The Environmental Working Group

Relationships between Salvadoran communities and U.S. local committees were central to the development of  U.S.-El Salvador Sister Cities.  Deep bonds were forged in the accompaniment of communities and the struggle for social justice. The development of sister communities has served as a  tool to strengthen solidarity and address critical issues.  We continue to strengthen and deepen these bonds as we develop new tools to increase participation and the power of this solidarity movement to affect change.

Working groups became one new tool, formed to provide solidarity to our Salvadoran partners on specific critical issues while enabling a broader group of people beyond local committee members to be involved and engaged.  These working groups also allow committees working on similar issues in solidarity with their communities to share information and resources and to work together to address them.  These groups enable us to welcome the participation of anyone with interest in solidarity with El Salvador.

One of the first groups working on a national level with committee members and other individuals involved was the Anti-Mining Working Group.  The group worked in solidarity with Salvadorans organized to fight against mining by multinational corporations  that resulted in the overuse of water and the contamination of the remaining water.  Inspired by the successful outcome of the struggle of the anti-mining group, the Environmental Working Group has broadened the scope of environmental work by addressing additional issues critical to the health of the environment in El Salvador.  

The Environmental Working Group highlights three areas of concern in which we envision focusing our solidarity work as we follow the lead of our Salvadoran partners:

Each link presents a summary of the environmental struggle in El Salvador and it is followed by an annotated bibliography to provide more detailed information.

 

Anyone interested in joining us to address environmental concerns in solidarity with El Salvador is welcome to USESSC’s Environmental Justice Working Group. Please contact Joan Brooks at jmblapaz(at)yahoo.com.