‘They’re scared of us now’: how co-investment in a tropical forest saw off loggers | Panama

Tthere are no roads through the Darién Gap. This vast impenetrable forest stretches the entire width of the land bridge between South and Central America, but there are almost no passages to cross it: hundreds of people have lost their lives trying to cross it on foot.

Its size and hostility have shielded it from development for millennia, protecting hundreds of species – from harpy eagles and giant anteaters to jaguars and red-crested tamarins – in one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. But it also made it incredibly difficult to protect. Caring for 575,000 hectares (1,420,856 acres) of beach, mangrove and rainforest with just 20 rangers often seemed impossible, says Segundo Sugasti, director of Darién National Park. Like rainforests around the world, they are in steady decline, losing at least 15% to logging, mining and cattle ranching in two decades.

But over the past three years, Panama has led a surprising response that could give hope to the rest of the world’s forests. In 2022, the government took a hard line on deforestation and modernized its park ranger forces, in partnership with the NGO Global Conservation, and deforestation in the park began to decline. This fall accelerated when President José Raúl Mulino took office in July 2024.

Mulino purged the Ministry of Environment of corrupt officials and introduced a general moratorium on logging to prevent companies from exploiting indigenous logging permits. The park ranger force has been expanded with 30 new recruits and 11 forest officers, bringing their number from six to more than 40. The number of patrols has increased from almost zero in 2022 to 55 in 2024, with more than 150 expected in 2025.

“People don’t look at us the same way anymore,” says Sugasti. “Now the kids are asking when they can sign up to be a ranger!” »

At a time when cash-strapped governments are slashing environmental budgets, Jeff Morgan, director of park partner Global Conservation, says: “It’s a miracle. »

“I’ve been in this industry for over 10 years and have worked in 22 countries. I’ve never seen anything like this,” he says.

Global Conservation has supported the park with new trucks, boats, food and fuel, giving rangers the tools and confidence to reach areas they once avoided. “Now, if we have to go by boat, truck or on foot, we will go, no matter the distance. As long as we feel safe and supported, we will,” says Esquivel Ramires, a park ranger.

The other important change concerns the use of technology. With little phone signal in the rainforest, the rangers spent much of their time in hiding, hunting ghosts. By the time alerts of intruders clearing trees reached them, they had already disappeared. The Rangers now have access to cameras, satellites and cloud systems, starting with Elon Musk’s Starlink, and are in constant communication with each other, allowing for a faster and more coordinated response.

Sugasti says: “Before, sending a park ranger to remote areas meant risking their life. Now I can send them quickly to the most remote corners, knowing they are safe.”

Surveillance cameras automatically detect forestry crew movements, and all officers use EarthRanger, a cloud-based park management system that allows them to immediately share photos, GPS locations and incident reports. If a fire is reported inside the park, they can immediately pinpoint the location of the fire.

The platform also links to external sources such as Global Forest Watch’s real-time fire detection satellites. No fires will break out in the park in 2024 or 2025, Segasti says. In the past, one or two rangers might arrive alone and late, now teams of five can be quickly dispatched together. As a result, the team’s presence is more visible and feared and the loggers and miners retreat.

“Illegal mining, poaching and logging are happening a lot less. They’re afraid of us now,” says park ranger Juan Sebuygera, wearing his signature green wide-brimmed hat.

Most notable is that the technology is neither expensive nor complex, says Kherson Rodríguez, who manages the Darién Project for Global Conservation. Real-time fire alerts from EarthRanger and Global Forest Watch are free: all rangers need is access to Starlink and smartphones.

Wider financial support also helped repair five rusting boat engines that had not been serviced in a decade.

“Before, [rangers] were unable to do their jobs because they lacked basic supplies like oil, fuel or spare parts. It is [about] be efficient and give them what they need, when they need it,” says Rodríguez.

The results were astounding. Forest loss inside the national park fell by 88% between 2022 and 2025, reaching a 20-year low, according to Global Forest Watch. So far this year, logging in the park has dropped to almost zero, the park says.

Reclaiming Darién National Park should help protect one of the region’s largest carbon sinks, as well as the indigenous groups and many animal species that live there. It also comes as Central America’s rainforests collapse.

“Nicaragua is gone. Mexico, Guatemala – it’s all happening now. If you look on Google Earth, we’re just these little green spots. They’re the last 10 percent of what was there 100 years ago. So if we don’t get there very soon…” Morgan says, trailing off, preferring not to dwell on the implications of losing the largest intact rainforest north of the Amazon.

Rainforest loss will double in 2024, reaching the highest level recorded in two decades.

Bringing park rangers who still work with pens and notepads into the age of cameras, tablets and cloud computing is a pragmatic way to turn the tide when climate diplomacy at summits like Cop fails, Morgan says.

Panama’s recovery, he says, also shows how co-investment – ​​in partnership with governments that also invest in conservation – makes rangers more accountable and delivers better results. And it’s also faster.

“It takes three years to get a grant from USAID or Defra. You do a ton of paperwork, and by the time you have everything ready, the government has changed, the president is now terrible, the park managers are terrible. Everything can be destroyed in that time,” Morgan says.

Instead of waiting for climate finance, direct co-investments with governments should be encouraged, Morgan says. “It’s just one park. Imagine the difference we could make with just $200,000 a year, multiplied by 1,000 parks,” he says.