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Blue Ocean and Green Farms Boost Tourism and Business
FrontLines - March 2010
By Angela Rucker
Along a 75-kilometer stretch
of its southern coastline, El Salvador
hopes that going green
will be good for tourism and the
bottom line.
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Luis Fernandez is the owner of
San Julian, a cheese processing
factory that made use of
a $300,000 USAID Development
Credit Authority loan
to invest in environmentally
friendly “clean production.”
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In Barra Salada, tourists are
heading for El Salvador’s first
nationally protected coastal and
marine site, Los Cobanos—
20,000 hectares of protected
ocean. Rocks and sunken
ships jut out from the water and
coral formations lie just below.
Another 580 hectares hold
mangrove forests and endangered
plants and animals. Tourists
in chartered fishing boats
may see dolphins or whales
splashing in the Pacific Ocean.
At Los Volcanes National
Park are the majestic—and still
active—Santa Ana and Izalco
volcanoes. Nearby camp
grounds and walking trails are
getting a makeover to draw in
more domestic and foreign
tourists.
Between the two, spread out
among large sugar plantations like
a patchwork quilt, are 1,000 small
coffee farms that use environmentally
friendly practices to ensure
runoff that eventually reaches the
Pacific will do no harm.
Lonely Planet, the travel
guide publisher, named El Salvador
one of its 10 “hottest
countries” for
2010, citing,
among other
things, its
“pristine forests,
active volcanoes
and
alpine lakes.”
Today, four
buoys cordon
off environmentally
sensitive
waters.
Park guards
protect the
flora and fauna
and educate
visitors and
nearby residents
about
biodiversity.
“Our presentation includes
the different species in the community,”
said a park guard, Ana
Maria Velasquez. “[And we]
explain to them the importance
of trees and mangroves so they
won’t believe a tree is just a tree
you can cut.”
Velasquez, 29, and a mother
of two young children, said part
of her job is to transfer what she
knows about protecting the
environment to the next generation.
The goal is “not only to
make money off tourism, but
also for visitors to appreciate
what we have…such as the
whales, the dolphins, and the
coral reef,” she said.
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This buoy and three others outline El Salvador’s
first nationally protected marine site, which encompasses
20,732 hectares in the Pacific Ocean.
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Environmental protection
also motivates Luis Fernandez,
owner of San Julian, a cheese
and milk processor that employs
320 people. He used a USAIDbacked
loan to automate, modernize,
and improve efficiency.
Today, the whey byproduct from
processing milk is fed to hogs.
The hogs’ manure fertilizes coffee
fields. And the farm has a
waste water treatment plant. San
Julian also sponsors clinics and
other activities for poor communities
near the plant.
“No one is pushing us to do
this, but we know we have to do
it,” said Fernandez. “Despite the
[economic] crisis last year, we
grew perhaps 11 percent.”
Approximately 1,000 coffee
growers—about one-fifth of
them women—have also benefited
from a USAID program
that teaches about proper shading
to improve bean quality,
wildlife protection, organic fertilizers,
nontoxic pesticides, and
efficient milling. Their coffee
beans have earned $6 million in
two years and meet quality standards
demanded by buyers like
Starbucks, said Carlos Hasbún,
USAID regional biodiversity
specialist.
“I think it has been fairly
easy for our program to get
buy-in from local farmers on
the verge of selling their land,”
Hasbún said.
At the top of the watershed
in another protected area—
between the Izalco and Santa
Ana volcanoes—the ATAISI
Coffee Cooperative is refurbishing
camp grounds and walking
trails nestled near the volcanoes.
With USAID assistance, the
group developed a business plan.
Tourism proceeds will be reinvested
in the cooperative.
★
FrontLines writer Angela Rucker wrote this series of articles following a trip to El Salvador in January. All photos by Angela Rucker.
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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Material should be submitted
by mail to Editor, FrontLines, USAID,
RRB, Suite 6.10, Washington, DC 20523-6100;
by FAX to 202-216-3035; or by e-mail to frontlines@usaid.gov
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