A landmark decision
In 2017, El Salvador made history by becoming the first country in the world to renounce its mining resources. The law, supported by 70% of the population, quite simply banned all mining, underground or open-pit, on the territory. The reason: heavy pollution of soil and waterways, and the significant deforestation associated with it.
This decision, applauded worldwide, was all the more useful for the environment as it benefited not only El Salvador, but the entire region. Indeed, in the years that followed, other countries, such as Honduras, also restricted mining.
However, the re-election of Nayib Bukele in February 2024, the self-proclaimed "coolest dictator in the world", has raised fears among environmental groups that the law will be repealed. During his previous term in office, the president had made no secret of his aversion to this law, enacted by the previous government, proposing the creation of a Hydrocarbons and Mining Directorate and allocating it a budget of several million dollars. To be continued..
A serious water crisis
According to the United Nations, El Salvador is the Central American country with the least available freshwater per capita. It is estimated that 90% of rivers are polluted, providing water that is unfit for consumption. According to the Joint Monitoring Programme of WHO and Unicef, 5.8% of Salvadorans consume surface water, i.e. water from rivers, lakes or stagnant water.
In 2017, these alarming findings led to a ban on gold panning, which is highly polluting for rivers. Droughts linked to global warming are exacerbating the problem, as rainfall is becoming insufficient to replenish underground water reserves. El Salvador is part of the drought corridor, an area stretching from Guatemala to Honduras, which has been hard hit by climate change and repeated droughts.
While Central America has always been exposed to climatic phenomena originating from the oceans, hurricanes, storms and floods are becoming more frequent and intense every year. The 2020 North Atlantic hurricane season was the biggest on record, with 30 hurricanes. The previous record had been set just 15 years earlier, in 2005, illustrating the acceleration of the phenomenon, since it had previously taken 72 years to beat the 1933 record.
Deforestation
Since 2001, El Salvador has lost almost 10% of its forests. This increased deforestation is also actively contributing to the water crisis, as it prevents soils from properly absorbing water and filling aquifers, as well as disrupting rainfall.
At the time, El Salvador was the focus of a major initiative by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The program aims to reintroduce native tree species by distributing them to participating families, to improve rainfall and regenerate soils. Farmers are also being trained in agroforestry, i.e. the use of forests to grow crops, in order to reconcile agriculture and reforestation.
Other projects, such as the restoration of the mangroves of Barra de Santiago, in the west of the country, have met with real success. Undermined by pollution, warming water and urbanization, this mangrove has been deteriorating for a long time, even though it protects the coastline from extreme climatic phenomena. Over the past decade, various local associations have taken up the issue and are slowly restoring this fragile ecosystem.
National parks
El Salvador is home to five national parks. Among them, the Impossible National Park owes its mysterious name to the difficulty that its perilous terrain once conferred on the muleteers who attempted to cross it to transport coffee. It is considered to have the richest biodiversity in the country, and many species find shelter in its thick canopy, such as the oncilla(Leopardus tigrinus), a little-known feline closely related to the ocelot.
The Parque Nacional Montecristo is the country's other jewel. Although it only covers a limited area of 20 km2, its ecological importance is much greater, as it straddles the borders of Honduras and Guatemala, both of which extend this tri-national protected area. On the Salvadorian side, this superb park is home to three peaks reaching heights of over 2,000 m, and this wide range of altitudes gives it a rich biodiversity.
