In Panama’s Mamoní Valley, conservation is being combined with education to train a new generation of leaders who understand that protecting nature also means protecting culture and local communities. Geoversity’s Centro Mamoní operates within the Mamoní Valley Preserve, a more than 2,000-hectare conservation area located in the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena biodiversity hotspot and an important biological corridor connecting North and South America. The region provides habitat for threatened wildlife including tapirs, four species of felines and five species of primates, while also bordering Indigenous territories and Chagres National Park. Its programmes bring students, scientists, Indigenous leaders and local communities together through rainforest restoration, watershed protection, wildlife monitoring and hands-on conservation.
What makes the initiative significant is its focus on biocultural leadership bringing Indigenous knowledge together with modern science and environmental education. Over nearly three decades, Geoversity and its partners have directly restored 132 hectares and influenced restoration across another 600 hectares, planting more than 100,000 native trees. Indigenous Guna, Emberá and Wounaan communities have also played an important role in conservation and educational programmes. The approach recognises that biodiversity protection cannot succeed through forests and wildlife conservation alone; it also requires empowering the people who live alongside these ecosystems. By investing in young conservation leaders, Panama is demonstrating how education, Indigenous knowledge, ecological restoration and community participation can work together to protect critical biodiversity corridors. More