Since our work began in 1996, we have maintained a philosophy that community development must happen in harmony with the natural environment in order to be successful and sustainable. For our partner communities in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador, this means protecting the Bay of Jiquilisco Biosphere Reserve, an ecosystem of global importance and a hotspot for biodiversity.
In 2005, the Salvadoran government threatened to displace all human settlements from the Bay of Jiquilisco in order to set up a national park. At the same time, this area was being surveyed by land developers for the development of luxury tourist resorts and large plantations. Read more on our History page.
A 3-year struggle ensued, in which our local partners teamed up with conservation scientists and international allies to lobby for a different model, one in which local residents could create a model for sustainable development that keeps out large-scale developments and protects the biosphere reserve.
In 2008, local residents won. Through a decree by the Ministry of the Environment, they are now officially recognized as local managers of the Protected Area. Our challenge is to help them build the capacity to effectively manage this resource of global importance.
Local Enforcement of Environmental Regulations
Our partner communities in El Salvador are using their new power as local managers of the Bay of Jiquilisco Biosphere Reserve to stop wealthy developers from destroying major portions of the Protected Area. In one recent case, they filed a lawsuit which stopped an agribusiness company from chopping down a tract of mangrove forest to plant sugar cane. In another instance, they prevented a wealthy family from building a luxury tourist resort in the middle of the Protected Area. These projects, which would have destroyed large portions of the fragile mangrove forest ecosystem, would have moved forward but for the vigilance of local community leaders who noticed the developers arriving with their construction machinery.
In addition, eight communities recently entered an initial pilot project covering 4,735 acres of mangrove forest. Working with conservation scientists, community leaders conducted a thorough assessment of the species living in these areas, and their vulnerability to environmental threats such as overfishing, deforestation and water contamination.
Through this process, the communities declared this area a ‘local protected zone’ in which all activities are closely monitored and regulated, including chopping down trees, fishing or harvesting crabs and shellfish. At right is a public map of the local protected zone.
Photo: Nathan Weller
Local community members are trained as Wetlands Rangers. They patrol these zones every day to enforce the local regulations. We are currently working with our local partners to assess the effectiveness of this pilot project with the plan to expand it to more communities in the near future.
Over the last five years, through our partner organization the Mangrove Association, we have supported the creation of six sea turtle hatcheries in coastal communities near the Bay of Jiquilisco. Five of these hatcheries work mostly with Olive Ridleys, Green turtles and Leatherbacks, and one is exclusively for Eastern Pacific Hawskbills. Community members who used to illegally sell turtle eggs to fancy restaurants now sell them legally to the local hatchery for the same price.
Local people are hired as rotating security guards or attendants for the hatcheries. The hatchery attendants learn about the biology of sea turtles and how to care for them. They bury each egg in a secured location on the beach, and regulate its temperature to ensure that it has the right conditions to hatch.
The release of baby turtles into the ocean is an inspiring sight, and our supporters are welcome to participate! Sea turtle release is a feature of Community Empowerment Tours from September through January of each year.
The sea turtle conservation program is not just about sea turtles but about a better livelihood for local community members. By selling turtle eggs to a hatchery, tortugueros (people wh o sell stolen turtle eggs on the black market) can now make an honest income while protecting sea turtles. Our local partners are also working with these men and women to help them find other sources of income to support their families, including sustainable agriculture, ecotourism and sustainable fishing cooperatives.
Through the hatchery project we have supported the release of over 650,000 baby sea turtles into the ocean since 2005. However, for every 1,000 sea turtles released, only one will survive and make it back to the nest as an adult to lay eggs. Baby sea turtles are killed by mostly by bombs from blast fishing, but also by nets from massive commercial fishing ships, predators like sharks, and rising sea temperatures. Our work is more critical than ever in order for sea turtles to survive.
Sustainable Fisheries
Studies from the UN show that the number of fish in the world’s oceans is declining at an alarming rate, threatening the livelihood and food security of 200 million people. The fisherwomen and fishermen of the Bay of Jiquilisco Biosphere Reserve are seeing big drops in number and size of their catch each year. A major reason for this is the practice of blast fishing: the use of homemade bombs and explosives to stun the fish to the surface.
This destructive practice is not just destroying fish stocks. It is also the number one threat to the survival of sea turtles, including the critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle. Every bomb that explodes during turtle season destroys dozens of baby sea turtles. Of the thousands which hatch on the local beaches, only a handful make it to adulthood. For the survival of this endangered species, we must halt the practice of bomb fishing.
In response to this environmental threat, we are working with our local partners to support the formation of sustainable fishing cooperatives. As of late 2009 there were four cooperatives with 90 members, and the number is growing. These cooperatives are made up of fisherwomen and fishermen who are committed to less destructive forms of fishing. They are spreading the word about the problems created by bomb fishing. They are also working with scientists from the University of El Salvador to track local fish species, and to create protected areas where the fish can reproduce. By constructing “reefs” of anchored wood to replace the lost habitat, the cooperative members provide a place for fish to lay their eggs. They are patrolling these areas to ensure that no one fishes in and near them, and to report any use of explosives to the local authorities.
