Lake Nicaragua is the largest drinking-water reservoir in Central America and is home to fish species key to evolutionary science. Nicaragua Canal could wreak environmental ruin Plans for a 300- kilometre waterway joining the Pacific and Atlantic oceans need independent environmental assessment, urge Axel Meyer and Jorge A. Huete- Perez.

ast June, the Nicaraguan government It plans to break ground in December The Nicaraguan government says that granted a concession to a Hong Kong after spending this year establishing a route the US$40-billion project will boost eco­ L company to build a canal connecting and conducting feasibility studies. Included nomic g·rowth in the country- the second­ the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, in the concession are the rights to build and poorest nation in the Americas - from 4.5o/o through the Caribbean Sea. The HK Nicara­ operate industrial centres, airports, a rail sys­ in 2013 to 14.6o/o in 2016. No economic or gua Canal Development Investment Com­ tem and oil pipelines, as well as land expro­ environmental feasibility studies have yet pany (operating as HKND Group) signed a priation and the rights to natural resources been revealed to the public. Nicaragua has 50-year lease, renewable for another 50 years. found along the canal route. not solicited its own environmental

287 impact assessment and will rely instead on a study commissioned by the HKND. NICARAGUA CARVE-UP This chain of reserves, part otthe The company has no obligation to reveal the A eross,cou ntry canal and surrounding Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, results to the Nicaraguan public. development would splinter the ancestral protects mlgratol)' rou~ between In our view, this canal could create an lands of many autonomous il'ldigenous North and South America. communlties and some ot' the most fragile, environmental disaster in Nicaragua and pristine and scientifically important beyond. The excavation of hundreds of ecoS)Istems in Central America. Lands of the Ram a, kilometres from coast to coast, traversing Garifuna, Ulw.a and Miskitu peoples lie along Lake Nicaragua, the largest drinking-water HONDURAS the Cari bbeari coast. reservoir in the region, will destroy around Mayangna lands mostly 400,000 hectares of rainforests and wetlands. txirder Honduras. The accompanying development could imperil surrounding ecosystems. Some 240 kilometres north of the most likely route ofthe canal lies the Bosawas Biosphere ,,. Reserve - 2 million hectares of tropical forest that is the last refuge ofmany disap­ NfCARAGUA pearing species (see 'Nicaragua carve-up'). ~ Less than 115 kilometres to the south is the Current . Indio MaizBiological Reserve, with more nature than 318,000 hectares of tropical dry forest. • reserves Worse still, the probable canal route cuts ~ Developing ~ reserves through the northern sector of the Cerro Probable Silva Natural Reserve. ~Nicaragua ' The project threatens multiple autono­ --Canal route ··-··Other routes Padfic mous indigenous commtmities such as the 1n consider;ltion Rama, Garifuna, Mayangna, Miskitu and Ocean Ulwa, and some of the most fragile, pris­ tine and scientifically important marine, terrestrial and lacustrine ecosystems in Central America. COSTA RICA An international community ofconservdredging required demonstrated by the dramatic decline in this canal will yield more losses than gains would dump millions oftonnes of sludge Lake Nicaragua's cichlid fish population since for the region's natural resources, indigenous either into other parts ofthe lake or on to the introduction of African tilapia in the 5 communities and biodiversity. nearby land. Either way, the sludge will prob­ 1980s • Cichlids are central to evolutionary 2 ably end up as damagingsedimentation • research. Ecology and genetics studies over AT WHAT PRICE? Lake Nicaragua would also serve as the four decades have resulted in tens of publica­ Many have dreamed of a canal through reservoir for the canal's lock system, requir­ tions involving researchers from more than Nicaragua- from the Spanish conquista­ ing dams to be constructed in an area offre­ a dozen countries. One study, for example, dors to Napoleon Ill. The US industrialist quent seismic activity, which would increase revealed that in less than 10,000 years, several Cornelius Vanderbilt, the United States and the risk oflocal water shortages and flood­ species of cichlid evolved from one popula­ the United Kingdom ing. The lake would probably suffer from salt tion in the Apoyo Lagoon, a crc1ter lake close 6 all had plans for such "Inhabitants infiltration in the lock zones, as in locks of the to Lake Nicaragua • a canal by the mid- ofall species Panama Canal. This would transform a free­ Other vulnerable ecosystems7 in the 1800s, well before the withcmcient flowing freshwater ecosystem into an artifi­ Cerro Silva- Indio Maiz- La Selva Corridor, Panama Canal was ties to the cial slack -water reservoir combined witl1 salt such as the biodiversity-rich wetlands ofSan completed in 1914. lcmdwillbe water. Declining populations ofnative aquatic Miguelito and Bluefields, will suffer from Engineering chal- uprooted." fauna such as euryhaline bull sharks, sawfish dredging, sedimentation, invasive species, lenges, projected costs and tarpon, important for sport fishing and emissions and other pollution. Shipping and and, more recently, competition with the tourism, could also suffer. tl1e construction and operation ofdeepwater Panama Canal, have prevented such plans Changes in chemical composition and ports8 on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts will from being realized. disruptions to dissolved oxygen levels in aftect the nesting and egg-laying habitats of The most likely route' of the HKND's the water from pollutants and constmction several endangered sea turtles and threaten canal is 286 kilometres long and would cut could harm numerous populations of fresh­ coral reefs and mangroves. an approximately 90-kilometre swathe across water and marine fish found nowhere else in On land, animal populations will be arti­ Lake Nicaragua, requiring a major transfor­ the world3 .Boat wakes and dredging could ficially confined to territories carved out by mation ofthe lake bed and local rivers. To weaken and denude the shoreline of rivers the canal's infrastructure and accompanying rival the expanded Panama Canal (slated leading inland from the new poets on both projects, disrupting migration patterns, con­ for completion in 20 15) by accommodating coastsi. This could affect the rivers Escondido, nectivity and ecological dynamics. Already,

