The nation lost an average of 3% of its forest and woodland each year between 1990 and 2000

As of 2002, 93% of Nicaragua's city dwellers and 65% of its rural population have access to improved water sources

Dumping of sewage and chemical wastes has made Lake Managua unsuitable for swimming, fishing, or drinking. Primary responsibility for resource conservation is vested in the Nicaraguan Institute of Natural Resources and Environment (Instituto Nicaragüense de Recursos Naturales y del Ambiente—IRENA), established in October 1979

As both the largest country in Central America and the least populated, Nicaragua has the opportunity to enforce environmental protection laws and conserve a relatively large amount of natural resources

In response to a variety of environmental issues, interns, volunteers, and donors work with FSD partner organizations to:

Due to policy shifts, 85 percent of the land that formed part of the reserve on the San Cristobal-Casitas volcano now belongs to one private owner

overnment control of the remaining 15 percent is all but nonexistent. Landless peasants, large coffee growers, and cattle ranches are slowly settling into these public lands such as San Cristobal, and the government is failing to stop it

When the Chamorro government created the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve in 1991, the territory encompassed 1.8 million acres—7 percent of Nicaragua's land, including a rich section of rainforest. However, they neglected to inform the Mayangna and Miskito indigenous peoples who lived there that the land was now federally protected (and hence, off limits from their traditional uses of fishing, hunting, and crop raising)

“A hectare of forestland has twenty times more value than one of forage,” Incer Barquero insisted.

They’re deaf, dumb and blind,” emphasizes this respected scientist, one of those most familiar with issues involving the Nicaraguan environment.

A hectare of forestland has twenty times more value than one of forage,

Imagine a canal designed for vessels the size of Hong Kong’s skyscrapers: 276km long, 230 to 520 metres wide and 26.9 to 30.2 metres deep. This canal will be three times longer and two times deeper than the Panama Canal, which started operating back in 1914. It will include two ports, an airport, two artificial lakes, two locks, several roads, a free trade zone and tourist resorts.

7,225,300 hectares (17. 85 million acres) of forest in 1980. By 1990, the measure had shrunk to 6,314,300 hectares (15.6 million acres)

By 1995 there were only 5,566,900 hectares (13.75 million acres) left, and in 2000 the measure diminished to 2,395,523.64 hectares (5.9 million acres) of forestland

over 50% of the forestland has been lost in full view and tolerance of the governmental institutions and this presupposes a problem for the national water reserves

Climate change is already impacting coffee crops around the world, according to the report

Extreme temperatures and unusual high-altitude rains have also sparked costly waves of pests and disease through coffee farms. In 2012, coffee leaf rust affected half of the coffee across Central America – some producers in Guatemala lost up to 85% of their crop.

In 2012-13 the damage in Central America amounted to about US$500m and put 350,000 people out of work.