Ignacia de la Rosa Pérez, who heads a 400-family project aimed at saving the mangroves of Colombia’s Caribbean coast, received an award Mar 9 from the private organization CAFAM as the most important Colombian woman in 2002. Pérez joined forces three decades ago with peasant farmers and the fishing community of Cispata Bay to save the mangroves in the area from destruction. “I was born in the mangroves and they have been a part of my life. That is why I felt it necessary to ensure their sustainable use,” she said. Every year, more than 1,000 square km of mangroves are destroyed.