Country: El Salvador

Starting Date: 1 March 2011 - Completion Date: 2012
Clients: Fondation Cordes (Chalatenango)
Project Supervisor: GSF (Geologia Senza Frontiera), Fabio Brogna
Disciplines: Geology, Environmental Hydrogeology

 

From the 2011 until the end of 2012, the Center for GeoTechnologies is been participating, as the technical support, to an international cooperation project in El Salvador.

 

Objectives

The main purpose of the project is to provide technical tools and competences useful for the local institutions and population of Cerro Eramon, in the region of Chalatenango in El Salvador. The CGT technical support was focused on the protection of the environment and improvement of natural resources in order to prevent and diminish all the risks associated with invasive human activity.
The activities of the project and the Course Syllabus are managed and developed in collaboration with all the partners involved in the project.
The field data collection and data processing activities were conducted for the hydrogeological survey and for the study of biodiversity.
Field data collection activities will be replicated the next year in the same seasonal period in order to make statistical comparisons and to produce data and results more certain and reliable.

 

Activities

Course on Environmental Data

First week: lesson in class to study the local natural ecology, the flora survey sampling methods, thematic maps and data analysis.
Second week: field data collection of fauna and vegetation samples.
Third week: production of data base, created in a standard and repeatable format, through the collected samples.

 

Course on Hydrogeological Data

One week theorical course in hydrogeology which dealt with the study of physical-chemical parameters and on groundwater sampling methods. Then, it was carried out a study on surface water and were collected samples in order to perform chemical analyses at the Center for GeoTechnologieswith with the support of a spectrophotometer.

GIS Course

This basic course aimed to the production of thematic maps using GIS and all data collected on the field.

Course on Environmental Legislation

The course was dedicated to local technicians, who will draw up the final project report. The report examined the main Salvadorian laws related to the the project goals:

•  Environmental legislation
•  Protected areas legislation
•  Wildlife conservation legislation