Written by: Ernesto Paredes, GLFx Plan de Amayo
In western El Salvador, Fundación Tacuzcalco is on a mission to strengthen rural communities and help people manage the sustainable development of their lands. Our team, which operates GLFx Plan de Amayo, promotes cultural diversity, cares for biodiversity and exemplifies good agricultural practices.
The Plan de Amayo, where we operate, has been part of El Salvador’s natural protected areas system (SANP) since 1998. This is important as the area is home to many unique animal and plant species in danger of extinction, including deer, ocelots, raccoons and bats.
This land is mostly rural, where many families practice traditional agriculture and tend to livestock. However, many of the traditional agricultural techniques used are creating negative impacts on surface and groundwater.
Cattle raising and cultivating fruit trees and sugar cane are important cornerstones of the families who work and live on the land. Their work and well-being depend on access to healthy water sources to irrigate their land.
In other words, sustainable land management is crucial to their livelihoods.
In January 2005, the Natural Protected Areas Law (LANP) was approved to regulate the establishment of the legal regime, administration, management and growth of natural protected areas to conserve biodiversity, ensure the functioning of essential ecological processes and guarantee the health of natural systems through sustainable management for the benefit of the country’s inhabitants.
Part of the importance of the LANP is the creation of a national biological corridor. This is crucial to guarantee the conservation of the state’s natural heritage through sustainable productive activities, contributing to the Mesoamerican biological corridor.
Planting seeds for change
With the support of the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF), Fundación Tacuzcalco is helping to build a participatory work model for the community to respond to local environmental challenges.
GLFx Plan de Amayo operates a seedbed to strengthen territorial governance. It seeks to provide technical and methodological tools to families, community organizations and local leaders.
We are protagonists of sustainable agriculture. We are improving the natural landscape, and we promote ways for women to further care for and protect our natural environments. We help young women step into leadership positions and further their impact.
Fundación Tacuzcalco encourages local people to become leaders in their communities by embracing new sustainable agriculture methods.
Some challenges remain, as our society is divided by political ideologies, and these divisions can affect the community’s organizational processes. As such, we must strengthen education and mobilize resources to promote good agricultural practices.
We work toward agroecological systems adapted to the agri-food system of the region.
We also want to promote agroforestry systems adapted to the cultural practices of our communities. Together, growing trees, shrubs, livestock and crops helps our people sustain themselves off the land while maintaining healthy soils – a key climate mitigation strategy.
We place great emphasis on rural life, as many families in Plan de Amayo subsist on family agriculture. People produce the food they consume, such as corn and beans, which are seeds rooted in tradition in Mesoamerica.
In 2024, when we began the GLFx Plan de Amayo chapter, we had the opportunity to grow 10,000 plants in a community nursery. We were able to train 20 people, mostly young women, and later, by transplanting plants from the nursery, we helped restore and protect 40 hectares of land.
At GLFx Plan de Amayo, our dream is to build a strong organization that helps traditional farmers adopt new technologies and systems that are resilient to the climate crisis. Together with young people, women and engagement across local communities, we know we can make long-lasting change.
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