Case Mnemonic: HONDURAS
Case Name: Honduras and Deforestation
I. Identification
The 525,000 hectares of Rio Platano
Biosphere in Northeastern Honduras protect the largest intact
lowland tropical and pine forests within Honduras. The official
designation of the Biosphere as a reserve to protect and conserve
biodiversity, however, has not halted deforestation within the
protected area. The downing of maple and pine trees within the
reserve affect not only the immediate surroundings but also the
water supply and species conservation throughout the country. The
indigenous populations who reside in the Mosquitia, the region of
Honduras where the Rio Platano Biosphere is located, also face
serious dilemmas as both the resources of the forest and their
tribal rights to the land are under attack.
Indigenous groups such as the Miskito, Pech and Tawaka have
inhabited the Mosquitia region in Northeastern Honduras for
hundreds of years. In 1980, the Honduras government set aside
525,000 hectares (almost 2000 square miles) of tropical forest in
this area to be included in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve
(RPBR). The conservation of the species within this reserve has
been funded by both the Honduran government and several
international organizations, including UNESCO and the World Wild
Fund for Nature (WWF). In 1980, UNESCO also realized the
importance of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve by placing it on
its list of World Heritage Sites. Despite these protective
measures, the forest within the RPBR is under attack by loggers
seeking pine and mahogany and the approximately 40,000 indigenous
peoples who inhabit the area are fighting to maintain the integrity
of the forest.
The RPBR contains the largest virgin broad leaf rain forest in
Honduras. Some of the flora species that grow in this area include
pine, mahogany, cedar, balsa, ceiba, guayacan, rosewood and
sapodilla and rare orchids (Parent 1994). The region also houses
numerous animal species, including quetzals, jaguars, ocelots,
harpy eagles, iguanas, alligators, falcons, macaws, toucans, tapirs
and spider monkeys. Some of the rarest plants and birds in Central
America depend on the forest for survival.
Although the government of Honduras designated the RPBR, it failed
to implement any means of monitoring the activities within the
forest. Colonization of the forest by poor Hondurans seeking land,
lumbering, migratory agriculture, cattle ranching and illegal
wildlife trade continue to deplete the valuable resources of the
forest with little or no recourse sustained to the culprits of
these activities. Because neither the government nor any other
organization is capable of administering this area, deforestation
continues at an alarming pace. In 1968, 46,000 square kilometers
of Honduras' total 112,100 square kilometers were forests and
woodlands (UNESCO 1991-2). By 1988, only 31,000 square kilometers
were forests and woodlands. In this twenty year period, 14.5 % of
the forests in all of Honduras were lost to deforestation (UNESCO
1991-2). In the 1980s, the deforestation rate of all Honduran
forests reached a mean annual rate of 2.3% (UNESCO 1991-2). Click here to see a
map of Forest Cover and Protected Areas in Honduras (The above
map is courtesy of the WWF).
Honduras' main exports consist of coffee and bananas, generating
51% of total Honduran export revenue in 1995 (U.S. Department of
State 1996). Honduras' principal commodities include coffee,
bananas, textiles, timber, citrus, shrimp and wood products (CIA
1995). Incentives to preserve the forests are not based on the
economy since the timber itself earns money and the cleared land
can then be used for farming or for coffee or banana plantations.
The rain forests of the Mosquitia, especially that contained within
the RPBR also directly affect the coastal, marine and savannah
ecosystems of northeastern Honduras. The increased trade in wood,
wood products and furniture has augmented demand for the mahogany
and pine trees located within this reserve.
In order to promote conservation and protection, however, the
Honduran government created a ministerial position, the Secretariat
of the Environment (SEDA), to monitor general environment practices
and an oversight committee, the Honduran Cooperation for Forestry
Development (COHDEFOR), to administer all forest lands. These
agencies have largely ignored the RPBR (WWF 1996). Although a
moratorium has been declared on the downing of timber in the
Reserve, trees continue to fall. Local residents of La Mosquitia
claim that "workers have floated 30,000 board feet of mahogany logs
down the Paulaya and Tinto Rivers on route to Palacios" (Griffen
1997).
