Divided by water in Central America

Project goal: Support local communities to adapt their lifestyle to the effects of climate change and advise them on issues of managing natural resources - especially water.
Implementation: A two-pronged approach in the border region between El Salvador and Honduras. 1. Farmers are advised to switch to sustainable, environmentally friendly farming. 2. The establishment of a bilateral committee responsible for discussing problems and coordinating water supply in both countries.
Project size: A cross-border project in the Mesoamerican region (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Panama)
Project volume: The international climate protection initiative (IKI) is supporting the project with 5.7 million euros.
Biological diversity: The Trifinio region is home to valuable biodiversity and is of great importance to the water supply of all three countries (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador). It is the source of the three largest and most important rivers in Central America. 2011 marked the establishment of the cross-border UNESCO biosphere reserve, the Trifinio Fraternidad.

With communities in the border region between El Salvador and Honduras highly dependent on agriculture, water is their most precious commodity. But climate change has brought prolonged periods of drought, and farmers now find themselves waiting months for rain. Local communities draw water from the river which creates the natural boundary between the two states. For a long time there was dispute over who could take how much, but these days that is decided by an official bilateral committee which is supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its local partners. Once a month, farmers clean the filters at the dam, thereby ensuring a supply of drinking water.

A film by Vera Freitag