In another win for locally-led conservation efforts, Ministry of Environment announces funding to protect wetlands and communities.

The Ministry of Environment announced yesterday that it would be incorporating 42 islands into El Salvador’s System of Natural Protected Areas. Forty of these islands are located in the Bay of Jiquilisco complex, and two are in the Laguna de Olomega.

The Ministry also signed an agreement with the UNDP launching an effort to protect five wetlands of international importance in El Salvador, including the Bay of Jiquilisco. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) has contributed $2.2 million over the next four years to fund the initiative, called “Conservation, sustainable use of biodiversity, and maintenance of ecosystem services in protected wetlands of international importance.” The Bay of Jiquilisco was declared a Ramsar Site and wetland of international importance in 2005.

This project joins existing efforts with funding from FIAES and the Japanese and Spanish international aid agencies to protect the biodiversity and the livelihoods of communities in the wetland areas of El Salvador. In April 2016 we wrote about FIAES’s $16.6 million investment to protect seven wetland areas and nature reserves across the country, including $2.5 million earmarked for the Bay of Jiquilisco to be managed by local communities and organizations.

In a televised press release, Minister of Environment Lina Pohl emphasized that the new environmental regulations governing the 42 islands would be in service of both conservation and communities living on the islands. “We want to protect biodiversity for people, not from people,” said Minister Pohl.

This is another win for locally-led conservation, and we are proud of our partners at the Mangrove Association for advocating for communities to be at the center of environmental conservation and sustainable development initiatives.

Click here to read the full press release from the Salvadoran Ministry of Environment.