El Salvador’s misguided land use guidelines | Science

El Salvador has one of the highest deforestation rates in Central America (1), and all but one of its ecosystems are at high risk of collapse (2). Yet nature’s contributions to people are valued at 44% of the country’s annual gross domestic product (3). In August, the government of El Salvador proposed new guidelines for environmental zoning and land use (4) that outline how to determine what land can be used for development and what land should be defined as a habitat fragment, which must be preserved unless an environmental impact assessment finds that development would cause minimal damage. However, flawed criteria for modeling forested areas and identifying habitat fragments will undermine the plan’s effectiveness.