Honduras This Week Special Edition: The Environment

Foundation helps to improve environment of San Pedro Sula

By WENDY GRIFFIN

In Honduras, most environmental protection work is done by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are responsible for certain areas. The NGO that has taken as its task the protection of the environment around San Pedro Sula is Fundacion Ecologista Hector Rodrigo Pastor Fasquelle.

The president and founder of the Association is Gladys Fasquelle de Pastor. The foundation was named after one of her sons who was killed.

In 1993, the foundation was legally recognized by being granted "personaria juridica. Its mission is to promote environmental education and scientific investigation in the Department of Cortes. They are also responsible for the development and conservation of the Cusuco National Park and the EL Merendon Reserve.

Located in the industrial capital of the country, the foundation has a different structure from most environmental NGOs in this country. Most are made up of local citizens who form an association and vote in a junta directiva or board of directors. The maximum authority of this kind of NGO is the general assembly of its members.

Instead of individual people as members, the foundation is San Pedro has focused on corporate members. Currently, it has around 90 socios corporativos, or corporate members, explained the Foundation's Administrative Manager Orlando Fernandez.

Both Cusuco National Park and the EL Merendon Reserve are important sources of water for San Pedro Sula. In Cusuco Park, the Rio Cusuco is born. Because of its importance, El Merendon is managed in conjunction with DIMA, San Pedro's Municipal Water Authority, as well as the Honduran Forestry Development Corporation (COHDEFOR).

As for biodiversity, the tapir, ocelot, jaguar, and quetzal are found in the Cusuco Park, only 80 km west of San Pedro Sula. Also, there is a beetle species that has been identified as living only here and possibly nowhere else in Honduras.

Most people make day trips to Cusuco Park, but the foundation does have a small hospedaje there for four people. Arrangements to stay there are made ahead of time in San Pedro Sula. Camping is another possibility for those who enjoy the early morning birds.

The park is not easy to get to. From Cofradia's central park, you can get buses between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. toward the park -- about a 2 hour ride. In the rainy season, this road requires 4-wheel drive. The real shock is when you get to the park and find out the admission fee is Lps. 10 for Hondurans and US$10 for foreigners. When asked why such a difference, the manager said, "That's just what we decided."

There is a visitor's center and guards. Tour guides are available. There are four paths, each of which takes 1 1/2 to 3 hours. In the lower zones, there is a mixed pine forest. Above that there is broad-leaf tropical cloud forests. The Nature Conservancy gives them funds for the protection of El Cusuco, but money also comes from a firm that provides electricity to Puerto Cortes. Another project to protect El Cusuco is funded by USAID through the Foundation Vida.

Both El Cusuco and El Merendon are suffering from the population explosion around San Pedro Sula. Although laws exist, there is no clear discipline in their application. People cut down trees for firewood and keep building houses in these protected areas.

About 10 hectares of park are lost daily. There are farmers living past Omoa who burn and clear land for cattle ranching and coffee growing. There is no firm decision by the government to apply the law and relocate people living inside the park. The foundation has agroforestry projects to plant 1 million trees. This activity is coordinated with the foundation of Banco de Cafe, called FUNCAFE.

Much of foundation's work is in environmental education. The government of Japan gave Lps. 1 million to do environmental education on how to care for the forest in the area of Merendon.

The Tela Railroad Co., Zip Bufalo, Azucarera Yojoa and Cerveceria Hondurena in Choloma are sponsoring an environmental education program by radio. This has received a lot of attention in the Honduran press. Now the Foundation has signed a agreement to produce the same kind of program in southern Honduras.

Another aspect of environmental education is the Museo de la Naturaleza. This museum, which has a self-guided tour, is located on Third Avenue, near the daily La Prensa. Funds for this museum were donated by San Pedro Sula businessmen and families.

For more information, contact the foundation at their office on the corner of Seventh Ave. S.O. and First Street West (Primera Calle Oeste) on the second floor above Pizzeria Italia. Be warned that this is the first environmental NGO visited that was not interested in telling people what they do.

