Roughly 3 million years ago, a land mass arose from the ocean creating an isthmus connecting what is now North and South America. At the heart of that land bridge today is the country of Panama, which boasts greater bird diversity than any other Central American nation, but whose rainforests are being impacted by urbanization and cattle ranching, resulting in deforestation and drinking water contamination.

This combination of conflicting factors has attracted a variety of reforestation efforts, including forest restoration research that embrace agroecology and other sustainable silviculture methods, along with more economically lucrative forestry ventures that focus on the establishment of tree plantations — especially the growing of exotic teak. More…