Lucy Medina Serrano grew up with nine siblings in El Castaño, a tiny village along a river on El Salvador’s border with Guatemala. Her family has always relied on local groundwater from the well outside their home to grow tomatoes, peppers, yuca, aloe, basil, papaya, bananas and more. But for years, sugarcane processing plants upriver from El Castaño have siphoned away massive quantities of water, and polluted what’s left.
Lucy doesn’t mince words when she describes the impact on her community: “The industries destroying our environment are simply chasing money. But money will not give us water. Money does not give you air. Money does not create wind. Money does not help animals to survive. Money will make this place a desert. And that’s not the world I want to live in.”
When Lucy first encountered AJWS grantee organization La Unidad Ecológica Salvadoreña (UNES) six years ago, she found an outlet to transform her passion into action.
UNES trained Lucy to become a ‘climate monitor,’ the organization’s small army of volunteers measuring the changes in local ecosystems — including the presence of dangerous chemicals, lowering groundwater levels and shrinking biodiversity — collecting irrefutable data to push the government for stricter regulations.
Much of UNES’s grassroots work is centered in the coastal area of western El Salvador, around a river basin that is the home to dozens of rural, agricultural communities. As the river nears the coast, it becomes a network of mangroves — a unique ecosystem that serves as a natural barrier against hurricanes and rising seas, shielding people from the worst effects of the climate crisis. The mangroves also sustain the local fishing industry and are the home of diverse species of fish and birds.
But the local sugarcane industry has shown no respect for the people or nature of this region — poisoning the groundwater with pesticides and chemical runoff, which has caused rising rates of kidney failure in communities like El Castaño.
“Nature is talking to us, and it is our duty to listen,” says UNES project coordinator Miguel Urbina. “And she will take back whatever was taken from her; I know the harm we inflict on nature will harm us down the road. And that’s why we must make a change now.”
UNES’ network of climate monitors collects data from the water of the mangroves and well water in over 20 communities across the region, measuring pH levels, chemical concentration and depth.
For UNES biologist Marcela Díaz, training these volunteers has allowed her to spread her expertise and advance the organization’s mission.
“Even if I’m making a small impact — a grain of sand on this earth — I am doing my part,” she says. “And as I bring awareness and teach young people about protecting this environment, I know that impact can only grow.”
UNES staff, volunteers and community members know that if the mangroves die out, this whole region of El Salvador will be more susceptible to damage from hurricanes and other climate disasters. Members of the movement understand that victory in the fight for climate justice takes patience, determination and many people working together. They describe themselves as “guardians of the mangroves,” because they know that without tireless work defending their land against the damaging effects of industrial agriculture, the ecosystem that sustains and protects their communities may be permanently destroyed.
“The heat is not normal. The unpredictable rain is not normal. The loss of biodiversity is not normal. None of this is normal,” says Lucy. “To see it and not accept it is to keep yourself blind. Eyes that do not see make for a heart that does not feel — and then we don’t act. So we must open our eyes to the reality of this climate crisis. The world we’ll leave to our kids depends on what we do right now.”
Both in the mangroves and at home, Lucy takes her work seriously. In deeply patriarchal El Salvador, society may say her role remains in the kitchen, but Lucy knows a woman’s place is to protect her land, her family and her community.
“UNES has changed my life. Today, I am fighting for women every day. Women are the first to be affected by injustice, so we must also be first in the struggle. We are not just a part of nature — we are nature itself, essential like the flora and fauna of our earth. So stay conscious, stay awake, stay aware. This climate crisis demands our attention, and the fight is now. But we need more people around the world taking action. We need you, too, to make a real impact.”