Oct 2025 - Impressions from Panama

Panama City, Panama - As I land in Panama after a 14 hour travel, I awaken to the view of the entrance to Panama Canal and the skyline of Panama City.  The barges are crowding along the entrance of the Canal like chicks about to be fed in a nest.  There is tranquillity in the scene despite the skyscrapers reaching for the skies emulating Dubai.  There is centuries’ heartbeat pounding  and nature speaks louder than man’s footsteps.  Panama’s nature is humbling.

Panama Canal, Pacific Ocean Oct 2025

My Panama Canal

En route to Panama, I choose to read the history of Panama Canal’s tribulations and birth by David McCullough The Path Between the Seas. Wakening up due to jet lag I walked out of the hotel into darkness.  The hotel was situated at the footsteps of the canal near the first lock,  Miraflores, which is essentially an elevator for ships. It is a gated chamber that raises or lowers vessels between stretches of water at different levels.   A lock is where the sea pauses to take a breath.   At the Panama Canal, I watched cargo barges crawl by at dawn.  Huge monstrosities of  steel would slow down to snail’s pace and be tamed to the limits of the canal’s engineering, turning mountains into passageways.  It takes at least 8-10 hours to cross the canal and over 24-30 hours for full passage due to the waiting periods. Transforming geography into a graceful language of human ingenuity and the ocean’s tides. However, global commerce and continuity did not start here at 1914 when the canal was launched yet centuries before.

The canal is still one of humanity’s great engineering feats — a century-old artery that reshaped global trade. Yet, as I packed my boots for a journey east into the Darién, I couldn’t help thinking that Panama is now REbuilding another kind of passage — not of ships, but of trees and resilient nature. 

I  was fortunate to have been invited to join Futuro Forestal for its 30th anniversary, a celebration of three decades spent regrowing what industry once stripped bare. Their story — and their partner company Generation Forest Invest (GFI) — is a story of heroism. On paper, their concept is simple: plant biodiverse native forests that generate both ecological and financial and impactful returns. In reality, it’s far more profound.

This trip would take me to the heart of it — into the rain-soaked province of Darién — to witness regeneration not as a slogan, but as a living system and also how they impact positively the human population in the region.

The Road to Darién

We left Panama City a bit delayed after 9:00, the skyline dissolving into greenery and paradise on both sides of the road . Along the highway, the scenery shifted from concrete to canopy — a slow unravelling of the modern world.  I noticed the Panama White, the wild sugarcane called Saccharum spontaneum. It grows near waterways and wetlands with tall feathery white plumes which resemble feminine feathers shimmering in the breeze.  Apparently, it was brought over in the 1920’s from Vietnam to fight land erosion and is spread across waterways and highways. It is aggressive and the foresters are not happy with it for this reason.  Panama’s nature is in competition within itself for resources but mostly for water and sunlight and ‘ideal’ soil. What is ideal for one species is not for the other.

By late morning after a long drive on the Pan American highway (which in some points is a two way road needing much repair) we reached the Emberá community of Piriatí, home to one of Latin America’s largest native-species nurseries. The air was thick with the scent of wet soil. Rows upon rows of saplings shimmered in the light — over a million seedlings nurtured each year.

The native species nursery at Piriati

Local women showed us how they select and clone resilient species — cedro espino, cocobolo, guayacán. Their pride was palpable. One woman smiled and said, “We plant what we hope our children will inherit.” In an era obsessed with quarterly returns, here was a timeline measured in generations.

The young girls danced for us a ritual dance with their limbs tattooed with the ink of a fruit ink which disappears after three weeks, similar to henna.  Yet I was thinking, these young women would have a different choice of income as females which they did not have prior.

Embera community youth

The second part of the dance, they took our hands and invited us to dance. I saw the confidence formulating  as each one grabbed a participant’s hand and invited them to the square. The tropical rain enveloped us as we danced led by the Embera’s youth. It was one of those magical moments frozen in time. I realized  without the regeneration forest, this female empowerment would probably not be taking place. Traditionally the females did not have alternate modes of income and now they have the nursery with roles of high responsibility which inevitably builds confidence and opportunity.

Where Nature Meets Finance

‘Hello, I am Niklas’  said the young forester. He looked like a typical safari guide with a wild forelock of hair falling over his forehead.  His knowledge and passion about the forest was peerless.  I learned from him that optimizing diameter and height for a tree is both for timber and carbon sequestration. The foresters take so many elements into account. Also, the surprises of nature and climate change and how to adapt to the abrupt changes. We need to accommodate mother nature and not the other way around.

Niklas measuring diameter of tree

Over lunch in Metetí, the conversation turned from roots to returns. The Futuro Forestal team delved into the mechanics behind their work: the Corporate Carbon Concession (CCC). Through this model, companies finance reforestation upfront by pre-purchasing future carbon credits, while GFI retains the land and timber upside. It’s restoration funded by foresight — profit sustained by patience.

The ambition is vast: reforest 50,000 hectares in Panama, forming a living wildlife corridor — a “Green Panama Canal” connecting the Atlantic and Pacific.  Standing there, I realized how poetic the parallel could evolve. The old canal moves ships and commerce; this one extends life.

The Kapok Project — Forests in Transition

Afternoon arrived,  we walked through the Kapok Project, a site once dominated by teak monoculture now returning to native diversity. At first, the change feels subtle — a few young saplings interrupting the neat lines of teak. But then you notice the undergrowth returning, the chatter of birds, the hum of insects. Nature is quietly reclaiming the blueprint she prefers: complexity.

