Oliver Komar

Northern Jacana (bird) in El Salvador.

By Jennifer Felt and Jordan Taylor

In a country torn apart by civil war only fifteen years ago, citizens have begun to put down their rifles and pick up their binoculars to the benefit of the more than 500 native and migratory bird species living in or passing through El Salvador. As the country continues reconstruction and reconciliation efforts, Salvadorans have worked hard to improve the country's external image in an effort to increase tourism. El Salvador's beautiful national parks and rich biodiversity no longer go unnoticed by the nature lovers of the world.

Working to support the government's plans to promote tourism, Humane Society International has partnered with local non-governmental organization SalvaNatura to encourage bird-watching as an ecotourism activity in El Salvador. The partnership aims to increase tourism, protect the environment and biodiversity, and ensure that a portion of the profits from tourism benefit people living in poorer communities located on the borders of national parks. 

Protecting El Salvador's Birds

Although the country is the smallest in Central America, it is home to or visited by almost 550 species of birds, many of which are endangered. As urban development, logging, farming, irresponsible tourism, and pollution increase, however, the natural habitat for these birds is quickly disappearing. Many birds also suffer at the hands of poachers who trap and sell them around the world as part of the illegal black market for exotic wildlife.

Oliver Komar

White Tailed Hawk in El Salvador.

In an effort to protect these species while supporting the increase in tourism to El Salvador, HSI and SalvaNatura are creating an in-depth database that will provide expert information to tourists as well as local communities, educating them on the diverse species to be found within the country. Birds have been studied in El Salvador since the end of the 19th century, with national lists of birds published in 1938, 1954, 1996, and 2001. Since 2003, a total of 22 new species have been documented in the country, bringing the total to 544 species in El Salvador, of which most (317) are breeding residents while a substantial number (227) are non-breeding migratory visitors or transients.

In order to update the national bird list, SalvaNatura, with support from HSI, is working with local communities to operate five monitoring stations throughout El Salvador. As a result of our efforts, the database now contains more than 40,000 records of the 544 bird species that have been spotted by volunteers over the past several months. In addition, 124 distribution maps have been produced for individual bird species, as well as one that is specific to the Salvadoran national park of El Imposible. These maps contribute greatly to ongoing outreach and education, as local community members can use them as tools to educate tourists visiting the national parks. 

Monitoring Threatened, Endangered Birds

Through this monitoring and observation effort, however, it has been determined that a total of 246 bird species in El Salvador are threatened. Of those, 46 are critically endangered, 98 are endangered, and 102 are vulnerable. These numbers underscore the urgent need to continue conservation efforts by educating the public and tourists about the importance of protecting these species and further developing an environmentally-friendly sustainable tourism program.

The information collected has also been used to strengthen the national government's ability to stem the illegal trade in wildlife prohibited under the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). By having access to the database and other scientific data on the status of these species, the Salvadoran government can target the illegal trade and develop conservation priorities.

Now that the database has been created, HSI and SalvaNatura will continue to work with local communities to promote habitat conservation and tourism as an alternative to poaching.

In a country that is continuing its courageous endeavor to overcome a difficult and often violent past, some people may argue that there are more important things to worry about than protecting the environment. Based on the success of our program, HSI, SalvaNatura, and the local communities with which we work, however, would have to disagree.  

Jennifer Felt serves as Regional Director for Trade Capacity Building for HSI in Costa Rica, and Jordan Taylor serves as Deputy Counsel for International Trade Policy for HSI.