On Thursday, June 25th, representatives of the Bocas Sustainable Tourism Alliance (BSTA) appeared on the local Cable Chicho evening news show to introduce the organization to the Bocas community.  Luis Mou Sue, the BSTA Vice President, and Catta Monahan, the Waste Management Committee (WMC) Coordinator, discussed with Miguel, the Cable Chicho anchorman, the history and purpose of the BSTA.  

Luis focused on explaining the geotourism concept of the National Geographic Society, and the importance of creating a sustainable tourism cluster in Bocas.  He emphasized that the rapid pace of development of the tourism sector here threatens the viability of the region’s natural resources, which are the primary attraction for tourists. Therefore, a concerned and diverse group of tourism stakeholders, representing hotels, restaurants, boat drivers, indigenous communities, and others came together in March 2009, (supported by the USAID CCAW program grant) to create the BSTA – with the mission to promote Bocas as a geotourism destination, and to develop tourism that preserves the region’s cultural and environmental resources. Luis and Miguel then discussed the imminent opening of the BSTA office on 3rd street, and the BSTA membership benefits and rates for local business owners watching the program.

For Immediate Release, June 19, 2009
Contacts:     

Ellen Lutz, Cultural Survival, (617) 441-5400 x 16
Jacki Lopez, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682 x 305

WASHINGTON— After two years of brutal government repression and destruction of their homeland, the Ngöbe Indians of western Panama won a major victory yesterday as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called on Panama to suspend all work on a hydroelectric dam that threatens the Ngöbe homeland. The Chan-75 Dam is being built across the Changuinola River by the government of Panama and a subsidiary of the Virginia-based energy giant AES Corporation.

The Bocas Sustainable Tourism Alliance (BSTA) and its Waste Management Committee (WMC) participated in the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute’s (STRI) Environmental Fair on June 13th & 14th at the STRI’s research station on Isla Colon.This annual event aims to educate the general public of Bocas about pertinent local and global environmental issues, and also to share the work of Smithsonian reserachers and environmentally-focused organizations in the archipelago.

The WMC is pleased to announce that the USAID CCAW (Conservation of Central American Watersheds) program has approved its funding proposal for the production of a public service announcement (PSA) for the local Cable Chicho. The purpose of this PSA is to educate the general public of Bocas on the following topics:

1. The waste management issues in Bocas;

2. The impacts of waste mismanagement on the population’s health and the archipelago’s natural resources;

3. What local residents can do individually to contribute to trash reduction; and

4. Information about the BSTA and the WMC and its current activities.

The video is currently in the planning process.