Indigenous women lead sustainability and livelihoods in El Salvador

^{Women from the Coordinating Association of Indigenous Communities of El Salvador participate in an indigenous ceremony around a ceremonial fire, as part of a practice of memory, spirituality, and connection to the land. UN Women / Rosario García Hernández.} 

UN Women maintains its commitment to providing sustained support to indigenous women in western El Salvador, based on a simple conviction: there can be no sustainable development without caring for the land, and there can be no lasting protection of nature without the participation of the women who inhabit, understand, and sustain it every day.

This process—developed alongside the Coordinating Association of Indigenous Communities of El Salvador (ACCIES) and allied entities such as MITUR – CORSATUR, and the University of El Salvador’s Faculty of Agronomy—integrates training, organizational strengthening, livelihoods, and natural resource management in the department of Sonsonate (specifically in the districts of San Antonio del Monte and Cuisnahuat). 

Its starting point has been the recognition that, while indigenous women face accumulated barriers to accessing opportunities, land, income, and decision-making spaces, they are also the keepers of knowledge, practices, and leadership essential to the sustainability of their communities. 

^{Members of the Coordinating Association of Indigenous Communities of El Salvador accompany an ancestral ceremony in a space for community gathering, knowledge transmission, and respect for the spiritual practices of indigenous peoples. UN Women / Rosario García Hernández.} 

According to data from ECLAC, in a region that accounts for only 7% of cumulative global emissions but where 90% of disasters recorded between 1990 and 2023 were linked to meteorological or hydrological phenomena, processes like these take on special relevance. Strengthening local capacities to care for the land and sustain resilient livelihoods is a direct response to the climate crisis.

Within this framework, and in line with the UN Women Regional Strategic Note for Latin America and the Caribbean 2026-2029, this support combines various components to strengthen climate-resilient livelihoods and women’s leadership in environmental governance. On the one hand, the leadership of indigenous women has been bolstered by focusing on their identity, rights, and deep connection to the land. On the other hand, technical training has been promoted in areas such as environmental conservation, natural site management, and tourism, as alternatives rooted in the protection and governance of their surroundings. 

^{Women from the Coordinating Association of Indigenous Communities of El Salvador participate in an indigenous ceremony featuring symbolic elements linked to the territory, planting, and the continuity of ancestral knowledge. UN Women / Rosario García Hernández.} 

One of the most visible outcomes of this process is the progress made by indigenous women in their training and certification as site guides. More than just a credential, this step opens a concrete opportunity for participation in local and national governance through a different logic: one where tourism is not framed as the extraction of the territory, but as a tool to value natural and cultural heritage, generate income, and reinforce the capacity of the communities themselves to influence the management of their environment.

In San Antonio del Monte, this journey is now taking on a new public form through the tourism governance initiative Mujeres del Aire (Women of the Air), driven by women from the San Ramón canton. Its development builds on previous training and organizational work, seeking to project a vision in which environmental sustainability, local economic revitalization, and women’s participation advance in an integrated manner.

The proposal is based on a central idea: sustainable tourism is only possible when the natural environment is actively protected, and communities participate in decisions regarding their present and future.

This approach takes on special relevance in a context where indigenous women face increasingly direct impacts from climate change. The 2024 report on the status of indigenous women’s rights, supported by UN Women, shows that nearly half of the participants identified damage to their homes, food security, and family finances caused by floods, landslides, or storms over the last two years.

The same report highlights that many of these women depend on small businesses, home gardens, or informal activities, and that drought or intense rainfall directly affects their livelihoods.

Therefore, accompanying indigenous women in land management is not merely a conservation effort. It is also a concrete response to climate vulnerability, food insecurity, and the lack of economic opportunities. Strengthening capacities to care for natural areas, developing tourism initiatives with deep community roots, and promoting productive activities adapted to the local context all contribute to expanding their autonomy and resilience.

The process developed around Cerro El Águila clearly embodies this vision. There, the focus has been on strengthening technical environmental capacities and promoting the leadership of indigenous women in natural resource administration—in a country where indigenous peoples currently manage no natural parks, let alone by women. In parallel, the training has incorporated content on indigenous worldviews, biodiversity, conservation, protected areas, and the sustainable use of resources, connecting ancestral knowledge with practical tools for the present.

UN Women values this process as a long-term commitment. It is not merely about supporting one-off activities, but about backing processes that strengthen local capacities, create new opportunities for women, and help place a key question for local development at the center: Who cares for the land? Who makes decisions about it, and how can sustainable responses be built from within the communities?

The indigenous women who today serve as site guides, drive local initiatives, and participate in the defense of their territories are not only expanding their own livelihoods; they are also advancing the well-being of their communities. They are also contributing to the imagining and building of more just ways of relating the economy, nature, and community. That is precisely one of the lessons left by this accompaniment: caring for Mother Earth also requires recognizing and strengthening women’s role in the governance of the land.