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Mizata Green is an environmental initiative, led by a Salvadoran environmentalist and innovator, that seeks to protect sea turtles on Mizata Beach. In its beginnings, this project was planned to protect the existing biodiversity around the beach; mainly from sea turtles and trees native to the Teotepeque area.
This Baseline Environmental Solution has been identified by the Acceleration Laboratory of the United Nations Development Program in El Salvador, within the framework of the Environmental Solutions Mapping Tour.
Solution type
Financial model for the protection of sea turtles.
Description
Mizata Green is a voluntary initiative whose main purpose is to rescue sea turtle eggs, which would otherwise be sold for human consumption within the Teotepeque area.
During high season, most of the community's inhabitants head to the beach at night to extract thousands of sea turtle eggs in order to sell them to the area's restaurants at a good price. The main purpose of this activity, which can result in the early extinction of this marine species, is to obtain economic income to survive. Faced with this situation, Geovany Menjívar, founder of Mizata Green, has dedicated himself for 15 years to the protection of sea turtle eggs through the purchase and safekeeping of them within his property.
To prevent sea turtle eggs from being used for human consumption, they are purchased through various means, but mainly from the founder's own money. On some occasions, help is received from tourists who come to observe the release of turtles on the beach, and other times the sale of art pieces created manually by the founder of this project has been achieved. This last element is interesting because art as a means of purchasing sea turtle eggs turns out to be an innovative method.
The art pieces that Geovany Menjívar has created have been built from recyclable materials that have been found on the beach. The founder of Mizata Green finds the materials on the beach, takes them to his house and uses his tools to create these pieces that, in addition to being aesthetically attractive, turn out to be functional. This art has often been purchased by foreigners and nationals who initially come to his house to observe the release of sea turtles and end up attracted by Geovany's creations. The money collected from the pieces is used to purchase the turtle eggs, this allows Mizata Green to continue as an innovative project.
For more information
- You can also visit the Mizata Green organizational page .