The Panama Canal threatened by climate change

Although the Central American country is one of the rainiest in the world, extreme phenomena such as global warming can generate a shortage of rain, which has forced the Panama Canal to reduce the draft of ships that cross the interoceanic route.

The situation has forced the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to limit for the fifth time the draft of the largest ships that transit through the route that concentrates 6% of world maritime trade, mainly from the United States, China and Japan.

Rainwater is the source of energy responsible for moving the ships through the locks, which function as elevators, raising the ships up to 26 meters above sea level so that they can cross the continental mountain range. Alhajuela, together with Gatún, are the two artificial lakes that supply water to the Panama Canal, but both have seen their levels seriously reduced by the drought. The passage of each ship requires about 200 million liters of fresh water that are discharged into the sea, which is why Alhajuela and Gatún are vital

According to the ACP, from March 21 to April 21, the water levels in Alhajuela dropped from 69 to 62 meters, while in Gatún they dropped from 25.6 meters to 25,

Isaías Ramos, a biologist at the Panama environmental advocacy center, told RFI:

“The canal faces the problem that the volumes of water that are being received were planned for a situation that did not take into account the seasonal changes that are being suffered, much less the El Niño phenomenon and climate change.”

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