Boquete Land Use Plan
- Edilmar Mejias
- Apr 26
- 4 min read
Updated: May 2
In the blog that we will share below we will talk about the proposal for the POT which stands for Plan de Ordenamiento Territorial for the district of Boquete, in order to find solutions to the problems that are arising due to the growth in the area.
The district of Boquete is located to the west of the Isthmus, in the province of Chiriqui, bordered to the north by the districts of Changuinola and Chiriqui Grande, both in the province of Bocas del Toro; to the south by the districts of Dolega and David, to the east by the district of Gualaca and to the west by the districts of Bugaba and Dolega.
The district of Boquete is composed of six townships: Bajo Boquete, Alto Boquete, Jaramillo, Los Naranjos, Caldera and Palmira.
The beautiful Boquete lands of Boquete's famous coffee farms, Boquete's cloud forests are host to zipline tours, bird watching, hiking trails and rock climbing. Boquete is also home to natural hot springs and incredible white water rafting rivers. Being one of the places that every visitor wants to enjoy, being in contact with nature and exploring new adventures is the main attraction that drives us to Boquete.
We can name some of the attractions it offers: visit a coffee plantation, climb the Baru volcano, stroll through the flower and coffee fair or eat some delicious strawberries and cream are some of the best things to do in Boquete.
It is of vital importance to conserve the beauty of our landscapes, in view of the growth and high demand of the district of Boquete, it is proposed to implement the POT, in order to solve the problems that affect the quality of life of the local and floating population, through the establishment of urban planning standards for urban and rural land, to ensure the homogeneous growth of the population, without compromising economic development and the state of natural environments for future generations.
In the following link you will find in more detail what they propose for the POT of the municipality of Boquete, in the Report on the Scope of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) for the Land Use Plan (POT) of the District of Boquete.
The implementation of the POT seeks to improve pedestrian mobility, due to the number of vehicles in the central streets of the municipality, solve the signaling factor as they do not have the right amount, improve zoning with respect to infrastructure growth in the municipality of Boquete, the strategy is to regulate the disorderly growth and avoid future problems with the area of infrastructure and mobility.
The following is a list of the needs that motivate the decision to implement the POT in the municipality of Boquete:
Boquete does not have a regulatory framework for land use and occupation at different scales; it only has a Regulatory Plan for Alto Boquete and Bajo Boquete since 2008.
There is limited local governmental capacity for the implementation of urban regulations and land use planning for its management. Therefore, while local capacities are being formalized, it is necessary to design a practical and easy-to-implement POT.
Boquete has had an important growth in tourism activity in recent years, standing out as the 2nd priority tourist destination in the country, therefore it is of vital importance to implement plans for territorial improvement.
The following is a description of some of the aspects that describe the nature of the problem and that are proposed to be solved with the implementation of the POT:
- Biodiversity loss.
- Affectation of water sources.
- Impacts generated by climate variability
- Soil quality affected by agricultural and livestock activities (loss of topsoil, overuse and high concentration of agrochemicals and pesticides).
- Air quality affected by particulate emissions, gases, agricultural process burns and poorly managed landfills.
The aspects described above have a negative influence on the living conditions of the population, affecting their economic situation, health and food security, and solutions must therefore be incorporated.
The POT proposes strategies and programs to organize the urban and rural development of the district, taking into account the current availability of natural resources to enhance Boquete as a tourist destination, for this improvement projects and programs will be proposed to establish important strategies such as:
Avoid water shortages in quality and quantity for human consumption and other productive activities.
Reduce the impact on water sources to guarantee the availability of water in quality and quantity for human consumption and other productive activities.
Stop the fragmentation of flora and fauna habitats due to anthropogenic intervention in protected areas and in the gallery forests of important rivers.
Reduce exposure to risk in vulnerable areas to protect the population from extreme weather effects.
Halt soil degradation due to changes in land use from natural ecosystems to agricultural systems that affect the productive capacity of the soil due to the use of bad practices.
Efficient management of solid waste and wastewater to control environmental contamination.
With the implementation of strategic plans for the improvement of the municipality, we seek the benefit for the inhabitants and tourists, in the document that I share with you about the Boquete District Strategic Plan, you will find information about what they propose for the improvements and welfare of the town.
Hello!
My name is Gabriel Solano Lázaro, I am an ideal architect in Panama City and editor of this Architecture & Design Blog.
I founded Grupo Ideas with my partner Jaqueline Molina in 2016, we are an architecture firm that is dedicated to residential, commercial and urban design.
Any questions write to my email ventas@grupoideas.co
Follow me on my Twitter account @gabrielsolanola, I will continue sharing information, architecture.
I wish you a successful day.
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