These fisherwomen and fishermen represent a new wave of environmental consciousness in some of the poorest rural communities of El Salvador. In the country with one of the highest levels of environmental degradation in the Americas, rural people whose livelihoods depend on the land and sea – farmers, fishermen, crabbers – can see that they must protect the few resources they have left.
Photo: Jillian Baker
Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration
For local species of sea turtles to survive, we must restore the mangrove ecosystems of the Bay of Jiquilisco that have been badly degraded by natural disasters, deforestation, soil erosion, and the modification of artificial canals through the wetlands. Over a period of five years, community members and our own volunteers planted mangrove propagules, or seeds, in deforested areas in the hopes of restoring these forests. However, a recent evaluation has found that this approach is not the most effective at ecosystem restoration. We are currently in the planning phases of a new pilot project which will train local community members to restore the natural hydrology of the wetlands, while increasing soil and water retention in upstream buffer areas, creating the right conditions for mangroves to regenerate on their own.
Ecological Sanitation
Indoor toilets are almost nonexistent in rural El Salvador, as are septic systems and sewage treatment. The large amount of human waste flowing into local waterways is not just a major threat to public health. It also contributes to algal blooms in the Bay of Jiquilisco, reducing oxygen availability in the water and thereby destroying fish and other marine wildlife.
Traditionally, people in rural El Salvador cook on open pit wood fires inside their kitchens because they can't afford anything else. All family members, but especially women and girls, are exposed to dangerous levels of smoke and pollutants, contributing to severe respiratory health problems and early blindness. Moreover, the burning of so much wood contributes to deforestation and global warming. Near the Bay of Jiquilisco, a significant portion of firewood comes from cutting down mangrove trees. Wood-saving stoves reduce the need for firewood and protect the health of children and families. Read more about them on our Community Infrastructure page.
EcoTourism
El Salvador is at the cusp of a burgeoning tourism industry. In September 2009, the New York Times published an article in the Travel section about surfing in El Salvador, a bellwether of nascent tourism. Major tourist resorts have sprung up in various parts of the country, and the Ministry of Tourism helps promote them. Not surprisingly, powerful forces from both the private and public sector want to see tourism established in the beautiful Bay of Jiquilisco area as a way to attract large capital investments.
However, the ecologically destructive business model of typical commercial tourism would undoubtedly forever change the character and extent of the natural habitat and fragile ecology of the Bay of Jiquilisco, most probably displacing many communities and severely limit access to sustainable livelihoods like fishing and farming.
With EcoViva’s Community Empowerment Tours, we are working to establish an alternative model for tourism in the Bay of Jiquilisco, one that will bring the world’s attention to the beauty of the mangrove forests and the work of local communities to protect them. Tourists stay with local families, eat delicious food with organic produce grown on local farms, meet local community leaders, take boat rides through the mangroves and lounge on local beaches. The tours are conceived and run by local community members, who make a fair wage and who can showcase their community development work to an interested international constituency.
There is hard evidence that we are not alone in recognizing a need for more sustainable travel. A recent study of travelers from the United States undertaken by the Travel Industry Association, and cited by the Center on EcoTourism and Sustainable Development, found that:
More than 47 million travelers believe it is important that travel companies they use employ local residents and support the local community.
More than 55 million travelers exhibit a high degree of commitment to travel that protects the local environment, engages visitors in the local culture, and returns benefits to the community.
Sixty-one percent of travelers agree that their travel experience is better when the destination preserves its natural, historic, and cultural sites and attractions.
Seventy-one percent indicate it is important to them that their visits to destinations do not damage local environments.
We are establishing a financially and ecologically sustainable business model in a market in which low-impact development and authentic community involvement are considered competitive assets. Read more about Community Empowerment Tours.
EcoViva - formerly the FSSCA - supports environmental sustainability, social justice and peace for communities in Central America. Read more.Watch our videos.
In addition, eight communities recently entered an initial pilot project covering 4,735 acres of mangrove forest. Working with conservation scientists, community leaders conducted a thorough assessment of the species living in these areas, and their vulnerability to environmental threats such as overfishing, deforestation and water contamination.
Local community members are trained as Wetlands Rangers. They patrol these zones every day to enforce the local regulations. We are currently working with our local partners to assess the effectiveness of this pilot project with the plan to expand it to more communities in the near future.
Over the last five years, through our partner organization 
90 members, and the number is growing. These cooperatives are made up of fisherwomen and fishermen who are committed to less destructive forms of fishing. They are spreading the word about the problems created by bomb fishing. They are also working with scientists from the University of El Salvador to track local fish species, and to create protected areas where the fish can reproduce. By constructing “reefs” of anchored wood to replace the lost habitat, the cooperative members provide a place for fish to lay their eggs. They are patrolling these areas to ensure that no one fishes in and near them, and to report any use of explosives to the local authorities. 
