Rising sea levels force relocation of Panama's coastal villages to mainland This island village is the first of Panama’s 63 island villages expected to relocate due to rising sea levels in the coming decades. Generations have adapted their lifestyles to the ocean, but now the village is relocating into a housing community built by the government on the mainland. O n a tiny island off Panama’s Caribbean coast, about 300 families are packing their belongings in preparation for a dramatic change. Generations of Gunas who have grown up on Gardi Sugdub in a life dedicated to the sea and tourism will trade that next week for the mainland’s solid ground. They go voluntarily – sort of. The Gunas of Gardi Sugdub are the first of 63 communities along Panama’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts that government officials and scientists expect to be forced to relocate by rising sea levels in the coming decades. On a recent day, the island’s Indigenous residents rowed or sputtered off with outboard m...