WHILE activists are protesting the environmental damage from a development bordering the Canal, Panama ratified an agreement on climate change and announced a reforestation plan.

On Monday, September 12 President Juan Carlos Varela, Chancellor Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado and Minister of the Environment Mirei Endara signed an act that ratifies the Paris Accord.

Varela said that Panama is the 28th country to ratify the agreement.

"We are sharing the goal of protecting the planet," he said.

The president also stressed that Panama has already put in place an initiative it proposed in December 2015 at a climate change conference.

The Paris agreement was passed to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

During the activity, Endara said that Panama has a 20-year reforestation plan.