\n The canal authority \u2014 an autonomous government agency \u2014 says the Rio Indio reservoir project is essential to keep the waterway functioning because the impacts of fossil fuel pollution and El Ni\u00f1o<\/a>, a natural climate pattern, have made this area of central Panama increasingly prone to droughts. To make way for what will be the third reservoir to serve the canal, an area of more than 11,000 acres that is currently home to schools, churches, farms and cemeteries will have to be flooded and at least 1,600 residents re-homed.\n <\/p>\n \n That will upend the lives of locals like 27-year-old S\u00e1nchez and her two young daughters, whose rural town of Lim\u00f3n de Chagres is one of dozens of communities along the Indio River that will be affected. The cemetery where her family members are buried is one of eight in the flood zone that will have to be exhumed.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis took me completely by surprise,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cI never imagined they would dare to interfere with something so sensitive to us as rural people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The canal authority has said that relocating the remains will be coordinated in advance with family members, with respect for religious beliefs, cultural sensitivities and emotional ties. Local authorities will cover the cost of the whole process \u2014 from new coffins or urns to headstones at the new sites.\n <\/p>\n \n But many residents say there\u2019s no humane way to carry out an exhumation, especially on ancestral lands where more than five generations are buried.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt is hard enough to endure the pain of losing a family member, but I feel that when they dig them up again, you re-live that pain all over again,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said.\n <\/p>\n \n A government decree ended burials at El Lim\u00f3n cemetery in July. The seven other cemeteries will become off-limits for burials in January 2027. Construction on the reservoir is expected to begin in 2028 with the project slated for completion between 2031 and 2032.\n <\/p>\n \n The canal authority says that, when completed, the new reservoir will both boost its operations by 10 to 15% and help supply water to nearby communities.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt represents a significant step towards canal sustainability, reliability, and competitiveness, for the benefit of all Panamanians and global trade,\u201d the ACP said in February last year, while pledging to set aside funds for compensating, resettling and supporting families and property owners.\n <\/p>\n \n However, many locals are skeptical of how much compensation they will receive \u2014 if any at all. They have also raised fears over whether farming and fishing communities will be able to sustain themselves.\n <\/p>\n \n Olegario Cede\u00f1o Rojas, 40, a farmer in Lim\u00f3n de Chagres, is among those skeptics.\n <\/p>\n \n All four of his grandparents are buried in El Lim\u00f3n cemetery. Exhuming them, he says, means reliving the pain of losing them. And losing his land means losing the foundation of his life, he told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cHow can they compensate me with something permanent \u2014 something enduring \u2014 when I am giving up my land, my life, and everything I have?\u201d he asked. \u201cThe land is our life insurance \u2014 our only permanent, enduring asset of value and the sole source of livelihood for all of us farmers.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n For most people, farming, fishing and river transport are all they know. While farmers fear the land they\u2019re relocated to will be less fertile, workers in river transport \u2014 such as S\u00e1nchez, who boats people up and down the Indio \u2014 fear the project could limit their access to the water. Fishermen, too, have reason to worry.\n <\/p>\n \n Experts warn that the dam needed to create the reservoir will disrupt the river\u2019s natural flow, to the detriment of marine life. LeRoy Poff, biology professor at Colorado State University and a river ecology expert, says fish species moving up and down the river to reproduce will be hindered by the dam, dealing a blow to a vital source of food and income for locals and downstream communities.\n <\/p>\n \n The socio-environmental manager of the reservoir project, Karina Vergara, told CNN that the areas to be resettled were nearby and would have similar soil and conditions favorable to farming.\n <\/p>\n \n However, she admitted the land had not yet been formally acquired, saying the authority was still negotiating with the current owners and that some of the areas still needed infrastructure such as roads.\n <\/p>\n \n Asked to put a date on the resettlements, she said there was no specific timeline because the canal was committed to \u201cdoing this process gradually and carefully, working with the people.\u201d But she said resettlement was still slated for sometime in 2027 and that the first relocations would be to areas where basic infrastructure such as houses, schools and roads were already in place.\n <\/p>\n \n For many residents, uncertainties over the timeline have only added to their anxiety, while experts say the whole process seems far behind schedule.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI would think that at this point they would at least have relocation sites and would start recreating farms,\u201d said Osvaldo Jordan, CEO of wetlands conservation organization CREHO.\n <\/p>\n \n S\u00e1nchez, meanwhile, says the process hasn\u2019t been as mutual and collaborative as authorities make it seem.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey make decisions about us as if we were mere objects,\u201d S\u00e1nchez said. \u201cWe are not objects to be moved around.\u201d\n <\/p>\n A matter of climate and security<\/p>\n \n Relocating populations to make way for dams is far from unprecedented in the region \u2014 though the practice often proves controversial. Similar debates were sparked by the building of Brazil\u2019s Belo Monte dam<\/a>, inaugurated in 2016, which displaced more than 40,000 people; and Colombia\u2019s El Quimbo dam, on which construction began in 2011.\n <\/p>\n \n In the case of El Quimbo, the Colombian government handed over land to 94 displaced families in 2024, but some campaigners estimate the true number of people affected runs into the hundreds or even thousands.\n <\/p>\n![\"Josy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2026-07-26t195700z-1996149386-rc2slma0cd1t-rtrmadp-3-panama-canal-protest.jpg\")
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