An entitlement approach to the challenges of mangrove management in El Salvador.

This paper summarizes those factors that have contributed to the degradation of the mangroves in El Salvador, and examines the implications of proposed changes in property rights to the mangroves for poor coastal communities. Current patterns of extraction and conversion in the mangrove ecosystem in El Salvador can be viewed through an entitlement lens that confers property right upon some actors, for certain uses, and denies them to others. Unfortunately, the present system of laws and regulations that governs resource use in the mangroves is contradictory and confusing.