Climate risk and adaptation country profile: Panama

Panama experiences a series of extreme weather events including intense and protracted rainfalls, windstorms, floods, droughts, wildfires, earthquakes, landslides, tropical cyclones, tsunamis, and ENSO/El Niño-La Niña events. Between 1982 and 2008, Panama was struck by 32 natural disaster events, with total economic damages totaling an estimated US $86 million.

Implications for DRM:

• Given the expected variability in precipitation, it is crucial to improve water storage capacity to utilize excess water from wet years. 
• Increased periods of high temperatures might produce recurrent heat waves that could create severe health impacts, including the proliferation of diverse pathogens, increased dehydration, and other respiratory diseases. 
• After 2015 the threat of climatic variability begins to be the principle driving force behind the increased tendency for extreme events. This would require integrated assessments and development planning that link disaster risk planning and climate change adaptation, in particular for food security, energy access, and sustainable development. 
• The poorest populations, including vulnerable indigenous populations, will not, and indeed cannot, adapt if this will require looking beyond their immediate food security needs. The potential impacts of climate change on Panama’s most vulnerable populations should be prioritized.