24 April 2014, IISD news - Panama has released a map detailing its forest cover  and land use as part of its commitments as a Partner Country of the UN-REDD  Programme. The map was formally presented to the public by the National  Environment Authority (ANAM) in a 24 April 2014 ceremony held in Panama City,  Panama.

During the map presentation ceremony, Gerardo Gonzalez, ANAM Director of  Integrated Watershed Management, stressed that the map will be a cornerstone of  the Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) component of REDD+. The map is  intended to inform Panamanian decision makers about the current status of forest  resources in the country and will serve as the baseline for monitoring  deforestation and forest degradation in the future. It will also support the  plans for the management of forest resources, territorial zoning and watershed  management.

The map includes 32 thematic classes for forest cover and land use, such as  forests, forest plantations, agricultural uses (with breakdowns by key crops,  such as pineapple, coffee, sugarcane, citrus, plantains and rice), and cultural  uses, among others.

The map was prepared over 18 months by a team of 22 people led by ANAM, which  processed, interpreted and classifying 290 high-resolution satellite images from  2012. The ANAM-led team included participants from the Food and Agriculture  Organization of the UN (FAO), Panama's REDD+ Project, and the Mesoamerican  Biological Corridor of the Panamanian Atlantic (CBMAP). It was funded by the  Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank.

The final version of the map is the product of a verification process in  which ANAM convened four workshops to bring together national experts, state  institutions, civil society, potential map users and representatives of  forest-dependent communities to check that the information contained in the map  corresponded with reality in the field.

Source: http://forests-l.iisd.org/news/panama-releases-map-to-guide-redd-watershed-management/