PANAMA Law and Practice Contributed by: Roy C Durling, Arias, Fábrega & Fábrega
The Republic of Panama has 104 protected areas that are under the custody of the Ministry of the Environment, which must develop a man - agement plan for each protected area determin - ing its purpose, usage, restrictions and manage - ment. 2.3 Impact of Community Relations on Mining Projects Communities near a project may express their opinion as part of the review and approval pro - cess of environmental impact studies (Law 6 of 2002). Even though the CMR does not provide for a procedure for incorporating or listening to the comments from communities at the time of granting a mining concession, Law 6 of 2002 requires the government to consult the public regarding administrative acts that may impact their interests and rights. Law 262 of 2021 requires companies that have been awarded governmental concessions to adopt and execute corporate social responsibil - ity programmes (CSR). These companies must approve an annual budget allocated to CSR pro - grammes. Before the enactment of Law 262 of 2021, mining companies in Panama had already adopted and implemented social responsibility projects and policies for communities located near their mining projects. The Ministry of the Environment may convene public consultations on environmental prob - lems or issues that might be important to, or affect, communities. These public hearings are generally part of the review and approval pro - cess of environmental impact studies. As part of these public hearings, officials from the Min - istry of the Environment inform the community about projects that may have an adverse effect on the environment or communities in order to obtain the opinion of the public and suggestions
regarding the planned activities and, in general, to get an idea of the effects of the proposed activity and the manner in which to mitigate any potentially adverse effects. The National Environmental Advisory Committee was created by law to allow citizen participation in the review of national and inter-sectoral envi - ronmental issues, and to make observations, recommendations and proposals to the Ministry of the Environment. This committee is made up of 15 members, including citizens, government officials and representatives from the indigenous regions. In addition, the law provides for the sharing between the central government and local com - munities of the amounts collected as surface taxes and royalties from companies engaged in exploration and extraction activities. The CMR states that 20% of such amounts will be allocated to communities surrounding the mining project, 95% of which will correspond to the municipalities where the projects are locat - ed, while the remaining 5% will be delivered to the towns and communities adjoining such municipalities (even if no direct mining activ - ity takes place in them). These funds must be used exclusively for development programmes in education, health and socio-environmental projects. Towns and communities adjoining the municipalities where the projects are located may also use these funds to fund electrification projects in their communities. The CMR also states that, in the case of pro - jects that pay 5% or more in royalties, 2% of the amounts collected by the government as royal - ties will be used in the construction of infrastruc - ture and for social development programmes in the communities adjoining the mining project,
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