Diagnosis of scientific research on biodiversity in El Salvador 2013-2020

Abstract

Scientific research on biodiversity is one of the main pillars to promote species conservation projects, economic progress and
territorial development, through these contributions different proposals for public policies, investment projects, restoration and
conservation can be proposed, serving as a framework for development projects. The different research permits granted from 2013 to 2020 are evaluated, making use of Access to Public Information, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of El Salvador, a total of 192 investigations are reported, the categories of basic research represent 55% of the total followed by systematic research 30% and in third place those of economic exploitation 12%. The research efforts reported show that the department of Santa Ana tends to be the one with the greatest amount of research for the period evaluated, followed by La Libertad and Sonsonate. From the results that show the most studied biodiversity categories, we found that Fauna has a total of 69%, where mammals and reptiles account for 28% of the total, followed by the category of flora, which represents 15%. Despite the contributions that have been made in biodiversity research, there are many gaps in biodiversity knowledge in different regions, which can be seen as a potential strategy for the promotion of research in the country.