Ms Iliana Armien, the legendary and irreplaceable forester, championing in indigenous species of Panama is a legend herself. She whispered, ‘I was probably a tree in another life.’

Ms Armien is an enigma who won an education against all odds. There is an educational fund in Panama which provides free education for  deserving children who cannot afford the education, thereby distributing  chances to all youth of the country. She was a recipient of a grant to study Forestry in Argentina and became a worldwide expert in native species of Panama.   

Iliana Armien looked different each time I saw her. She was once an authoritative voice in the field, and in the evening her eyes would tear when she spoke of her youthful forest being burned by her grandfather. In the 50’s there was a national policy to deforest land in order to prioritize pastureland thereby providing the population with an income.

Ms Iliana Armien, Senior forester at GFI

 Cattle herders multiplied as deforestation dominated, the damage was nearly irreversible. Until Future Forest originated slowing down the damage and reversed the trend by reforestation:  Plant Mixed Native fine timber trees; Thinning and planting shade tolerant species,  Permanent productive forest, selective harvesting, regrowth, never clear cut.

Diagram of Generation Forest phases

I saw with my own eyes the various stages. The patience it takes and expert knowledge after many trials and errors. Trees reach for sunlight and height to get a larger canopy.  The trees compete until they reach their peak height, there is a threshold for these trees, yet a constant competition. As in humans. We have our limits and a constant competition for desire of praise of our communities.

Each sentence the forester said about the trees, we can apply to humanity.

A forester prunes trees and thins the forest in order to allow them to flourish.

Pruning cutting back what is spent so new shoots can find the sun.

Thinning is the selective removal of trees from a forest to improve the health, growth and quality of the remaining ones.

The monitoring team shared data on carbon sequestration, biodiversity counts, and hydrological recovery. But what stayed with me wasn’t the data — it was the silence between sentences, the reverence in how they spoke of the forest as a partner rather than a resource.  They knew the height, age and provenance of each tree. It was amazing. Like they were introducing their family.   ‘This one we planted in 2013, this one is native to the forest....’

 ‘This is the grandson of the tree we saw earlier...’ 

Location site includes topography, soil, and their neighbours.  Just like in humans. If you have a good start in life with a wealthy family, and good network you survive better than others.

There are swampy water logging locations, which some species survive better than others. So the foresters plant a particular species there to induce its growth and success.

‘Biomass capacity has a limit,’ said Niklas, the walking encyclopedia.  Ah, I thought, just as some humans reach their limit and stagnant.  Again there is a parallel to each sentence the foresters said to me and I could apply  to humans.

I asked Niklas about artificially reproducing wood as we do diamonds today. 

‘It takes a lot of energy to reproduce synthetic gold, diamonds and wood.’ For wood the energy it would take to reproduce artificially would be to expensive....and forestry is the most efficient.

Filo del Tallo — Where Water and Wisdom Flow

The next morning began before sunrise. Mist hugged the road as we drove toward Filo del Tallo, a protected watershed that sustains entire communities.

Breakfast was waiting at the Los Miranda family project, where local families are restoring forest on their own land. As the mist lifted, the view was majestic....and my heart melted to see the light arise upon the dense forests on the mountain side as holler monkeys expressed their glee....

Breakfast at Filo del Tallo

“This is our insurance policy — for water, for work, for the future.”

Walking under the giant kapok trees, it was hard not to feel humbled— and grateful. Here, regeneration isn’t a policy term; it is fact.

Thirty Years of Growth

Back in Panama City, the 30th anniversary celebration of Futuro Forestal was equal parts reunion and revelation. Founders, foresters, scientists, investors — all gathered to reflect on three decades of re-greening the tropics.

Co-founder Andreas Eke spoke about their journey from early teak plantations to the creation of the Generation Forest®, a model that blends the biodiversity of natural forests with the productivity of managed timber. He thanked all his team members who accompanied him for decades.

Andreas Eke, founder  and CEO, GFI

What struck me most was the continuity of their vision. Few companies in any sector can trace a 30-year arc of purpose, let alone one that measures success not just in hectares restored or carbon captured, but in livelihoods sustained, the human touch.

Reflections by the Canal

On my final evening, I returned to the canal. The ships on the Panama Canal continued to pass like silent constellations of light. Meanwhile, in the Darién, another canal is slowly coming to life — a green corridor of trees, birds, and rain. One built not through dynamite and steel, but through patience and partnership.

The original canal changed trade; this new one might just change values.

What the Forest Taught Me

Forests move on a different clock. They don’t rush or pivot; they evolve. Every tree planted is an act of trust — in the soil, in science, and in the generations who will inherit it. They compete for resources whether we are there or not.

From the Emberá nursery to Filo del Tallo, I learned that regeneration isn’t philanthropy. It’s intelligent, long-term design. It’s the recognition that permanence and profit are not enemies.

As the flight departed in the late evening and I face the same vision of Panama upon landing, the Canal, Casco Viejo, Colon....now I knew them intimately.  The Bio Museo where the 30th anniversary took place. I know you all. Yet especially, I am familiar with the  saplings — soon stretching toward the dawn’s light, quietly rewriting the future of finance and forestry alike.

Perhaps the real return on investment is knowing that, somewhere in the Darién, a tree planted today will still be breathing a century from now — a living dividend of faith, foresight, and humility. Yet dare ignore the forests, we are building  are own demise.

Panama may be defined by its canal during modern times, yet the country’s true legacy is being redefined in the forests that promise to last and thrive.

When are you joining us in Panama?