Panama: According to Esmerk Latin American News, as part of its sustainability and environmental responsibility programme, Colombia's Cementos Argos, via its local subsidiary Argos Panama, has joined the 'Alianza por el Millon' (Alliance for a Million) project that seeks to reforest 10,000km2 of land in Panama over the next 20 years.
The project is promoted by local nature conservation agency, Asociacion Nacional para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (Ancon) and is also supported by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), the Ministry of Farming Development (MIDA), the Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Chamber in Panama (CCIAP) and the association of reforesting companies in Panama, Anarap. Argos Panama has pledged to provide around US$100,000 to reforest some 100,000m2 of forest over the next five years. It is estimated that about 200km2/yr of forest is lost in Panama due to de-forestation.