birds, whose richness is one of the attractions of tourism to Panama in the first place. Does not sound contradictory that a person serving as officer for tourism is proposing a project that will destroy one of the source of that tourism? But that is how Panama is being run nowadays.

If you block the passage of rainforest birds, who fly mostly under the canopies of trees, they will not contribute with seed or nutrients dispersal. After a while the forests will start to die and disappear. It may take decades or a few years. Everybody has seen it everywhere else in Panama and in the rest of the world.

Well, you may ask why things so uncomprehensive like this just happen. The answer is simple. In Panama, where the environment is not a thing to care for, the government changed the laws whenever they saw fit -the executive and the congress are controlled by one political party-, they changed land-use and zoning so periurban forests can be sprayed with high-rise apartment buildings. They took away powers from the Environmental Authority so pristine islands, biological and wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands and mangroves, biosphere rainforsts could be sold to build high-rise apartment buildings and luxury villas and resorts with golf courses signed by reknown golfers such as John Nicklaus.

Public nature reserves and resources are being purchased by top movie producers and actors, even music icons and pop artists. One wonders, so much campaigning by these same people for the environment in their countries and in popular venues, but they keep on buying small developing countries' rainforests and by that end up destroying the narrowest and most delicate biodiversity reserve in the Americas. The destruction of the Amazon forest versus the size of Brasil is small compared to the destruction of the beaches, rainforests and tropical islands of Panama. If you are fan of these actors and producers, write to them to stop this ecological massacre and instead join the fight to preserve and conserve Panama's rainforests, islands and mountains.

Well, the Clayton View project, is not far behind, and will reach a position of envy by being the first luxury high-rise apartment complex in the world to destroy a neotropical bird forest corridor that has attracted scientists and eco-tourists for more than six generations. A dubious and shameful honor that will be.

Our question to you: after the information provided here in, would you still buy an apartment from this project? Would you be willing to destroy the life of Panama periurban rainforest just to get an apartment in a 18-stories or more tower, from which its architect proclaims it is ecological but that will kill the local migration of rainforest birds?

If you think this project does not make sense, spread the word. Tell your friends not to invest in the destruction of this small still biodiversity rich country, which is known also as the Crossroads of the Americas.

Your friendly and open and honest adviser.

Disclaimer: Here we are revealing to you the truth, nothing but the truth. Any loss of business by the developers of the project mentioned herein because these truths are now being revealed to everyone, are entirely and solely responsibility of the developers, the decision rest on the prospective buyers. To reveal the truth, as inconvenient might be, cannot be and should not be a matter for legal suits.