GC Mission to Protect Darien National Park
With the construction of a new $70 million highway crossing two rivers, thousands of people will be coming into the area, accelerating the already rapid deforestation for cattle ranching and land clearing, threatening the last intact tropical rainforests north of the Amazon.
Last week, Global Conservation conducted a mission to Darien National Park to assess the progress made over the past two years and to plan for enhanced protection of forests and wildlife in 2025-26.
Led by David Bess and Michael Stefanak, recently retired Chiefs of Enforcement for the California Fish and Wildlife Service (CA FWS), and GC’s Director of Mexico Alejandro Gonzales, we developed critical new strategies to address the major threats accelerating against Darien’s forest and critical wildlife habitats for hundreds of endangered species, including jaguars, tapirs, and harpy eagles.
GC Executive Director Jeff Morgan with new rangers and equipment provided by GC.
Global Conservation launched Global Park Defense to combat illegal activities within Darien National Park and protect its inhabitants and surrounding communities. After completing a threats and needs assessment, Global Conservation deployed park-wide satellite communications, trained ranger teams on EarthRanger patrolling software, and provided equipment to enhance patrolling.
Global Conservation brought in trainers and master rangers from California’s Fish and Wildlife agency and the Ministry of Environment hired thirty (30) new rangers.
The Pan-American Highway
The Pan-American Highway has now reached the edge of the national park, with the potential to be an ecological disaster. The Darién “Gap” is so named because it is a 96-km gap in this highway, and the completion of this section has been shelved several times due to Panama’s national sovereignty and environmental concerns. Now one of the most costly segments of the highway over two rivers is nearly completed.
Critical new threats to Darien include a $70 million extension of the Pan-American Highway with two new bridges to the border of Darien National Park, expected to bring thousands of new settlers and land grabbers to the area and increase threats of land clearing, illegal cattle ranching, and wildlife poaching.
Global Conservation is planning 2025-26 protection with Minister Juan Carlos Navarro and MiAmbiente (Ministry of Environment) teams, including the Darien Park Director and Director of Protection.
How Long Can the Darién Gap Hold?
For nearly a century, the Pan-American Highway has connected the Americas, stretching
from Alaska to the southern tip of South America. All except one stretch: the roughly 60 miles of wild, roadless jungle between Panama and Colombia known as the Darién Gap. This break in the continental highway wasn’t an oversight—it’s a rare case where nature, culture, and geography successfully resisted concrete.
But that resistance is now under serious threat. In 2023, the Panamanian government greenlit the construction of bridges over the Tuira and Chucunaque Rivers, marking the first step toward connecting remote communities in the interior of Darién to the broader highway system. While small in appearance, these bridges could pave the way—literally—for an explosion of roadbuilding into one of the last untouched frontiers in the Americas.
Taken in January 2024, bulldozing had already penetrated many miles into pristine jungle habitats. Photo ©Joshua Asel.
Today, large swaths of Darién remain intact simply because they are inaccessible. But we
know what happens when roads arrive: bulldozers follow, then deforestation, monoculture, and land speculation. We've seen this story before, in the Amazon and Central America.
Where pavement leads, ecosystems often fall. For centuries, Emberá, Wounaan, and Guna communities have lived in balance with these forests, relying on small-scale farming, fishing, and deep ecological knowledge. This way of life is increasingly at risk. Some locals see roads as opportunities—for education, healthcare, or market access. Others fear displacement, loss of autonomy, and the unraveling of their culture.
Amid this uncertainty, there is still hope.
Pristine habitat in Darien National Park. Of course, this type of environment is perfect for threatened and endangered species to live in, including harpy eagles and jaguars. Photo ©Joshua Asel.
Large stretches of old-growth forest still survive in Darién’s buffer zones, connecting key ecosystems like the Matusagaratí Wetlands and Filo del Tallo Hydrological Reserve. Protecting these forests now means safeguarding a biological corridor vital to jaguars, harpy eagles, and spider monkeys—species that can’t survive in fragmented landscapes.
The stakes are high not just for Panama, but for the planet. Darién National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve, part of the living bridge that links the biodiversity of North and South America. What’s lost here can’t be restored.
So the question is no longer if the Darién Gap will open—but when, and at what cost?
This is the moment to act. We must defend the last unbroken forests and support Indigenous stewardship and offer alternatives to uncontrolled expansion. Because if we lose the Darién, we lose a piece of the Earth that still works the way it’s supposed to.
What can you do? Help us protect this extraordinary place before it's too late. Share this story. Support conservation efforts. Stay informed. The future of the Darién Gap depends on you.
Runoff from the pollution of the migrant crisis and illegal mining poisons local waterways, causing natural ecosystems to perish, which creates hard living for both people and wildlife.
