{"id":460,"date":"2024-11-21T20:50:34","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T20:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/striresearch.si.edu\/aguasalud\/?page_id=460"},"modified":"2026-09-08T19:34:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:34:00","slug":"what-we-do","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/striresearch.si.edu\/aguasalud\/what-we-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Do"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What is Agua Salud?<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Agua Salud is an experimental platform designed to study the ecosystem services provided by tropical forests and how they change with land use and environmental change.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Established in the year 2008 and named after the Agua Salud River, the experiment encompasses 700 hectares (a little over one thousand football pitches) in the Panama Canal watershed, to quantify the goods and social benefits derived from the landscape and undertake research designed to understand ecological processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This knowledge is necessary to produce the next generation of models predicting the delivery of these ecological, social and economic services in a changing world. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Experiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vast areas of tropical forest have been cleared in the Americas for cattle production, including the forests of the Panama Canal watershed.  But at what cost? Is this the best way to manage the land today? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agua Salud researchers instrumented 13 different catchments or small watersheds and planted 150,000 trees in different experiments; native tree species were planted in monocultures and mixtures to understand the effect of diversity on growth, comparing them to plantations of teak (Tectona grandis<\/em>) and to naturally regenerating forests.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This allows researchers to evaluate stream flow regulation and restoration of water quality, as well as which land uses are better at absorbing carbon dioxide and protecting biodiversity. Over time, it helps to determine which land uses resist and recover better from severe draughts and storms, essential information to build resilient landscapes and societies, and to help landowners, investors, stakeholders, communities and government planners to confront environmental change effects and plan for a more sustainable future. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Project Location<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The Agua Salud Project is located in the heart of the Panama Canal Watershed. The Forest Restoration Project in the Ng\u00e4be-Bugl\u00e9 Comarca is located in the District of \u00d1urum, in western Panama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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