Mapping the Darién Gap

This video describes how Indigenous communities from the tropical rainforest of Darién, Panama, use drones to map their lands. The communities use these maps to protect their territories from outside incursions and to design sustainable land-use plans.

The Darién Gap is a remote tropical forest that has been home to Indigenous people for thousands of years. As pressures from outside human development encroach on the forest, these communities are protecting their land using a cutting-edge tool: drones. Through a partnership with a nonprofit organization, the Rainforest Foundation, they map their community boundaries to secure land titles, create sustainable land-use plans, and monitor their forests against logging and ranching.

The accompanying “Student Worksheet” incorporates concepts and information from the video.

An audio descriptive version of the film is available via our media player.