Most Mosquitia protected areas still await legal approval

By WENDY GRIFFIN

The Mosquitia, a rain forest and tropical savanna area located in the department of Gracias a Dios, is shown on maps with six protected areas: the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, the Laguna de Caratasca Wildlife Preserve, the Rio Cruta Wildlife Preserve, the Tawahka-Asagni Biosphere Reserve and the Rio Patuca National Park. Of these, however, only the Rio Platano Reserve has full legal approval, says Oswaldo Mungia, director of the Organization for the Development of the Mosquitia (MOPAWI).

Caratasca Lagoon is the large lagoon in front of Puerto Lempira, the departmental capital of Gracias a Dios. Islena Airlines flies to both Puerto Lempira and to Cauquira, a port town of Miskitos and Bay Islanders on the other side of the lagoon. Puerto Lempira has hotels and hospedajes, including the Gran Hotel Flores with a generator for electricity. There are several small restaurants here. Puerto Lempira, the outgrowth of a ladino cattle ranch and a Honduran military base from the l950s, is mostly ladino. Thus Spanish is widely spoken. Puerto Lempira even has the Mosquitia's only bank.

Caratasca is part of a system of protected lagoons that includes Laguna de Micos (Tela area), Laguna de Guaymoreto (Trujillo), Ibans and Brus Lagunas (part of the Rio Platano Biosphere) and finally Caratasca, which is the largest. Connected to Caratasca is the lovely Tansing Lagoon.

MOPAWI is requesting protected area status to help protect wetland wildlife. This includes local and migratory seabirds such as herons, egrets, ibises, pelicans, and flamingos. Some protection will also be provided to fish and sea mammals such as the manatee. This will require a sensitive management plan as conflicts between fishing peoples and protected area managers are common along the coast. Canoe rides are available across and around the lagoon.

Currently, MOPAWI has two projects in the area. One is that they are supposed to receive help to write a proposal for legislation to be submitted to the National Congress sot that it may become a legally protected area. At this moment it has the same protection as the rest of the Mosquitia, which was transferred as "fiscal property of the state" by the National Agrarian Institute (INA) to the state office for the administration of forestry resources (AFE-COHDEFOR).

In February, a second project in agroforestry got underway around the Caratasca Lagoon. This project will emphasis the planting of cashew trees, which are native to the area. These trees, adapted to wet areas, are different from cashews grown in Choluteca. The nuts of the Mosquitia trees are less fine, but sweeter. They have some demand as a component in mixed nuts. The woman who runs the Rainforest Gift Shop in La Ceiba says she sells all she gets.

Cashews are a good crop, because in addition to encouraging reforestation, they provide a lot of secondary employment, especially among women. One study found 60 percent of homes with female heads of households. Their husbands had died, especially in diving accidents or, in other cases, the husbands have been paralyzed, so the woman's work must support the family. Some husbands also form second families, or seldom come home from their jobs at sea.

This second project will be funded by the Honduras-Canada Fund. The fund is set up with money that Canada uses to forgive part of Honduras's foreign debt in exchange for conservation projects.

The canals and wetlands around the Rio Kruta are some of Honduras' least developed areas. With the help of the Honduras-Canada fund, MOPAWI will also be working in agroforestry projects here, with emphasis on the planting of the American palm, called "ojon" in Miskito. Similar to the African palm, this tree is an important source of food in the area.

Ojon is also used to make batana, a natural hair care product that reportedly prevents baldness and grey hair. This product can be purchased from MOPAWI and at some medicinal plant stands in its raw form. Helixe also makes it into a shampoo. Look for it at Dispensa Familiar in Tela and Oasis de Dios in Tegucigalpa.

If you wish to visit the area, motorized canoes take passengers from Puerto Lempira or Cauquira. Be warned, little Spanish or English are spoken. If you can find accommodations or food, expect them to be rustic. Look for pastors or school teachers if you need help. This area is definitely not ready for prime time tourism, so a Miskito-speaking guide will definitely be a plus.

On Peace Corp maps there is also a Rus Rus reserve. It has been the decision of MOPAWI, COHDEFOR, and the Miskito ethnic federation MASTA to not ask for protected area status for this region, but rather to draw up a plan for its management. There is already a 40-year agreement between the regional Miskito organization and COHDEFOR on how to manage the pine trees in the area. The agreement on hardwoods is pending, but is expected to be approved this year.

The situation of these protected areas is considered less critical than the protected areas along the Rio Patuca, which are threatened by the advancing ladino migratory agriculture and a proposed hydroelectric dam project known as Patuca 2.

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