Illegal gold mining in Darien National Park is already polluting river-based indigenous communities with mercury, necessitating the year-round mobilization of national border police to remove the miners, while land speculators are also cutting deep into the buffer zone of the national park.
Global Conservation has been asked by the Government of Panama to assist with Global Park Defense deployment and Community Protection for Park and Wildlife Protection, in close coordination with law enforcement and scientific teams for biodiversity monitoring.
With almost no tourism, there is a great untapped opportunity to convert many people living in and around the national park from exploitation to conservation, from clearing forests to protecting them so visitors can enjoy birdwatching, hiking, and exploration.
Embera-Wounan children perform the dance of the vulture.
Several indigenous groups live in the park, including the Embera, Wounaan, and Kuna people, who have held on to their traditions despite colonization and hundreds of years of contact with the outside world. In fact, during its creation, Darién National Park broke new ground by considering a cultural dimension in the management and conservation plans for the protected area.
Threats affecting Darién National Park include:
Illegal mining
Land clearing
Illegal Logging
Hunting
Unauthorized settlements
Lack of management
Overfishing of lowland freshwater systems
An executive meeting between GC staff and Panamanian representitives.
Protecting Darien National Park
With Global Park Defense, the park authority and ranger teams now have increased capacity and improved effectiveness to greatly improve park and wildlife protection, law enforcement, and biodiversity monitoring.
Our goal is to achieve "No Cut, No Kill" protection for the national park within 5 to 6 years.
Our Objectives:
Threat Assessment: Focus on key hotspots for logging, cattle, and hunting, especially now with the new highway’s access. This includes aerial mapping of all deforestation and access routes.
Surveillance: Air and Ground, including Cellular Trailcam Networks
Park-wide Communications—Starlink Satellite Internet
Earthranger Park Protection System
Community Patrolling and Ecotourism Development
National Border Police (SenaFront) provides backup to unarmed Park Rangers during dangerous interdictions.
Jeff Morgan gives a presentation on GC’s Community Protection initiative to the new rangers hired to protect Darien National Park.
Primary Outcomes Expected:
Deployment of Global Park Defense systems
Increase Ranger Patrolling Coverage
Multiply Arrests and Prosecutions
Training of Rangers, Wildlife, and Park Staff in Global Park Defense
World-Class Master Visitor and Protection Plan for Darien World Heritage
The Opportunity—Sustainable Tourism
Similar to other Global Park Defense deployments in Peru, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, ecotourism development is critical to providing inclusive economic opportunities for local communities. Since Panama is already a top destination for nature tourism and birding, ecotourism can provide a viable and profitable alternative to wildlife poaching, illegal logging, and forest clearing. Of course, visitor security is of paramount importance.
Protecting the Harpy Eagle
Harpy Eagles are Critically Endangered and found in the most healthy parts of the Panamanian jungle.
The Darien region provides the best chance for the survival of the fewer than 450 harpy eagles that are expected to remain in Panama. The world's largest eagle is critically endangered due to Panama's rapid deforestation.
Darien is home to many established human settlements within and around the park, including indigenous communities that have flourished here since long before the park had protected status. These indigenous tribes in the park make the conservation of the forest and its wildlife a life-or-death issue for both animals and humans. These ancient cultures will disappear if the forests do.
Species Facing Extinction
Cattle ranching is one of the biggest causes of deforestation in Panama, linking the the loss of natural habitat for threatened species to the loss of many species themselves.
Darien has many rare and endangered species on the IUCN Red List. Jaguars are killed to protect livestock, and other endangered species include ocelots, American crocodiles, capybaras, and a number of primates. Sadly, all these species are being poached inside and outside the park.
Gold mining with illegal and destructive gas-powered water pumps pollutes the waters and destroys riverbeds, while deforestation is pushing many species towards extinction. These tropical forests are being destroyed at alarming rates. The harvesting of lumber is done both illegally and by those with permits granted by local authorities. Illegal cattle ranchers burn down what is left of the forest.
Stopping Forest Fires—Prevention and Rapid Response
Within the Darien National Park, there are communities that practice subsistence agriculture, often setting fires in the summer to clear land for planting rice and corn. These fires are sometimes not controlled properly and spread to nearby forests and grasslands. In 2024, these fires were dealt with in time and prevented from spreading within the park.
Key Achievements in 2024
Kilometers patrolled: 1,872 km—975 kilometers by boat, 410 kilometers by foot, and 487 from other
900+ Hours of Patrols
30 forest fires battled and controlled
The environmental prosecutor's office received four legal proceedings, two for illegal mining and two for logging within the park.
Fire control training on both fighting forest fires and conducting prescribed burns for fire prevention and forestry management was undertaken.
Jeff Morgan presents new gear for the rangers.
