The arrest of five environmental activists fighting water pollution and mining in El Salvador is drawing international criticism following questionable developments in court proceedings that suggest the case against them…
MEXICO CITY — It was considered a major environmental victory, back in 2017, when El Salvador’s government announced it would be the first country in the world to issue a…
President Nayib Bukele, now entering the last year of his term, has spent much of the previous four years trying to modernize El Salvador’s roads. His government has repaired new…
The development of an international airport in El Salvador is facing backlash from local communities after negotiations with the government broke down and environmental studies revealed the project could harm…
Fires in El Salvador are spreading farther and lasting longer than in previous years, threatening protected areas and reforestation efforts throughout the country. As it enters the peak of its…
A group of women in rural El Salvador is standing up against a major infrastructure project that threatens to clear hundreds of hectares of forest and cut off access to…
According to reports, COP25, the UN climate negotiations that concluded in Madrid, Spain last week, did not yield any progress in terms of more ambitious emissions reduction pledges. But there…
To read about the artificial reefs of Jiquilisco Bay in depth, see the companion piece to this article: Salvadoran fishermen ditch blast fishing for artificial reefs JIQUILISCO BAY, El Salvador…
To read an interview with the man who sparked the artificial reefs of Jiquilisco Bay, see the companion piece to this article: Bringing back the fish: Q&A with a repentant…
ZACATECOLUCA, El Salvador — The waist-high trees in Jose Francisco Merino Umaña’s field have sprouted branches and lush green leaves, but their modest size doesn’t convey the full value they…
USULUTAN PROVINCE, El Salvador – “Without the mangroves, we couldn’t live here,” says José Antonio Hernández. “We wouldn’t have any water.” He is standing on a rare dry patch of…
Legislators in El Salvador made history Wednesday, passing a bill to ban all metallic mining activities in the country. The results of the much-anticipated vote were unanimous: 69 in favor,…
CINQUERA, El Salvador – It's not far from town, but in the middle of the dry season, it's a hot and dusty walk to the Cinquera Forest Ecological Park in…
The Green Macaw (Ara ambiguus) is an Endangered species. Traffickers hunt it on the banks of Nicaragua’s San Juan River. Captured birds are often transported for sale to San Salvador…
A new short video by Friends of the Earth International highlights the impacts of climate change on mangroves in El Salvador, which local fishermen depend on for their livelihoods. Mangroves…
Demonstration in San Salvador, urging lawmakers to institute legislation ensuring the human right to water. Photo by: Robin Oisín Llewellyn. On hot days the broken stone and dried up silt…
Latin American countries lose 4% of dry forests in 9 years Click image to enlarge Countries across Latin America lost 78,000 square kilometers of subtropical and tropical dry broadleaf forests…
Before and after satellite images of flooding in Ayutthaya Province, Thailand. Photo by: NASA. The year 2011 has presented the world with a shocking increase in irregular weather and disasters…
Unprecedented flooding in Thailand, torrential rains pummeling El Salvador, long-term and beyond-extreme drought in Texas, killer snowstorm in the eastern US—and that's just the last month or so. Extreme weather…
As more nations adopt better laws and policies to save and restore forests at home, they may, in fact, be outsourcing deforestation to other parts of the world, according to…
Butterflies can be used to quickly assess the conservation value of an area, report researchers writing in the journal Tropical Conservation Science. Timothy Bonebrake of Stanford University and Rubén Sorto…
Can remittances and globalization help the environment? Can remittances and globalization help the environment? Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com September 6, 2007 Globalization and other economic trends appear to be helping…
Forest fires burn in Central America Forest fires burn in Central America Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com April 10, 2006 Hundreds of fires are burning across Central America according to NASA…
Red Tide Causes Sea Turtle Die-Off in El Salvador Red Tide Causes Sea Turtle Die-Off in El Salvador Wildlife Conservation Society March 23, 2006 A "Red Tide" event that occurred…
Weak aid response to tropical storm damage in Central America Poor aid response to storm damage in Central America mongabay.com October 5, 2005 Tropical storm Stan has killed more than…
El Salvador's tropical storm damage worsened by deforestation El Salvador's tropical storm damage worsened by deforestation Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com October 4, 2005 Forest clearing on hillside in Central America…
