International development is more than a major to graduate student Damion Croston. It's his life's calling.

Croston realized his vocation five years ago on a Peace Corps mission to the Panamanian rainforest. Here he witnessed the systematic slashing and burning of the region's greatest natural resources by impoverished local farmers looking to put a meal on the table through hardwood sales and agriculture.

Armed with knowledge acquired through Ohio University's Center for International Studies, Croston returned to Panama in June. His mission: lay the groundwork for a tropical hardwood plantation with an ecological and social bent.

And so Croston and three fellow Peace Corps volunteers launched Planting Empowerment, which seeks socially minded patrons willing to make a 25-year investment. The venture uses some of that money to lease deforested land from Panamanian property owners. The rest they use to plant new trees and harvest them when they mature.

The result is a triple run: The rainforest is replenished; Panamanians profit from lease payments; and ultimately, investors reap a return from tree sales.

So far, some 22,000 trees have been planted on 50 acres in the Darien Province of Panama, but Croston describes Planting Empowerment's progress as "a drop in the bucket" compared with the project's ambitions.

"Our main goal through this project is to teach these communities to manage their resources in a better way," he said. "I hope that we have a lasting effect on this region."

Changing times

It's no accident that Darien, the eastern-most province of Panama, was chosen as the staging ground. The region is sometimes referred to as the "forgotten province." Even the inter-American highway seems to turn its back as it drops off into Darien's vast jungle canopy, some of the last remaining portions of true rainforest in Panama.

But times are changing.

In just five years, Croston has witnessed the transformation of his former Peace Corps community. Electricity has replaced kerosene lamps. An occasional block house now rises up amid thatched huts. Road improvements have cut the eight-hour drive to Panama City in half. And cell phone service has diminished widespread dependence on the region's sparse public phones.

But modernization has environmental effects. Between 1990 and 2005, Panama lost about 200,000 acres of forest cover, according to the environmental science and conservation news source mongabay.com.

"People are (now) focusing on the Darien," said Croston, originally from Massilon, Ohio. "Deforestation has always been an issue. More people moving into the area are only exacerbating the problem."

Slow solutions

Tree plantations are not a new phenomenon in Panama. Most plant and harvest teak, a fast-growing tree that matures in 10 to 15 years. But this non-native species has taken a toll on the region's ecosystem.

"There's an enormous loss of biodiversity whenever you take a complex landscape and simplify or homogenize it into a landscape dominated by one plant species. It's not just a loss of plants, but it's a loss of animals, and it also evolves into a loss of (soil quality)," said Brian McCarthy, an Ohio University professor of environmental and plant biology.

To preserve the region's rich biodiversity, 70 percent of Planting Empowerment's trees are native species. Teak makes up the rest.

For Croston, saving the rainforest is less about trees and more about people. And for many, he said, slash-and-burn deforestation is a survival tactic.

"If there's no other way for (a small farmer) to make money and put food on the table, you can't really chastise that particular farmer," Croston said. "So you have to offer different opportunities for him and look at it from another economic perspective."

Unlike other tree plantations in Panama, Planting Empowerment is leasing, not buying, the land, providing local landowners with a long-term source of income. The company also hires Panamanians to monitor and maintain the sites.

"We're trying to incorporate an educational aspect into it," Croston said. "We want communities to be able to replicate this thing on their own and get to the point where they don't need us anymore."

Money matters

As Planting Empowerment's community liaison, Croston works with local farmers and indigenous groups. He said the people of Darien seem eager to embrace Planting Empowerment.

"There's no lack of interest from the Panamanians," he said. "The problem is we need more resources."

Investments -- particularly quarter-century investments -- are a tough sell for a fledgling company. According to Croston, each acre requires an investment of $7,000. Planting Empowerment boasts the potential for a 10 percent rate of return over the life of a 25-year investment.

To date, Planting Empowerment has received such commitments from 21 people, mainly friends and family.

According to Jie-Li Li, director of International Development Studies at Ohio University, Planting Empowerment's business model is consistent with the move toward a more environmentally conscious society.

"Traditional development programs depend on government aid, but these (types of) projects set a new path," Li said. "They develop a sense of social responsibility."

Croston hopes to return to Panama after he graduates this spring so he can focus his full attention on Planting Empowerment. In the meantime, he is gearing his studies toward his business endeavors.

"(Education has) definitely made me more open-minded," Croston said. "It's made me more inquisitive and helped me to look at things from different perspectives."

New perspectives are exactly what is needed when it comes to preserving the rainforest in Panama, he said.

"When most people think of rainforest, they think of resources," Croston said. "I think of individuals."