288 population of Nicaragua is expected to grow by 37% by 2050, so water shortages and pres- sure on natural resources are already set to increase, limiting sustainable growth and public welfare. In preparation for a future of climate change, food insecurity and biodiversity loss, Nicaragua must estab- lish long-term measures for the protection of its environment, not sacrifice itself to speculators. A loose coalition of more than 30 con- cerned groups filed legal complaints with the government of Nicaragua in the second half of last year. These included three com- munities — the Miskitu and Ulwa indige- nous peoples and the Rama–Kriol territorial government in the South Atlantic Autono- mous Region — arguing that the canal concession violates their land rights and legal autonomy (see go.nature.com/ttshoc). These legal petitions were overridden by the National Assembly in December.

CICHLIDS: AD KONINGS; JAGUAR: FRANS LANTING/FLPA; EAGLE: EDWIN GIESBERS/NATUREPL.COM EDWIN EAGLE: LANTING/FLPA; FRANS JAGUAR: KONINGS; AD CICHLIDS: Swift and decisive international action is called for. The Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences (of which one of us, J.A.H.-P., is president) is coordinating efforts with the InterAmerican Network of Academies of Sciences to carry out an independent impact assessment. We need more conser- vation groups and social organizations to lend their expertise and funds if we are to prevent the tragic devastation of indigenous communities along with terrestrial, marine and freshwater biodiversity and resources in Central America.

Jorge A. Huete-Pérez is director of the Centre for Molecular Biology at the Universidad Centroamericana, Managua, Nicaragua, and the president of the Nicaraguan Academy of Cichlid fish, jaguars and harpy eagles are among the many species threatened by the Nicaragua Canal. Sciences. Axel Meyer is professor of zoology and evolutionary biology at the University of the extraordinary concentrations of endemic and the indigenous inhabitants relocated. Konstanz, Germany. species in the Mesoamerican Biological Cor- Archaeological sites along the route of the e-mails: [email protected]; ridor are experiencing rapid habitat loss. canal will be in danger too. This upheaval [email protected] This crucial biodiversity hotspot is a conser- could reignite the civil violence that has long 1. Comisión de Trabajo del Gran Canal Interoceanic vation system established in 1997 by Mexico blighted the region. The situation is already Canal Through Nicaragua: Project Profile (2006); and the countries of Central America to limit tense as outsiders invade ancestral lands with available at http://go.nature.com/psvowd human activity and to create a safe migratory cattle and carry out illegal logging. (Spanish). corridor between North and South America. Might there be an economically, geographi- 2. Klytchnikova, I. I., Cestti, R. E., Escurra, J., Jorge J. & Pagiola, S. P. Policy and Investment Priorities Nicaragua’s Indio Maiz and Bosawas bio- cally and politically feasible route for the to Reduce Environmental Degradation of the Lake sphere reserves — key links in this corridor proposed canal, railway and oil pipeline that Nicaragua Watershed (Cocibolca) (World Bank, — sandwich possible canal routes. Hundreds would entail significantly reduced risk? The 2013); available at http://go.nature.com/91ruql. 3. Elmer, K. R., Kusche, H., Lehtonen, T. K. & Meyer, A. of thousands of hectares of the forests and general consensus in Nicaragua is no. Inhabit- Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 365, 1763–1782 (2010). wetlands would be cleared for the canal, ants — of all species — with ancient ties to the 4. Wilber, C. G. Turbidity in the Aquatic Environment: destroying the habitats and food sources land will be uprooted regardless. An Environmental Factor in Fresh and Oceanic of already endangered species such as the Waters (Charles Thomas, 1983). 9 5. McKaye, K. R. et al. BioScience 45, 406–411 Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) , the spider INTERNATIONAL ACTION (1995). monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), the harpy eagle The contract for an interoceanic canal in 6. Barluenga, M., Stölting, K. N., Salzburger, W., (Harpia harpyja) and the jaguar (Panthera Nicaragua represents a classic example of Muschick, M. & Meyer, A. Nature 439, 719–723 (2006). onca), a creature of mystical importance to the challenges faced by a developing country 7. Verones, F., Pfister, S. & Hellweg, S. Environ. Sci. Mesoamerican cultures. in balancing economic growth and environ- Technol. 47, 9799–9807 (2013). The social, economic, cultural and mental protection. More sustainable ways 8. Corbett, J. J. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 41, environ mental costs of population resettle- to raise revenue and employment from 8512–8518 (2007). 9. Jordan, C. A., Stevens, K. J., Urquhart, G. R., ment are expected to be enormous. Hun- Lake Nicaragua could include expanded Kramer, D. B. & Roe, K. Tapir Conserv. 19, 11–15 dreds of villages will have to be evacuated irrigation, tourism and aquaculture. The (2010).

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