Latin America

• The El Salvador Verde project
  

In 2008, Telefónica Móviles El Salvador was the trail-blazer of a new environmental initiative called “El Salvador Verde” (Green El Salvador). The aim of the initiative is to promote good environmental practices by fostering a heightened social conscience.

Other companies active in various sectors, including energy companies, recycling companies, the communications media and companies active in the food sector, inter alia, have also joined the project, all with the backing of the Ministry for the Environment.

Their shared goal is to foster a more responsible environmental culture within the companies taking part in the "El Salvador Verde" project via campaigns to recycle waste generated internally, initiatives in schools, backed by the communications media and run with the aid of volunteers (e.g. planting trees), and inter-company agreements focussed on good practices benefitting the environment.

The consortium was established with a view to long-term continuity and Telefónica El Salvador is the first company in El Salvador to assume the lead in an initiative of this kind.




Telefónica El Salvador has won accolades from Ecuador's Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, Carlos José Guerrero, for its commitment to the consortium and the interest it has shown in supporting and developing pro-environmental activities.

• Alliance with Rock Nica Ecológico in Nicaragua
  

In 2008, the company forged a new alliance with Rock Nica Ecológico (RNE), an environmental group composed of Nicaraguan musicians. The aim of the alliance is to communicate environment-related messages to the wider population and raise awareness of the need to protect the environment.

RNE is a movement formed and run by young Nicaraguans interested in working to raise awareness of environmental problems among the Nicaraguan population in general. From a dynamic, youth-orientated perspective, RNE aims to have a positive influence on young people and Nicaraguans in general, seeking to foster genuine awareness of the direct impact of human life on nature.

Founded by a group of young Nicaraguan musicians, RNE enjoys the support and active contribution of many young people from a range of professions and trades that have varying musical tastes, ideologies and religious beliefs but are united by the need to create a Nicaragua far more sensitive and aware of the shared goal of environmental preservation.

RNE's prinicipal objective is to foster a genuine environmental awareness among its members and the population in general by conceiving and executing projects and initiatives related to environmental preservation that improve the flow of information regarding the extreme crisis facing the environment, due to the impact of modern life on nature, among young people.

• Reforestation initiatives in schools and colleges in Guatemala
  

In 2008, Telefónica Guatemala carried out various reforestation projects with a number of schools in Guatemala in a bid to raise awareness of environmental issues among children and teenagers and encourage them to get involved.

• Co-operation and aid agreement between Telefónica Panamá and the Fundación de Acción Social por Panamá

Telefónica Panamá has entered into a co-operation and aid agreement with the Fundación de Acción Social por Panamá (FAS), an organisation working to foster sustainable human development in Panama by sponsoring, designing and executing projects focussed on integrated solid waste processing and recycling, environmental awareness-raising and education, environmental management and sanitation, renewable energy, and technical assistance.

The aim of the co-operation and aid agreement is to strengthen the FAS Panamá recycling project by donating all common solid waste produced by Telefónica Panamá to the project for recycling and reuse.

In this way Telefónica Panamá is not only lending support to the Foundation's solid waste programme but also contributing to its Environmental Action Plan.

• Telefónica Panamá teams up with Alianza Contaminación Cero

Alianza Contaminación Cero works to bring the various players in society, i.e. companies, universities, national and international non-governmental organisations, together with individual members of society interested in reducing current pollution levels as measured by the country's ecological footprint.

Telefónica Panamá began working with this alliance in 2008, helping raise awareness of the effect of ultra-fine plastic bags, which are especially damaging for the environment, and producing 1,000 reuseable cloth bags for distribution among customers and employees. 

• Telefónica-Movistar Ecuador, committed to environmental conservation

Telefónica-Movistar Ecuador launched its "Ecuador Verde" (Green Ecuador) programme in 2007. The project provides support for national-level reforestation plans via stategic alliances with sectional governments, regional councils, educational institutions and community associations across the country.

Telefónica-Movistar has proven its environmental responsibility by planting more than 126 thousand trees in the provinces of Azuay, Esmeraldas, Galápagos, Guayas, Imbabura, Loja, Manabí, Los Ríos, El Oro, Chimborazo, Pichincha, Cotopaxi and Tungurahua.

“Ecuador Verde” provides native species to reforest depressed environmental habitats, in some cases planting trees in danger of extinction, such as walnut trees in Loja. Other native species planted include, inter alia, guaiacums, alders, retamos, poplars, acacias, pink cedars and giant bambus.

The reforestation process is a complex one and must be carried out responsibly if the sustainability of the project is to be guaranteed. In addition to its reforestation work, “Ecuador Verde” organises training in forest maintenance for children, teenagers, parents and sectional government authorities, thus also helping prevent deforestation and raise awareness of the importance of environmental protection among the wider population.

• Protection and conservation of sea turtles in Mexico

The Telefónica México Foundation, Selva Negra (or"Black Forest" Foundation, the group set up by the Mexican rock group Maná), the Benito Juárez Autonomous University in the State of Oaxaca and the Mexican National Turtle Centre have joined forces to help conserve this species.

In the context of this project Telefónica's Environment Division and the Telefónica Foundation have supported research, conservation and protection work by undertaking the following activities:
Telefónica México has thus underlined its commitment, as a socially responsible company, to environmental conservation and is helping protect this important marine species.