Summary
On September 22, 2024, Panama’s Ministry of Environment passed a Ministerial Decree designating a new National Wildlife Refuge in the Pearl Islands Archipelago in the Gulf of Panama. The Saboga Wildlife Refuge is a 86 square kilometer area that includes habitats for endangered sea turtles. The Archipelago is a breeding ground for sea turtle species, hammerhead sharks and humpback whales, and hosts critical coral reef ecosystems. The Refuge is based on five years of scientific research conducted by the Leatherback Project team led by Callie Veelenturf, who worked with the Ministry of Environment to draft the Refuge proposal.
The Ministerial Decree states that an objective for creating the Refuge is to “promote the protection of the Rights of Nature, enshrined in Law 287 of 2022, ensuring that the ecosystems within the Saboga Wildlife Refuge are treated as subjects of rights, in order to preserve their integrity, regeneration and ecological balance.” The resolution emphasizes that Panama’s two national rights of nature laws (Laws 287 and 371) create the State’s “obligation to restore the habitats of sea turtles and prevent their contamination and degradation,” which includes the “responsibility of adopting the necessary measures to ensure the resilience and survival of these species, implementing concrete actions that ensure the effective conservation of their habitats.”
The Saboga Wildlife Refuge is an important marker in the development of rights of nature in Panama for two reasons. First, it is the first proactive implementation measure of Panama’s national rights of nature law (Law 287) via the executive branch. Second, it marks the first time that specific marine ecosystems like coral reefs and seagrass meadows are specifically named in a rights of nature law due to their “importance as critical habitats for marine biodiversity and as fundamental components for the ecological health of the protected area and its resilience to climate change.”
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Suggested Citation:
Kauffman, Craig, Catherine Haas, Alex Putzer, Shrishtee Bajpai, Kelsey Leonard, Elizabeth Macpherson, Pamela Martin, Alessandro Pelizzon & Linda Sheehan. Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. V2. 2026. Distributed by the Eco Jurisprudence Monitor. https://ecojurisprudence.org/initiatives/panama-decree-creating-the-saboga-wildlife-refuge/.
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