El Salvador's coastline: A treasure worth preserving

El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America, with access only to the Pacific Ocean slope. Along its 321 km of coastline, many local communities depend on coastal marine ecosystems and the resources and services they provide. These communities are at the same time the most vulnerable to climate change scenarios, unplanned coastal development, food security and gentrification. The Marine and Limnological Research Center works closely with coastal communities, including them in the process of generating scientific information as key actors in society, since it is recognized that their knowledge and experience is valuable in decision-making in the integrated management of ecosystems and marine governance. Thanks to the synergy between academia, government institutions, local coastal communities, private enterprise and international cooperation, in recent years we have generated important information for the declaration of new marine protected areas, the structuring of a fund for the financing of science for ecosystems such as reefs, the development of government tools for planning and management against pollution and marine debris, and the evaluation of vulnerable and endangered species. These efforts have also allowed us to increase biodiversity records in different taxa, the discovery of new ecosystems such as black coral forests, the monitoring of species that were thought to be extinct in the country and the generation of technical and scientific knowledge published in indexed journals and transformed into educational material to be used in schools. In addition to this, results have been shared with other countries in the region such as Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica, who have shown interest in establishing research projects under a collaborative line with a regional approach that integrates the socio-environmental realities of each country. For El Salvador, marine sciences have proven to be a valuable source of knowledge for decision-making based on data and evidence.