$35 million for the prolonged drought emergency

The state of Panama declared a Extraordinary state of the environment in the entire national territory due to prolonged drought and high probability of arrival El Niño phenomenon.

The decision of the Council of the Government, approved on Tuesday, May 30, determined the sums totaling approximately 35 million dollars, which will be distributed among various related institutions, explained from Deputy Minister of Agricultural Development, Alexis Pineda in Telemetro Report.

With these funds, the Government is trying to ensure the financial availability and expediency of the transfer of things in situations that will arise in the coming months, explained the Deputy Minister of Agriculture.

He Ministry of Agricultural Development, Institute of National Aqueduct and Sewerage, Ministry of the Environment, National Administration of Public Services and Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology of Panama They are entities authorized to implement special contracts necessary to resolve the environmental emergency, according to the approved decision.

High temperatures, evaporation and lack of rain are a preamble to the arrival of a possible El Niño phenomenon, which would reduce the production of water for human consumption and agricultural activities throughout the country, the report of the Ministry of Environment points out.

In meeting him Inter-Institutional Committee on Climate Change, Alcelys Lau, Director of Climatology at IMHPA, warned of the high probability that it will El Niño phenomenon could have a global impact for the months of August and September this year.

Lau pointed out that the weather service has noticed that the thresholds for declaring El Niño have already been reached, so it is only being monitored to see if the indicators are maintained over time and finally declare it.

He The Deputy Minister of Agricultural Development pointed out that for the agricultural sectorIn particular, in the Arco Seco region, small producers are affected. For this sector, MIDA has prioritized support with bales, mineralized feed, reinforcement of drinking fountains and opening of wells to guarantee water availability.

The state of emergency in the environment means strengthening the drought plan to support agricultural producers, the official insisted.

He warns that the long-term drought affects the causative agents of diseases and the number of diseases in production.

The Cabinet Council also assessed the impact it has on the production of water for human consumption and other economic activities.

The artificial lakes Alhajuela and Gatún that supply water to more than half of the country’s population and the interoceanic highway, have been drastically reduced by the extension of the dry season.

The Climate change scenarios for Panama (2030, 2050, 2070)prepared by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, clearly show that the temperatures in the country will increase, and the amount of precipitation in the four climate regions will decrease;

For the western region, in the province of Chiriquí, the center of agricultural production in the country, a decrease in precipitation is predicted, he explained. Ligia Castro, Director of Climate Change at the Ministry of the Environment.

While, Berta Alicia Olmedo, Deputy Director of the Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, he explained that Panama is facing an extension of the dry season that is affecting agricultural production in some regions.

The country is recording six months between 2022 and 2023 with a lack of precipitation to which is added the global situation of the El Niño phenomenon, which is the warming of the Pacific waters and which keeps the world on alert in case it consolidates, the expert explained in detail.

“We are at the threshold of the El Niño phenomenon” with an 80% forecast that it will happen by the world’s expert body, Olmedo said.