Team El Salvador

The Bajo Lempa

The Bajo Lempa is located within the department of Usulutan.  The name Lempa refers to the Lempa river which originates in Honduras and flows through El Salvador until it reaches the Pacific Ocean.  In this case, the Bajo Lempa refers to the area that is under the Lempa River.

This area is rich in both agricultural and marine based natural resources. As a low-lying area, the Bajo Lempa is vulnerable to flooding and hurricanes during the rainy seasons during June-October.  This year has been particularly difficult for residents that rely on producing agricultural products for their income and for feeding their families due to drought.  In addition to these difficulties, the Salvadoran government placed a moratorium on the extraction of endangered sea turtle eggs in February of this year cutting off another source of income on which people near the Bay of Jiquilisco relied.

To mitigate these problems, much of the work being conducted by La Coordinadora and Asociación Mangle focuses on finding income generating alternatives as well as alternative models of community organization which foster democratic and sustainable models of pooling resources and collaborating for the advancement of their constituents.