The Nicaraguan Institute of Natural Resources and the Environment (IRENA) was created in 1979 by the Sandinistas of the Nicaraguan government. IRENA was put in charge of environmental protection and of the study, planning, and management of the country's natural resources (which had been national resources by the Sandinistas to keep them out of the hands of foreign corporations). By the mid-1980s, IRENA was receiving aid and advice from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Soviet Union, France, Holland, Cuba, Mexico, the Organization of American States, the United Nations Environment Programme, and individual U.S. citizens.

IRENA initiated programs in reforestation, watershed management, pollution control, wildlife conservation, national parks, and the conservation of genetic diversity. It was not responsible (nor did it address) for pesticide control, energy conservation, or technology.

In 1981, IRENA found that half of water sources they sampled were seriously polluted by sewage and that 70,000 pounds of raw sewage was released into Lake Managua each day. Scores of industrial plants located on the lake's shore had freely dumped there for over a decade. The worst pollutor was Penwalt . IRENA could not afford, however, to build a sewage treatment plant because of the financial costs involved.

In 1982, IRENA established seasonal hunting bans for 26 endangered species of mammals and 4 species of reptiles. This was in response to Nicaragua being a world leader in the export of rare and endangered species such as White-lipped peccaries , White-tailed deer, hawksbill turtles, freshwater otters, jaguars, ocelots, and margays. Educational campaigns were initiated by IRENA, along with marketplace and roadside inspections. By 1985, however, many of these bans were lifted because of the growing economic crisis in the country.

In 1983, IRENA targeted nearly one-fifth of Nicaragua's territory for national parks. This project was never realized, however, because the Contras had militarized much of the wilderness.

To address deforestation, IRENA directed major tree-planting projects. Two million trees were grown annually in nurseries until 1986, when civil war and economic difficulties slowed the program. The reforestation projects became targets for the Contras, who sabotaged projects, and kidnapped and murdered over 50 IRENA employees.

Origins

In 1976, a group of Nicaraguan environmentalists proposed that the government create a Ministry of Natural Resources. Anastasio Somoza Debayle rejected the idea and threatened the group with harsh reprisals if they met again. Some took to the hills to join the Sandinista guerillas who embattled in a civil war against Somoza. Less than a week after the Sandinistas came to power, the same group from 1976 again proposed the Ministry. The Sandinistas responded by creating IRENA.