Energy Forests, the Feminine Art of Reforesting

Edgardo Ayala and Claudia Ávalos -IPS – Monday, 04 May 2012 (originally published 30 Apr)

Women and young daughter planting seedlings

Elsy Álvarez and María Menjivar – with her young daughter – planting plantain seedlings in a clearing in the forest. Image:Claudia Ávalos/IPS

SAN JULIÁN, El Salvador, Apr 30, 2012 (IPS) – María Elena Muñoz industriously weeds a clearing in the forest and then digs several holes, where she and another four dozen women are planting plantain seedlings, to help feed their families in this poor farming area in El Salvador.

The group is involved in an agroecology programme that has two main aims: achieve food sovereignty, which is at risk in the rural communities of San Julián; and foment the development of energy forests, which provide local families with sustainable energy and help mitigate the impact of climate change.

“The forest belongs to everyone, it gives us fruit and firewood for cooking,” Muñoz, 42, told IPS . . .

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