The Bayano-McGill Reforestation Project is McGill’s flagship carbon offsetting research project led by the McGill Office of Sustainability, the traditional Indigenous authorities of the Congreso General Emberá de Alto Bayano, and the Indigenous women’s NGO, Asociación de Mujeres Artesanas de Ipetí-Emberá (AMARIE) in Panama.
The project is a collaboration with Dr. Catherine Potvin, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biology and Canada Research Chair in Climate Change Mitigation and Tropical Forests (Tier 1).
With Instructor Julie Major, undergraduate interns of the Panama Field Study Semester (PFSS) will monitor tree growth in the field. Graduate students in Biology and Geography conduct research related to the offsetting project.
Since 2020, there have been:
2,909
tonnes of CO₂e offset
44
local families participating
Last updated June 2025.
Vision
McGill University seeks to take accountability for its institutional air travel emissions via its own dedicated, research-driven offsetting project, thus contributing to its long-term target of carbon neutrality by 2040.
Mission
By sequestering carbon, the project will help reduce McGill's institutional carbon footprint while strengthening its environmental and social sciences research and providing benefits to collaborating local communities.
About
McGill University purchases seedlings and provides the finances needed to plant and maintain the reforested area in Panama over the long term.
A Governance Committee ensures a fair-trade price is maintained, local communities are consulted, and the project respects all agreed-upon principles. It includes:
- Three individuals representing the communities: the nokos (local chiefs) from Ipetí- and Piriatí-Emberá, and the cacique general (regional chief)
- One individual representing AMARIE
- One individual representing the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)
The governance committee meets yearly to review, among other subjects:
- Previous year's plantations
- Community participation and feedback
- Updated scientific research relevant to the project
Project Partners
The General Congress consists of the traditional authorities of the Ipetí- and Piriatí-Emberá communities in eastern Panama. They help ensure free, prior, and informed consent of the communities and participating households.
AMARIE is a non-governmental organization founded by women of the Indigenous community of Ipeti-Emberá in eastern Panama. The organization produces and sells handicrafts.
In the Alto Bayano watershed, Emberá women walk for hours to the remotest parts of the Panamanian jungle to collect plants that give natural colour and life to their hand-crafted art. The tradition of craft-making symbolizes and preserves the essence of Emberá culture and has been passed down through generations of women artisans.
AMARIE also supports research in eastern Panama in collaboration with McGill and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI).
PFSS is a joint venture between McGill University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). Students live for up to four months in Panama, taking courses that specifically address Latin American social and tropical environmental issues. By bringing students in contact with another reality, we help them build a new, more pluralistic vision of the world’s environment and help prepare them to play a positive role in tomorrow’s society.
Frequently Asked Questions
McGill will provide funds to plant trees from 2020-2022 and maintain the trees for 5+ years following plantation. Participants have committed to maintaining their trees for 25 years.
As part of the project agreement, various levels of verification are planned to ensure project integrity. A monitoring methodology has been developed, and local technicians have been trained to measure trees as of their fifth year since planting. Student researchers also participate in monitoring activities. A representative of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute brings additional scientific perspectives on local carbon modalities to the Governance Committee. Finally, further opportunities to have the project verified by peers or by third parties are under investigation.
Tropical forests grow at a much faster rate than northern, temperate forests, such as those in Canada, and have a greater potential for storing carbon (Beer et al. 2010; Locoselli et al. 2020). Meanwhile, globally, most deforestation is occurring in the tropics (Ritchie & Roser 2021).
Professor Potvin’s Neotropical Ecology: Science for Empowerment lab developed a collaborative relationship over 25 years with the Emberá of eastern Panama, studying biodiversity and conservation, forest carbon stocks, and Indigenous land uses and livelihoods via participatory action research. Thanks to these long-term collaborations, McGill researchers have become key research partners with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama. Students visit and conduct research in Panama via the Panama Field Study Semester (PFSS) undergraduate program, and the Neotropical Environment Option (NEO) and Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Sustainability (BESS) graduate programs.
Currently, it is possible to contribute to the Bayano-McGill Reforestation Project via interfund transfer. See how to contribute on our Offsetting Program page.
