On October 26, 2013 the community of Huanchaco will be enshrined as the world’s fifth World Surfing Reserve, and the first World Surfing Reserve in Latin America.
In addition to formally recognizing Huanchaco for it’s outstanding wave quality, unique environmental characteristics, surfing heritage, and community support – the cornerstone of the World Surfing Reserve program is it’s emphasis on locally-led coastal conservation efforts.
Save The Waves Coalition works alongside each new World Surfing Reserve to develop a Reserve Stewardship Plan; a strategic plan for identifying the local World Surfing Reserve goals, primary threats to those goals, the root causes of those threats, and concrete steps for mitigating those threats.
The Reserve Stewardship Plan is co-developed by the Local Stewardship Council, which oversees the Reserve management. This group is comprised of local surfers, environmentalists, local government officials, and business leaders. Developing the Reserve Stewardship Plan together builds consensus on future conservation efforts that they can enact to protect their prestigious World Surfing Reserve.
The result is a clear conservation framework developed by the local community in partnership with Save The Waves Coalition to guide their efforts and achieve measurable coastal conservation outcomes.
