Salvadoran institutions disengage from environmental protection

An investigation carried out by the Salvadoran digital media outlet GatoEncerrado, shows how the Ministries of Agriculture and Environment have evaded their mandate for environmental protection, by not assuming their responsibilities in the destruction of Cerro el Águila, in Juayúa, west of El Salvador.

According to the media, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN), issued a statement in which it claimed not to have granted the pertinent permit for cutting down trees, while accusing the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) of being the ones responsible for giving those permits. The affected area is the Apaneca-Ilamatepec biosphere reserve. “In its defense, the MAG assures that logging has occurred on private lands and that, although it granted permits for the registration of plantations in that area, there was never an agreement to allow logging.”

The accusations were crossed through the social channels of both state institutions, which led to an inspection in the area.

According to GatoEncerrado, “El Águila hill is part of the Apaneca-Ilamatepec Biosphere Reserve, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007. In this reserve, according to MARN data, 760 species have been identified, of those 58 are categorized as in “danger of extinction.”

The logged area is within ​​the San Rafael Los Naranjos, or Cerro El Águila, Protected Natural Area. In this hill, which is part of a water recharge zone, 200 and 250 year old trees have been cut down, according to the communities and organizations that have reported the case.

Within this protected natural area, there is a tropical forest home to trees such as: oaks, amate, lion’s hand, pine, cypress, sweetgum, orchids, among other species.