On the coast of Chiriquí, the mangrove is not just an ecosystem: it’s a way of life. Handicrafts and other livelihoods depend on it, sustaining entire coastal communities for generations. Protecting it isn’t just an environmental slogan; it’s a daily necessity, and Professor Olga de Samaniego’s work has been key to that effort.

One of Professor Olga’s most profound contributions has been to unite education and conservation.
“Since 2007, we have been integrating all our students at the Pedregal school into the care of our mangroves.” Involving students in mangrove conservation fosters a citizenry that understands nature is not a disposable resource, but a system upon which we depend. This early education creates bonds, responsibility, and collective memory.

The mangrove as a life system

Mangroves are much more than a landscape; the mangroves of the Gulf of Chiriquí and around the world sustain local food security and the daily income of many families.manual harvestingHarvesting species such as clams, crabs, and other mollusks is a low-impact practice that generates direct income and community employment.ecotourism, which diversifies the local economy based on healthy mangroves and untouched landscapes; and thetraditional knowledge, passed down from generation to generation that allow the use of the mangrove without degrading it, regulating times, areas and extraction practices, thus ensuring its continuity over time.

“Our mangroves are part of our living systems: they provide us with fish production, and even ecotourism. In this way, many people subsist.” In short, with her years of experience as an educator, Olga has a progressive view of mangroves, where a living economy depends on a living mangrove.

Handicrafts and subsistence economies: invisible economies

There are economies that are often left out of the grand narratives of investment and progress. However, these are real economies, sustained by physical labor, knowledge of the land, and a delicate balance with nature. They don’t require large infrastructures, but they do require healthy ecosystems.

“Artisanal fishing, shellfish harvesting, all these economic activities could be affected,” Samaniego points out, emphasizing that the impact is not abstract: it has a human face. His voice speaks not from theory, but from direct experience with the territory, with the people who live off the mangroves, and with the students who learn to protect them.

Mangroves represent work, food, culture, and the future. The artisanal and subsistence activities that take place there are not a relic of the past: they are an alternative that today faces development models that endanger ecosystems.

Listening to those who care for the mangroves, and to those who have defended them through education for decades, is essential for making responsible decisions. Because defending the mangroves is defending life.