But with the government’s latest end-of-February 2024 relocation deadline quickly approaching, there remain many concerns around how problems at the proposed relocation site could threaten residents’ rights.
For instance, plans for water, sewage, and trash management at the site remain inadequate. The area experiences erosion during floods and lacks shade to protect people from the heat, and the proposed site for a small health center had not yet been constructed.
A Global Lesson
Gardi Sugdub is not alone: Thirty-eight other coastal Indigenous communities in Panama may require relocation because of a combination of overcrowding and sea level rise. More than 400 communities globally have completed or are undertaking relocation because of natural hazards, including those expected to increase in frequency and intensity because of climate change.
Planned relocation is a measure of last resort with serious risks, and affected communities should be part of the process. But residents of Gardi Sugdub – who have repeatedly asked for transparency around the government’s plans – have been kept in the dark.
“I might not even see this relocation happen in my lifetime,” one elder in the community said. “All other leaders who started the project have died [since this process began].”
It’s not too late for the government to create a blueprint that coastal communities in Panama and globally can turn to as they confront the climate crisis.
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