Twenty years ago, when it was said that in the future probably we would have to buy bottled water, people laughed. Then it was almost unthinkable that such an abundant resource would become scarce or its quality deteriorate. Nowadays, when one mentions to the majority of people that the virgin forests, the jungles and the mangroves will have a minimally equivalent value to oil or gold, it sounds like something utopian. What’s for sure, accept it or not, is that the natural resources are our most precious treasure and each day will acquire more value, not to mention the imperative need of them for the subsistence of the entire ecosystem.

How many Europeans are dazzled when visiting our country and enjoying its “greenness”? The future of tourism and investments will be in countries that know how to conserve Nature. That is why yes, we should conserve it and care for it. Panama is a privileged country in many senses, but this does not mean that because of it we should abuse or neglect its treasures. Neither is it true that its preservation is somebody else’s task; it is something that concerns us all.

Among its multiple natural riches, for example, it counts with the second largest water reserve in Central America, which will only be maintained if we give it the importance and care that its tributaries, rivers and lakes need. The indiscriminate destruction of jungles, forests and mangroves, under the pretext of taking progress to other places, lacks foundation and, on the contrary, will end up putting the country and its economy in grave danger. Careful! Let’s move forward, but with well founded steps and always thinking about what is the future country we want for us and our children...let alone the grandchildren.