and now we're working on improving electricity availability," Reyes said. "And we have plans to build a hospital here."

Reyes is part of a broader social movement called La Coordinadora de Bajo Lempa y Bahía de Jiquilisco, a coalition of grassroots groups active in more than 100 communities in this region, which was declared the Xiriualtique-Jiquilisco Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Educational Organisation) in 2007.

This coastal area, through which the Lempa River runs, is home to the country's largest expanse of mangroves.

Political decisions in the local villages are taken by the community councils.

The Mangrove Association, a group that forms part of La Coordinadora, is a grassroots response to the frequent crises caused by climate change -- the overflowing of rivers and flooding.

"In our social movement,communities manage their own resources," Estela Hernández, a member of the board of directors of the Mangrove Association, told IPS at her office.

"And at the same time we're working to ensure that the policies of the new national government include our actions and strategies about food sovereignty, environmental management, water, and decision-making on a local level," she added.

The government is now in the hands of the FMLN, which laid down arms after the 1992 peace agreement, and after becoming the main opposition party, won the 2009 elections that carried the left to power for the first time in this small Central American country of six million people.

María Elena Vigil, who is also on the board of directors of the Mangrove Association, is working to help communities organise against