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Scientists have expressed concern about the environmental impact of building the proposed Nicaragua Canal.
The Nicaragua Interoceanic Grand Canal intends to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The construction of the canal will cut through Lake Cocibolca, also known as Lake Nicaragua, which is Central America's key freshwater reservoir and also the biggest tropical freshwater lake in North and South America.
Expected to be complete by 2019, the project will create a new shipping route via Nicaragua. Once constructed, around 5,100 ships are forecast to pass through the canal annually. It would stretch about 180 miles across the country.
A team of scientists thinks the project will have a number of negative effects on the region’s
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ecosystem. There could be an impact on the lake due to accidental and incidental spillage caused by the passing of ships. The ships could also bring along invasive species of fish and plants that threaten the native species of the region.
"Invasive species brought by transoceanic ships, which could threaten the extinction of aquatic plants and fish, such as the cichlids that have been evolving since the lake's formation," says Pedro Alvarez, an environmental engineer at the Rice University in Houston, Texas.
Alvarez is one of the 21 co-authors of the article, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, from 18 institutions across the U.S., South America and Central America.
For more of the Tech Times story: www.techtimes.com
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