Panama Audubon Society (PAS)

Founded in: 1983
Members: 106
Staff: 3
Address: Apartado 0843-03076, Panama City, PA
Email: info@panamaaudubon.org
Web: www.audubonpanama.org

Mission of the organisation

To promote the appreciation of birds as a means of conserving their habitat through environmental education, research, and community participation.

Key Activities

• IBA protection with community participation
• Birding courses for adults and rural communities
• Several Monthly Birding Tours throughout the year
• Special monthly programmes with a speaker and a topic of environmental interest
• Annual World Bird Festival in October
• Annual Christmas Bird Counts in December
• Annual Migratory Raptors Counts
• Involvement in international conservation

Recent Achievements

• Finished the project “Strengthening of Bird Watching Tourism in Panama” that collected, compiled and updated information on bird watching sites in the country.
• Published the “Where to Find Birds in Panamá” book
• Published the “Panama Canal Birding Trail” illustrated map
• Published the annotated checklist of the “Birds of Panama”
• Published the book “Building a Participatory Experience in Conservation” that compiled lessons learned from community bio monitoring in the Panama Bay Wetlands
• Successfully completed a Bio monitoring project combining efforts of scientists and rural communities within the Panama Bay of Panama Ramsar Site.
• Successfully completed the project “Community-based Nature Tourism: Opportunities to Achieve the Sustainable Conservation of Importantat Bird Areas in Panama and Mexico” that implements protection strategies for the Upper Bay of Panama IBA and Sian Ka'an IBA in Mexico.
• Successfully completed the Project “Establishment of Two Site Support Groups in the Upper Bay of Panama IBA” to reduce threats in the Upper Bay of Panama IBA (unsustainable harvesting of natural resources) and enabling local communities to manage resources properly.
• Successfully completed the Project “Establishing a monitoring Baseline for Species and Key Biodiversity Areas in Panama” that identifies key biodiversity areas for globally threatened species in Panama.
• Successfully completed the Project “Advancing Range-wide Water bird Conservation in the Western Hemisphere” to prepare a diagnostic study of the current state of national water bird conservation.
• Purchased two plots of land in El Chorogo with the assistance of Amos W. Butler Audubon Society in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. and under the Conservation Counterparts program of American Bird Conservancy, U.S.A.
• Conducted and presented studies to the local environmental authorities that were fundamental in placing the Upper Bay of Panama IBA in the Ramsar list of internationally important wetlands
• Conducted for the fourth time the annual Ocean to Ocean migratory raptor count
• Conducted a RARE campaign to promote awareness among the Juan Diaz residents on the importance of the Wetlands of the Upper Panama Bay.
• Instrumental in having The Bay of Panama IBA and Ramsar site designated a Hemispheric Site of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). Dedication ceremony held October 18, 2005
• Member of the Supervising Committee for the Chagres Fund and the Darien Fund (US$10 Million each). Debt for Nature Swap agreements between USAID, The Nature Conservancy and the Government of Panama for the protection of the Chagres and Darien National Parks (both are IBAs)
• For the Ninth year running held an International Bird Festival with a programme of lectures and field trips open to the general public.
• Participated in several environmental protection activism initiatives, including supporting indigenous groups in the protection of their reservations and participating in the Panama 2000 community discussions, which resulted in environmental concerns being incorporated into the Canal Authority Law.
• Conducts a monthly promotional fieldtrip in the Metropolitan Nature Park, open to the general public to raise awareness on bird watching and biodiversity conservation.
• Conducted a seasonal PowerPoint lecture on Panama Birds for senior citizen visitors to Panama, highlighting the Panama Audubon Society work on IBA’s and other projects.