The culprits of the downed mahogany trees remain unknown, although
locals believe that it is the work of illegal lumberjacks
attempting to earn much-needed extra money. The rampant poverty in
Honduras has forced peasants to seek any method possible to earn
money and, more often than not, these measures include slash-and-burn techniques of deforestation as well as the downing of timber.
The land opened up by deforestation provides many peasants with
money earned from the timber itself as well as the value of the
land agriculturally. Approximately 200,000 acres of forest are
eliminated each year because of the deforestation activities of
peasants searching for land and money (Gollin 1994). To many
peasants who can barely afford to eat, the monetary value of the
timber and the cleared land far outweighs the environmental damage.
This environmental degradation extends far beyond the loss of
trees. Honduran biologist Ernesto Vargas observes that "the
process of deforestation has disrupted the ecological equilibrium
in Honduras" (qtd. in Gollin 1994). Many rare plants and animals
inhabit the Honduran rain forest, including such rare and/or
endangered species as the quetzal, the harpy eagle, the iguanas,
the tapir and orchids that depend upon the biodiversity of the
forest area of the RPBR. The loss of the ecological niche for
these species would eventually result in the loss of the species
themselves. Moreover, scientists agree that deforestation
decreases rainfall, increases evaporation and often leads to
drought-like conditions. Water then also becomes a major source of
revenue as well as an important resource for the country. The WWF
notes that "the forest of La Tigra, for example, provides the
Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, with 40% of its drinking water.
Experts estimate that the forest's water supplies are worth over
US$100 million" (WWF 1996). The value of the water provided by the
forests rests not only in its necessity for its life-sustaining
ability but also in its capacity to provide power to hydroelectric
plants. In 1994, Honduras suffered from severe power outages
because the El Cajon dam became dry. The hydroelectric plant,
which from 1985 - 1990 met about 70% of Honduras's electrical needs
and created US$8 million a year in electricity exports, became non-functional when the water levels dropped so severely due mainly to
the deforestation of Northern and Northeastern Honduras, where the
Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve is located (Gollin 1994).
The administration of the RPBR has been minimal thus far by the
Honduran government. As trees continue to be felled illegally, the
forest faces depletion and, consequently, the indigenous confront
more problems. The wood of mahogany and pine is in great demand,
especially in the United States. As long as these timbers continue
to bring in money for the Honduran peasant, the trees will continue
be downed, legally or illegally. Until U.S. buyers and importers
regulate from where they buy the wood and avoid purchasing timber
that was downed in an environmental preserve, the forest of the Rio
Platano Biosphere Reserve will continue to be depleted with little
or no recourse taken by the Honduran government. For this reason,
the indigenous groups in the Mosquitia have joined forces with
domestic and international non-governmental organizations in an
attempt to salvage the Mosquitia rain forest. The WWF, for
example, has several projects in the RPBR that, in conjunction with
the Canadian International Development Agency and the VIDA
Foundation (for the Morocon Forestry Project), seek to develop
"people-centered conservation and development" (WWF 1996).
According to several project summaries, the primary objectives
include community forestry, long-term conservation and management
of the area's natural resources and training (WWF 1996). In order
to halt the deforestation process of the Rio Platano Biosphere
Reserve, these steps, in conjunction with a widespread effort
reaching from Tegucigalpa to Toronto, need to be undertaken.
TED CASES
Keyword Cluster
II. LEGAL Clusters
III.
GEOGRAPHIC Clusters
The deforestation of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve affects the
existence and livelihood of the indigenous groups who reside in the
rain forest. The Miskito, Pech and Tawaka populations have lived
in and off of the forest for centuries. These groups are
inextricably linked to the resources of the forest, but have no
legal claim to the land. Legally, the land belongs to the Honduran
government, but ancestors of the indigenous groups have inhabited
this land for centuries. Without legal possession of the land,
however, land tenure will remain an issue for these groups as they
try to protect their land and their rights to it.
