For International Women’s Day, Field Coordinator Douglas Chica interviewed Delmy Josefina Viera Argueta, a farmer and a leader of the Local Group of San Hilario. In 2015, she traveled to California with several Salvadoran colleagues and Adele Negro of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies to participate in the 2015 EcoFarm conference on environmentally and […]
COP21: What does it mean for the Lower Lempa?
As the 21st United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) winds down, we at EcoViva reflect on what these negotiations may mean, if anything, for the people most vulnerable to climate change – particularly those of El Salvador’s Lower Lempa. People of the Lower Lempa are experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand, suffering prolonged […]
Locals Mobilize to Help Flooded Communities
Heavy rains and high tides have once again caused major flooding across El Salvador, including several coastal communities of the Lower Lempa region. Since September 28, water has encroached on the communities of Salinas del Potrero, Sisiguayo, and Isla Montecristo, damaging homes and affecting hundreds of families. Some shrimp farming cooperatives are reporting damage to infrastructure and loss of […]
Kidneys, Chemicals, and Clinics: What Rural Communities and the Salvadoran Government Are Doing About a Global Epidemic
Sugarcane production has more than doubled in El Salvador over the last several decades, especially in the eastern region surrounding the Bay of Jiquilisco. The department of Usulután, particularly in the Lower Lempa zone where our partners the Mangrove Association and La Coordinadora del Bajo Lempa are based, has experienced the greatest growth rates since […]
Remembering Katrina: A Global Lesson in Community Organizing and Adaptation
Today marks ten years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans and surrounding communities, killing over 1,800 people while displacing countless more. Poorly-designed levees and inadequate disaster response were in large part to blame for the high toll exacted. Man-made hurricane protection systems failed fantastically. The disaster also highlighted how decades of one-track […]
