Raising the Tax for cutting native and required trees DOES NOT address the issue.

https://www.laestrella.com.pa/economia/200309/impuestos-provisionales-madera

The Municipal Council of Santa Fe, in the province of Darién, set $ 15 for the payment of tax for the felling of native species balsam, mahogany, espavé, quira, almond tree, provisionally, while others are against the extraction timber, in any of its forms, within this Panamanian tropical “lung”.

The Council also established the charge for mobilization within the guidelines for the transfer of the species already described, including teak, whose payment amount will be by volume, at a rate of $ 3.00 to $ 5.00 per cubic meter.

In addition, it granted permission for commercialization and mobilization by the Municipal Treasury, as long as it has the permission of the Ministry of Environment (MiAmbiente) .This was established in Municipal Agreement No. 010-20 of February 20, 2020, published in the Official Digital Gazette No. 28974 published on March 6 of this year. Law 106 of October 7, 1973 establishes as exclusive competence of the Municipal Councils, to issue an agreement that imposes fees and taxes for commercial activities that are Develop within the district.

Clelia Mezúa, of the Organization of Women in Defense of the Forests of Cémaco, of the Emberá region, said they disagree with the extraction of wood in all its forms, since he recalled that “Darién is a World Heritage Site declared in the year 1981 by the United Nations Organization (UN) and gives life to indigenous peoples and the country. ”

“We want to keep our rivers alive our 
forests because of them we live”
CLELIA MEZÚA, DIRECTOR OF THE ORGANIZATION 
OF WOMEN IN DEFENSE OF THE CEMAC FORESTS

He demanded that the Ministry of Environment suspend and revoke all logging permits already delivered and pending to be delivered, mainly from the areas of Cémaco of the Tupiza, Bajo Chiquito and Maragantí rivers, because he said “they are drying, filling with lama and contaminating” due to deforestation.

“We want to keep our rivers alive our forests because of them we live,” said Mezúa, who in turn warned of pressure measures for the extraction of wood in Darién, without the approval of the respective indigenous congresses.

Article 10 of Law 22 of November 8, 1983 and Executive Decree No. 84 of April 9, 1999, said Mezúa. According to data from the Ministry of Environment, Panama lost in seven years 56,369.49 hectares of forests, at the rate of 8,050 hectares per year.

90% of deforestation is due to illegal logging (those who do not have permission), said Environment Minister Milciades Concepción. Veraguas, Panama and Darién are the provinces with the most forests lost in the last seven years; and still it is being cut down for commercialization.

Last year the Ministry of Environment issued a temporary regulation measure on forest use at the national level.

This is Resolution No. DM-0395-2019 of September 13, 2019 to provisionally suspend the granting of new special subsistence permits for subsistence and its modalities, community permits for forest use and forest exploitation concessions, in forests natural for a term not less than one year, with the exception of those requests for such permits in process at the time this article comes into force.

Resolution No. DM-0395-2019 of September 13, 2019 leaves without effect Resolution No. DM-0379-2019 of September 6, 2019, after a technical evaluation.

Only in the last quarter of 2019, which runs from October to December, Panama exported 13,170,570 kilos of wood products, including bark, desalburadas or squad tropical timber, according to figures from the Comptroller General of the Republic