Nicaragua Canal Research Paper

In the next couple of months, construction could begin on the Nicaragua canal. The canal would extend 180 miles across Nicaragua connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The canal project is expected to be completed by 2019 and create a new shipping route through Nicaragua. After it is constructed,over five thousand ships are estimated to pass the canal each year. However, this isn’t the first time a canal through Nicaragua has been presented. In the 1500s, the Spanish were the first to attempt the idea of building a canal through Nicaragua, but this attempt failed.Many other countries including Great Britain, Belgium and France all proposed ideas to construct a canal across Nicaragua. And in the early 1900s, the Americans almost did too. …show more content…
The forest adjacent to where the canal would be built it is home to many animal species including howler monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, and various tropical birds. Also the area is home to several groups of indigenous people who have sought to fight against the project without success. Since the route is not set, it’s impossible to tell how bad the damage would be to the environment in this area, but scientists like Jorge Huete-Perez and Axel Meyer are positive that the outcomes could have a severely negative impact. The environmental impacts could be substantial. invasive species problem. That problem could include venomous Pacific sea snakes invading the Caribbean and a disruption of Caribbean fisheries from an influx of competing species, predators and disease. This hasn’t happened in Panama because the canal route there is entirely freshwater, presenting a formidable barrier for marine life. But in Nicaragua, the topography that separates the Pacific and Caribbean is lower, permitting a canal route that’s closer to sea level and potentially filled with saltwater for more of its length. The canal could create a major shipping route in close proximity to the Seaflower Marine Protected Area a UNESCO World Heritage site off Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. This area holds one of the largest coral reefs in the Americas and is home to tons of endangered marine species. An oil leak or other accident in the region could be disastrous.It has been pointed out that even the new canal in Panama won’t accommodate the latest generation of mega container ships which can carry up to a third more cargo. There’s also no geographic advantage to a canal in Nicaragua. The few hundred miles shaved off major shipping routes between Asia and North America would be balanced out by longer transit times through a canal that’s more than three times as long as its competitor in

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