As global biodiversity faces an unprecedented crisis, UNESCO has just published a clear message for the world: protected areas do work.

In its new report «People and nature in UNESCO-designated sites: Global and local contributions» The organization reveals the existence of 2,260 living sites where people and nature coexist and thrive together. From Dja to Greenland, these territories represent spaces where communities, ecosystems, and traditional knowledge have managed to survive despite growing climate and environmental threats.

UNESCO-designated sites are territories recognized for their outstanding value to humanity. They include World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves, and UNESCO Global Geoparks.

Each one fulfills a different role, but they all share the same goal: to protect biodiversity, natural heritage and living cultures while promoting sustainable models for local communities.

Collectively, these sites cover more than 13 million square kilometers, an area larger than India and China combined, and support the lives of approximately 900 million people. They are also home to more than 60% of the animal species recorded on the planet, and their forests absorb around 15% of all the carbon captured globally by forests.

UNESCO also raises the issue of urgency.

The same report indicates that nearly 90% of these sites face increasing risks due to climate change, pressures on land use, and other human impacts. More than a quarter could reach critical points in the coming decades if protection measures are not strengthened.

And that’s where Panama enters this global conversation today: the Puerto Barú project could become a risk. The Puerto Barú project involves intensive dredging, increased maritime traffic, and industrial transformation within a highly sensitive ecosystem in the Gulf of Chiriquí.

Nature knows no borders; ocean currents connect ecosystems, species, and territories. For this reason, various scientific voices, environmental organizations, and local and international stakeholders have warned that the project’s potential impacts could extend far beyond the immediate construction area, reaching interconnected ecosystems such as Coiba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005.

Coiba is not an isolated territory; it forms part of an ecological network connected to the Gulf of Chiriquí, its mangroves, and coastal ecosystems. Today, protecting the mangroves of David is also protecting Coiba.

A global conversation

Defending David’s mangroves is no longer just a local conversation; it’s a discussion about global biodiversity, natural heritage, and the right of future generations to inherit living ecosystems.

Because when a mangrove disappears, not only is a landscape lost, but coastal protection, carbon capture, marine biodiversity, livelihoods for communities, and climate resilience are also lost.

UNESCO has already said that protecting works; we have the opportunity to stop the damage before it’s too late. Today we still have time. Defend the mangroves of David, Panama.

Source People and nature in UNESCO-designated sites: Global and local contributions»