¡Votá por Ellas!

We are finalists in NatGeo’s Geotourism Challenge on Ashoka’s Changemakers website. If we win this challenge, we will receive funding for our watershed and coastal restoration work from the National Geographic foundation, the Multilateral Investment Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank.

The ELLAS Initiative up for a vote is centered around empowering female enviropreneurs to harness market forces and employ voluntary solutions to environmental programs in their local communities.

Please take a few moments to visit the Changemakers website and vote for our project. A couple minutes of your time could mean a healthier ecosystem and a healthier economy for the people of Rivas, Nicaragua.

Vote here: http://www.changemakers.com/node/96725?breadcrumb_type=finalists

(Liza Gonzalez Director of Paso Pacifico in Nicaragua meeting with the Nicaraguan National Surf Team)

This year’s Central American Surf Championship took place on November 19, 20, and 21 at Madera San Juan del Sur Beach in Nicaragua. Paso Pacifico partnered with Nicaragua’s National Surf Team to promote the preservation of a healthy marine habit in Nicaragua’s Paso Del Ismo. The event featured 80 of the best surfers in Central American fostering friendship between the nations and a collective awareness of the environmental challenges affecting their common coastline. President of the Nicaraguan Association of Surfing said of the championship event, “This year we want to send a message, along with Paso Pacifico, that the oceans are the life blood of the planet. We want to make a difference by appealing to the whole society to become conscience about the damage we do to nature when we throw trash into our streams and waterways”.

(Nicaragua’s Luis Chamorro)
Nicaragua’s team placed second overall with Rex Calderon finishing first by a landslid in the open event and Jose Espinoza winning first in the longboard division.

On Friday October 8th, Paso Pacifico’s founder and director Sarah Otterstrom was awarded “Outstanding Alumni” at the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Science’s 22nd annual college celebration. Otterstrom was chosen for her innovative work in bringing together landowners, citizens, and community leaders in conserving wildlife and native plant species in Nicaragua.

The college celebration acknowledged other alumnus and friends of the college whose contributions to communities around the globe enlarge the solid image of UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Science.

“I have taught at UC Davis for 38 years and have known many graduate students. I can say in all honesty that none of them has impressed me so as a person like Sarah has. From our very first contact she was almost overwhelming in her eagerness, her drive, her thirst for knowledge and her desire to serve.” — Arthur M. Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology

A dynamo in the field, Paso Pacifico’s Forester Claudia Perla manages the reforestation plans for Paso Pacifico’s nine Return to Forest plantation sites, where over 200,000 native trees have been planted since 2007.

When on site, Claudia has a reputation for being “tough as nails,” frequently spending the entire day in the field, braving the elements and the mud, and managing her numerous male counterparts. Her no-nonsense approach combined with her energy and excellent work ethic have helped make our Return to Forest program such a success.

Earth Day with Rob Caughlan

Celebrate Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary with environmental advocate and filmmaker Rob Caughlan, who will discuss A Brief History of the American Environmental Movement. Rob has been riding the waves of social change for 45 years. He co-founded Friends of the River and was the first President of the Surfrider Foundation.