Sustainability and Conservation at Islas Secas
I slas Secas is both a private island escape and a conservation-driven resort – a living model of how luxury hospitality can protect, restore and act as a custodian to the natural world. Here are just some of the ways in which conservation drives everything we do…
Operations Driven by Purpose
Sustainability at Islas Secas begins with our infrastructure. Our 1,500-panel solar array – the largest in Panama – powers the majority of island operations and ensures we are completely off grid. Diesel generators serve only as backup, with associated emissions offset through Sustainable Travel International. In 2025, we deepened our carbon accountability, translating energy data into measurable emissions action across the resort, plane, boat fleet and mainland operations.
100% of water is treated and reused for irrigation, while food waste is composted or processed through a zero-energy biodigester system. We also introduced an on-site Nordaq filtration and bottling system in 2025 to bottle our own water and eliminate imported glass plastic water bottles.
Conservation in Action
On land and at sea, our team advances research that informs regional conservation. This includes a vital national fishing decree introduced in 2023, restricting commercial fishing in 56 nautical miles in the Gulf of Chiriquí – the waters which surround Islas Secas – while protecting small-scale local fishing.
We are also among the only resorts in the region undertaking marine cleanups on a significant scale, including extracting approximately 900 pounds of ghost nets, 11 miles of longlines and hundreds of hooks and lead weights from surrounding reefs. On land, our new science-based mosquito management initiative aims to protect both wildlife and human health.
Guests as Citizen Scientists
Conservation here is an ongoing conversation – one that we love to have with our guests by inviting them to get involved. From contributing whale fluke images to HappyWhale, and logging bird sightings on eBird, to documenting species through iNaturalist, every experience can contribute to global research and monitoring. Whether joining a coral monitoring excursion or attending a conservation talk at Terraza, guests at Islas Secas experience stewardship as something that is both tangible and inspirational.
Beyond the Islands
The Islas Secas Foundation supports a number of partners, deepening our impact across Panama. Through partnerships with Wetlands International, 1,800 hectares of mangroves are being restored by 2028, and our long-term support of Panacetacea has enabled researchers to identify over 1,000 individual whales in our waters. Panama Audubon’s Aulas Verdes program, meanwhile, is educating future conservation leaders, while MarViva advances sustainable fishing practices.
An Ongoing Evolution
Our entire reason for being here is to preserve our remarkable surroundings, and we know that our work is far from done. Our ongoing ambition is to become a blueprint for luxury, sustainable tourism, while immediate goals include deepening renewable energy performance, expanding marine debris removal, becominge a PADI Eco Center, and publishing transparent sustainability reporting.
Just this month, the Islas Secas Foundation partnered with Brice Marchena and Fundación Avifauna’s Eugene Eisenmann to install bioacoustic monitoring stations across the archipelago – advancing biodiversity research and helping guide informed conservation management.
Here, luxury is measured not only in privacy or personalization, but in the knowledge that every guest helps contribute to thriving reefs, protected marine corridors, and empowered communities.
