Celebrating 25 Years of Action for Biodiversity

The Montecristo national park has a high floristic diversity, with many species of bromeliads and the greatest wealth and diversity of orchids nationwide [ ] 98 Consolidating the system of protected natural areas A type of biodiversity management has been promoted over the last five years in El Salvador, with the purpose of increasing the social, environmen- tal and economic benefits of biologi- cal diversity and ecosystem services. This, through effective, efficient and inclusive management, allows the threats to be adequately addressed and the loss of biodiversity halted, to guarantee the conservation and sus- tainable use of biological resources. A general objective was established to guide the protection, restoration and conservation of biodiversity, supporting the social and economic development of El Salvador, through knowledge, valuation, conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems and their services. The National Environmental Policy, approved in 2012, became a guiding instrument to face the serious environmental degradation in the country and the growing threat posed by climate change. The policy established two major goals: to reverse environmental degradation and reduce vulnerability to climate change, and defines as one of its priority lines of action the restora- tion and inclusive conservation of ecosystems. With this framework, the government designed and officially launched the National Programme for the Restoration of Ecosystems and Landscapes, which aims to face the severe deterioration of biodiversity and ecosystems in a planned and aggressive manner. Specifically, the biodiversity agenda adopted during the five-year period 2009–2014 had the following five priorities: • The updating of biodiversity and ecosystems planning, focusing on the National Biodiversity Strategy and its plan of action • The strengthening of the political and regulatory framework, with a commitment to the National Envi- ronmental Policy and the National Policy for the Regulation of the Use of Marine Coastal Resources, as well as the preparation of the proposed general regulations of the Law of Natural Protected Areas and general regulations of the Wildlife Conservation Law • Development of initiatives and pro- grammes for the restoration and inclusive conservation of priority ecosystems, with a commitment to the restoration of mangroves, ecosystems in river basins, and the promotion of local self-regulation initiatives • Follow-up to the negotiations on biodiversity in the Convention on Biological Diversity and its proto- cols, paying particular attention to the signing and ratification of the Nagoya protocol • A determined impulse to con- solidate the System of Protected Natural Areas. E l Salvador, despite its small territory of 21,040.79 km 2 maintains significant biodiversity, with good representativeness of ecosystems and species, among which are nebulous forests, submontane, páramos, seasonally saturated formations, pine forests, mangroves, ecotonal formations, backpacks, lava and bushes. The country hosts a large number of wetlands, covering an estimated area of 113,835ha, or 5.4 per cent of the total area of the country. 59 continental and estuarine wetlands have been identified represented by mangroves, saturated forests, estuaries, intertidal lowlands, herbaceous swamps, shrub swamps, reeds and tulares, palm swamps, flood lagoons, lagoons in non-crater concavities, crater lagoons, crater lakes, natural lakes outside of craters and three reservoirs. El Salvador Bernardo Peña on flickr El Salvador