Salvemos Nicaragua

A few weeks ago, Paso Pacífico's Abril Perez & Julie Martinez appeared on Nicaragua's Channel 2 morning magazine show Primera Hora, to discuss our campaign to encourage better solid waste and wastewater management.

Watch the video (in Spanish) below, or you can watch it on the Canal 2 website.

Abril & Julie also appeared on three other morning news shows. We'll share those videos as they become available.

International Women's Day

On International Women's Day, these Nicaraguan school girls look toward their future.

A featured commitment of the Clinton Global Initiative, our ELLAS Initiative works directly with women, children, and communities to ensure the region’s current and future ability to sustain ecological efforts.

ELLAS, the Environmental Learning, Leadership, Adventure, and Stewardship Initiative, is transforming Nicaragua's La Flor coastal and marine protected area into a geotourism destination. By strengthening female enviropreneurs, empowering coastal communities as environmental stewards, using technology to enable participation and learning, and harnessing market forces through ecosystem service payments, the ELLAS initiative is averting large-scale environmental destruction.

Our 25 female enviropreneurs manage tourism-centered businesses, including kayaking tours, a guide association, hostels, locally-sourced seafood restaurants, and a tree nursery supporting watershed restoration. In coordination with our sea turtle program, women have also formed a sea turtle nursery, generating income by protecting nests and educating others about sea turtle conservation.

Read more about our efforts to empower women.

Support the ELLAS Initiative.

Conservation Connections: Bats are Beneficial

Our February newsletter is online.

Thanks to Danielle Gustafson from Bat Conservation International for the great photo of our Junior Rangers learning about a bat they've just netted with bat biologist Luis F. Aguirre.

Also in our newsletter:

• catch up on last month's Turtle Ball
• learn about our upcoming arts education programs with the Raechel & Jackie Foundation
• Meet PP staffer Nicole Salazar
• help us fight forest fires in coastal Nicaragua

Pitching Nicaragua as the Next Paradise

The Wall Street Journal has a new piece on the challenge of transforming Nicaragua from "a country from tourism pariah to hot destination for wealthy travelers," showcasing Nicaragua's first luxury hotel, opening next month.

We have long recognized the natural of beauty of the Paso del Istmo and as we have watched the tourism sector grow in Nicaragua, we have educated people about nature tourism's potential to provide economic benefit to local communities while also supporting conservation efforts.

Our Coastal Entrepreneur Network involves many local businesses, partner organizations, and dedicated individuals, and provides guide training and micro-loans, supporting business development in tourism and related sectors. Beneficiary groups have included hostels, restaurants, small farmers, and small fishing enterprises, all owned by members of the rural community. Additionally, young adults from rural villages have received extensive nature and kayak guide training, and have harnessed these new skills to create their own eco-tour guiding company, Explore La Flor.



We welcome new visitors to the beautiful part of the world where we work, and hope they will join us in our efforts to protect the region's wildlife, habitat, and incredibly rich biodiversity.

Bats of Nicaragua

Walking to Volcano Masaya

This week we are pleased to be hosting Bat Conservation International's Board of Directors for their annual meeting.

We've been working with BCI and their scientists for over a year to study Nicaragua's bats and conduct bat education and community outreach in and around Volcano Masaya, whose caves are home to dozens of species of bats.

The bat experts assembled by BCI and Kim Williams-Guillén, Paso Pacífico's Director of Conservation, have created educational murals and conducted training workshops for the rangers of Volcano Masaya National Park.

In the caves at Volcano Masya

Thanks to BCI bat biologist, Carol Chambers, who conducted bat surveys last year, Nicaragua's count of bat species is now 100!

To learn more about Nicaragua's bats, head on over to BCI's Facebook page, where this week they're featuring several of the species found in Nicaragua.

January Newsletter Now Online

Conservation in Action 
In 2012, over 100 children graduated from our brand new Junior Ranger program. Hands-on lessons in local conservation issues culminate with a service project that children lead in their communities....

Paso Pacífico in the News
As the Seattle Times reports, "PBS' new documentary series, 'Life on Fire,' examines how humans and animals alike adapt to living near volcanoes," and includes an episode on bats and parakeets living in the crater of Nicaragua's volatile Masaya volcano where we work.

Partnerships make it possible
This year, we will continue our collaborative efforts to monitor and conserve bat species with Bat Conservation International, and this week we welcome the BCI Board of Directors to Nicaragua for their annual retreat....

Team member spotlight
2012 was a big year for Kim Williams-Guillén, our director of conservation science....

Act Now!
Donate $25 to our junior ranger program and get your very own sea turtle patch.

In Gratitude
We are grateful to all of our generous donors who helped us in 2012....

Los Murciélagos son Beneficiosos

Yesterday we unveiled our new interpretive bat display at the Volcano Masaya Visitors Center, which will help educate thousands of visitors each year about the important role bats play in protecting the natural ecosystems of Central America. We were joined by Bat Conservation International's Board of Directors, who helped make this display possible, and are in Nicaragua for their annual meeting.