Regional

This project consists of cost-benefit analysis and deforestation modelling of road projects in the Selva Maya, in Guatemala, Mexico and Belize.

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Infrastructure Integration and Biodiversity Conservation (Mesoamerica Regional : 2004-2007)

This Project consists of gathering information and analyzing infrastructure projects, mainly roads and hydropower plants; in Panamá, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belice, Guatemala and the nine south east states of México (Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Vera Cruz and Yucatán). As part of this project, specific studies on the economic and environmental viability of some infrastructure projects that might be potential threats to biodiversity will be undertaken.

Belize

Chalillo Dam (Belize : 1999-2002)

In 2000 CSF worked with the Belize Alliance of Conservation Non-Government Organizations to provide Belizeans with an independent analysis of a proposed dam on the Macal River. The upper Macal and its tributaries provide habitat for rare scarlet macaws, Morelet's crocodiles, river otters, tapirs and jaguars. But it also has potential to supply electricity to consumers throughout Belize.

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Guatemala

Roads in the Selva Maya Biosphere Reserve (Guatemala : 2005-2006)

This project consists of environmental valuation, cost-benefit analysis and deforestation modelling of road projects in the Selva Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala.

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Mexico

Usumacinta Dam (Mexico : 2006-2007)

In this study we analyze a dam proposed on the Usumacinta River in Mexico. Our objective is to stimulate discussion on the costs and benefits of such projects in the largest watershed in the Maya Forest and in Mesoamerica as a whole. We chose to analyze the Tenosique project (formerly known as Boca del Cerro), given that it is apparently the Usumacinta dam being given the most serious consideration by planners.

Panama

Changuinola Dams in Panama (Panama : 2005-2006)

We analyzed four hydroelectric projects planed in Panama’s Bocas del Toro Province. All four projects would be located in the Changuinola-Teribe watershed, within the limits of the Palo Seco Protected Forest (known by the Spanish acronym BPPS). Three of these projects would be built on the Changuinola River, with the fourth on the Bonyic River. Both rivers have their headwaters within the Amistad International Park (PILA). The dams’ combined installed capacity would be 446 megawatts, equivalent to 30 percent of Panama’s total capacity at the end of 2004. Our analysis suggests that the projects would most likely be both economically and financially feasible. Nonetheless, they would cause environmental damage in an area of global conservation interest and impose serious hardship on indigenous communities living along these rivers.

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Roads in Volcán Baru Park (Panama : 2002-2003)

Three road investments have been proposed in the vicinity of the Barú Volcano National Park in the province of Chiriquí: (1) a one-lane road from Cerro Punta to Boquete, via the Park; (2) the so-called “southern route” from Cuesta de Piedra to Boquete via Palmira; and (3) paving the access roads as far as the guard stations at the Park’s Eastern and Western entrances (see figure 2). This paper provides an economic analysis of the proposals, conducted by Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) between February and April, 2003. We employed the “Roads Economic Decision Model,” developed by the World Bank in 1999. The research was jointly funded by the Nature Conservancy and Conservation International (CI).

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Canal Project (Panama : 2000-2002)

 CSF is assisting the Centro de Asistencia Legal Popular (CEALP) in analyzing new dams proposed to provide water needed to expand the Panama Canal. After participating in a CSF training, CEALP lawyer Erya Harbar proposed to undertake a legal and economic analysis of dams that would effect both natural ecosystems and campesino communities. The study aims to determine the economic efficiency and equity of the proposed $8 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, including new reservoirs to supply water and electricity. Expanding the canal would require three new dams, aqueducts, transmission lines and roads in a remote 500,000-acre area of forest and small towns. The goal of our work with CEALP has been to inform affected rural communities of their rights and force consideration of the financial and environmental tradeoffs of the bigger canal into the national policy debate on the issue.