Summary
In 2020, a draft bill aimed to recognize the Lempa River as a subject of law in El Salvador, enabling a caretaking system. It recognizes its organic functions as well as those of the communities that inhabit the ecosystem. It also says the significant contamination of the Lempa River and the world’s rivers is alarming. It establishes the Lempa River has the right to flow; the right to exercise its essential functions with the ecosystem; the right to be free from all contamination; the right to feed and be fed by its tributaries; the right to native biodiversity; and, the right to regeneration and restoration.