NASA Donates Map to Save the Environment

Satellite images will allow experts to identify the expansion of farmland and the conditions of the forested areas throughout Central America.

SAN JOSE - The seven countries of Central America now have in their hands the maps and photographs provided by the satellites of the US-based NASA, allowing them to develop strategies for protecting the environment and for urban planning.

The donated materials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will help specialists to identify forested areas, bodies of water, farmland and cities, Damaris Garita, of Costa Rica's National System of Conservation Areas, told Tierramérica.

''This is a great help for urban and environmental planning,'' said Garita, whose institution is a subsidiary of the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment.

According to the expert, the images taken by the Jers 1 satellite will permit the identification of threats to protected areas, of expansion of agricultural lands and the various types of vegetation in Central America.

The materials donated by the United States agency include computer images of the continental territories of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama.

It is a sort of mosaic, as each photograph represents 30 square meters of real territory.

This mapping of Central America is held on compact disks, which NASA president, Ghassem Asrar, presented to representatives of the region's seven governments at a ceremony in San Salvador on June 11.

The donation is part of a cooperation agreement signed in 1998 by NASA and the Central American Environment and Development Commission, an institution of the Central American Integration System.

The aims of the accord include the transfer of the latest technology to the isthmus, the training of Central American professionals and the drafting and analysis of maps of the region.

''The important thing is that, beginning now, we have a series of very valuable maps. The satellite photographs we had before were partially covered by clouds,'' said Garita.

The NASA photos will be used to reinforce regional policies for the conservation of the Meso-American Biological Corridor, a project that encompasses the seven Central American countries and southern Mexico.

The Corridor represents the unification of a chain of natural conservation areas, explained Emel Rodríguez, a Costa Rican expert in charge of the technical aspects of the project in his country.

Biological corridors are mechanisms for connecting the wildlife of different protected areas, allowing their movement from one to the other, aiding in migration as well as in the genetic exchange among members of the same species that were otherwise living in isolated populations.

The Meso-American Biological Corridor is also the source of a rich variety of primitive crops and is a veritable warehouse of the wild ancestors of various domesticated plants. It his home to the genetic foundations of well-known crops such as corn, beans and cotton, as well as cacao and avocado.

The area covered by the Corridor represents just 0.5 percent of the world's land surface, but is home to 12 percent of Earth's biodiversity.

* Néfer Muñoz is an IPS correspondent.