Bay of Panama Saved

Panama Audubon Society (BirdLife in Panama) is celebrating after winning a hard-fought effort to reverse the Panama government’s 2012 decision to withdraw protected status for the Bay of Panama Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA), a site of international importance for migratory birds.

It is one of five vital stopovers and wintering areas for migratory shorebirds in the Americas and the bill signed by the President Juan Carlos Varela will reinstate full protection of the Bay of Panama.

I would like to congratulate and thank all the people who worked very hard for this victory as everyday, somewhere around the globe, another fight is lost or won too late to save our planet.

Ayata Festival, July 2014

Inspired by the search for the divine spirit in the skies, 2014 Ayata Festival sought to reach a universal state of mind that unites local music, art, performance and culture with the pulse of psychedelic music scene. Gentle souls, following the footsteps of ancient shamanism and tangrism, met at the heights of Sandras Mountain.

Sandras Mountain

Located at the Western edge of Taurus Mountains, creeks of Dalaman in the East/Southeast and Namnam in the Southwest surround the Sandras Mountain. We see Beyağaç and Köyceğiz counties in the North and South respectively. Its summit is in Çiçekbaba Hill. Southern slopes are slighly populated. The area hosts a variety of plants and birds.

Surface area : 133,760 ha
Location: 37.09N 28.83E
Altitude: 50 - 2295 m
Cities: Muğla, Denizli
Counties: Tavas, Acıpayam, Muğla central, Beyağaç, Ula, Köyceğiz, Dalaman

Indigenous plants:

Bolanthus stenopetalus, Ferulago sandrasica, Genista sandrasica, Gypsophila davisii, Lamium sandrasicum, Pilosella sandrasica, Silene brevicalyx, Thlaspi leblebici and Tragopogon oligolepis

Birds:

Circaetus Gallicus (LC), Lullula Arborea (LC)

Butterflies:

Glaucopsyche alexis (VU), Maniola megala
Source: Doğa Derneği

Protection status: None
Imminent threats: Akköprü, Narlı (planned) and Sami Soydam (planned) dams on Dalaman Creek.