IV. Trade Clusters
By creating laws to protect the rain forests from further
deforestation, the Honduran government has created a regulatory
standard by which deforestation can occur only in specified areas
and under controlled situations. Enforcement of these designated
reserve zones, as witnessed through the continued downing of trees
in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, is severely lacking.
Agencies have been created with the express purpose of monitoring
and administering the forest lands, but thus far these agencies
have been ineffective in controlling the illegal downing of trees.
Honduras is one of the poorest
countries in the Western Hemisphere. In 1995, Honduras had a per
capita income of approximately US$654 per year (U.S. Department of
State 1996). In 1995, the unemployment rate was approximately
15.9%, though this masks severe underemployment (U.S. Department of
State 1996). According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the
U.S. exported U.S.$680 million worth of goods and services while
Honduras exported U.S.$590 million in 1995 (U.S. Department of
State 1997). Barriers to direct foreign investment have decreased
significantly over the past few years as Honduras has created
Export Processing Zones to lure foreign investment. The volatile
political situation in Central America in the 1980s and early 1990s
often deterred foreign businesses from investing in Honduras, but
the recent attempts at democratic stability by both Honduras and
its neighbors have aided in the expansion of the free market and
investment.
V. Environment Clusters
Name: Many
Type: mahogany, pine and many rare birds, animals and plants
Diversity: yes
VI. Other Factors
The deforestation of the Rio
Platano Biosphere Reserve indirectly affects Central America and
Honduras, but it directly affects the indigenous groups which
reside in and rely on the forest. The Miskito, Pech and Tawaka
people have lived in the Mosquitia region for centuries. These
indigenous populations rely heavily on the forest for survival and
practice subsistence ecology to preserve the integrity of the
forest (Parent 1994). These indigenous groups extract shelter,
food and medicines from the rain forest; they fish, hunt, gather,
farm in the forest while conserving its resources and ecosystem
(HondurasInfo 1996). In 1992, the indigenous within the Mosquitia
region united to protest the Honduran government's consideration of
allowing a Chicago-based paper bag and cardboard box corporation to
lease the remaining virgin pine forest within the Mosquitia. The
Stone Corporation sought a contract to harvest the pine tress
without undertaking effective reforestation policies. Furthermore,
the indigenous groups believed that their forest would be destroyed
and thus their livelihood. The contract negotiations were halted
and the Stone Corporation did not receive the contract (O'Rourke
1992).
The indigenous groups in the Mosquitia region do not have legal
rights to the land of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve. Land
tenure disputes have made it to the Honduran Congress which is
currently in the process of deliberating a law which would
guarantee the Tawakha group legal ownership of the land inhabited
by their ancestors for centuries. If this bill passes through
Congress, it would set the precedent for all the indigenous groups
in the Mosquitia who are facing pressure, opposition and repression
by migrants from other regions of Honduras who are seeking land and
money. As these migrants slash and burn the land and cut down
timber, the indigenous lose their land and a large part of their
culture.
Central Intelligence Agency. "The World Factbook page on Honduras." http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/
"The Economy." http://hondurasweb.com/econ.htm
"Ethnic Groups." http://hondurasinfo.hn/ethnic.html
Gollin, James D. "Trees
Down, Lights Out in Honduras."
Griffen, Wendy.
"Lumberjacks Down Mahogany Timber Despite Moratorium."
"Honduran Ethnic Groups." http://www.hondurasinfo.hn/ethnic.html 1996.
"Honduras Projects Backgrounds." World Wide Fund for Nature. 1996. http://www.panda.org
O'Rourke,
Dara. "Stone Axes Honduras."
Parent, Derek A. "Rio Platano UNESCO Biosphere Reserve." http://www.vir.com/~derekp/ 1994.
UNESCO, United Nations
Environment Program.
U.S. Department of State. "Background Notes: Honduras 04/97." http://www.state.gov/www.background_notes/>
U.S. Department of State. "Honduras: Economic Policy and Trade Practices Report (1996). http://www.state.gov/www.issues/economic/trade_reports/latin_america96/honduras96.html