El Salvador on Brink of Environmental Disaster

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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

6/14/98

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE

All over the World, wherever it is occurring, dismantling of the

Earth's ecological systems will inevitably lead to ecosystem collapse.

No amount of substitution or technological innovation can currently

develop an ecosystem. El Salvador is on the brink of ecological

collapse, portending a grim future there and for those other places

unable (and/or unwilling) to pursue ecologically sustainable

development. Strong anecdotal evidence is presented which indicates

that clearing tropical forest landscapes through poor land management

leads to a drier climate.

El Salvador, as a country where "natural resources have long since

disappeared," represents the grim future for many countries that are

liquidating their resource base (which is also the ecosystem).

Massive ecological restorations are necessary which span the gamut of

reforestation types including: 1) planting of mixed, local species to

for local needs, 2) reconstructing native forests by allowing remnants

to expand and through plantings, 3) large plantations comprised of

various species, 4) restoring riparian, steep slopes and other areas

of special important, 5) all previous activities targeted towards

areas of suitability. Get at it--we have a World of forests and other

ecological systems to conserve and restore!

g.b.

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Title: EL SALVADOR ON BRINK OF ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER

Deforestation, water shortage major concerns

Source: Houston Chronicle, http://www.chron.com/news/

Date: Saturday, June 13, 1998

Byline: EDWARD HEGSTROM, Special to the Chronicle

SAN FRANCISCO GOTERA, El Salvador -- Old-timers here see the changes

in the hills, once forested, now covered by nothing but rocks and

sand. They note the difference in the river, nearly dry in recent

years. They feel it in the weather, hotter now, less rain.

Even blue skies are mostly just a memory, now obscured much of the

year by an oppressive blanket of grayish smoke produced by the

deliberate burning of agricultural fields and garbage.

"Ten or 12 years ago, there used to be more rain," said Patrocinio

Chicas, 61, a lifelong resident of this town in the eastern El

Salvador state of Morazan. "It's worse now. Even the corn doesn't grow

well anymore."

Ravaged by civil war throughout the 1980s, eastern El Salvador now

faces an environmental disaster.

Massive deforestation has dislodged the top soil and changed the

climate, government environmental experts say, putting this once

heavily wooded region at risk of becoming nothing more than a hot and

dusty desert.

Grave as the problem may be, it represents just part of the

environmental crisis threatening all of El Salvador, the most densely

populated country in the Americas.

Once nearly covered by forests, El Salvador now contains just 2

percent natural forest cover, less than any other country in Latin

America.

The environmental problems have forced people into the capital of San

Salvador, where overcrowding has generated smog and other problems. At

least 11,000 Salvadoran children die every year because of respiratory

ailments believed related to air pollution, according to one study.

"We have the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people who die every

week because of health problems related to pollution," said Ricardo

Navarro, a U.S.-educated environmentalist based in San Salvador. "El

Salvador doesn't face an environmental crisis in the future. The

crisis is right now."

The population boom in San Salvador has also increased the demand for

water and caused the city's aquifers to drop by more than three feet a

year. One government study predicts that San Salvador, a city of 1.5

million, may face a severe water crisis by the year 2005.

Water scarcity is also a problem in other parts of the country.

Experts say consumerism has worsened the nation's environmental

problems. As many as one in six Salvadorans now lives in the United

States, and more than $1 billion is sent home to their relatives every

year. The money, which represents nearly 15 percent of the overall

economy, has helped transform El Salvador from a nation of rural

producers into a country of urban consumers. The number of automobiles

in the country, for example, doubled between 1990 and 1995.

Some economists argue that developing nations invariably experience

severe environmental problems as they industrialize their economies.

But many argue that the model doesn't work for this tiny Central

American nation because its problems are already critical.

In El Salvador, "the natural resources have long since disappeared,

and the environment cannot withstand more abuse without producing

irreversible consequences," according to a study conducted last year

by the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development.

Nowhere is the problem more severe than in the eastern part of the

country. "The deforestation of eastern El Salvador is a very grave

problem," said Ligia Consino, of the government's Environmental

Ministry.

In a region of thin soils and hot tropical sun, deforestation can

cause irreversible damage, experts say. When trees are stripped from

the land, temperatures rise and the amount of rainfall drops. Rivers

dry and aquifers are drained, causing water shortages.

A study funded by the United Nations on El Salvador's climate changes

is set to begin later this year. But data already available has caused

a good deal of concern.

Average temperatures rose by 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit between 1970 and

1990 at one weather station in eastern El Salvador. Reductions in

average precipitation have been documented as well.

"There is absolutely no doubt that the deforestation has caused

climate changes in the east," said Orlando Chacon, a government

meteorologist. "It's very worrisome."

The problems come at a time when the government is trying to coax

Salvadorans to return to the land. The civil war forced hundreds of

thousands of farmers to flee the countryside and to settle in San

Salvador and the United States.

But some say that drought and land erosion only partially explain the

reluctance of people to return to farming. "The people don't go back

to the countryside because they've gotten used to television and

running water," said Alejandro Israel Amaya, the governor of Morazan.

"We have whole villages that are vacated."

But even conservatives like Amaya acknowledge that the environmental

crisis plays a crucial role in the continued migration away from the

countryside. The yield on corn crops has diminished in recent years,

Amaya said, and the past two crops have failed entirely.

"When the corn doesn't grow, who's going to come back and farm the

land?" he said.

Some studies have found that production of subsistence crops, such as

corn and beans, has dropped by as much as 5 percent a year because of

erosion alone.

With people abandoning the countryside and the capital suffering from

smog and water shortages, where can Salvadorans go?

Some diplomats note that up to 1 million Salvadorans already live in

the U. S. If the environmental crisis goes unchecked, they say,

illegal migration from El Salvador may increase.

Edward Hegstrom is a free-lance journalist based in Guatemala.

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