Land Purchase for Water and Biodiversity Conservation in the Trifinio Region, Honduras Successful Experience of Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change

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Biodiversity conservation and microwatersheds in the biological corridor

AESMO

The land purchase process for the biodiversity and water conservation of sources which, since 2006, has been developed in the existent biological corridor between the Biosphere Trifinio-La Fraternidad Reserve and the Men Reserve and the Lempira Lord of the Mountains Biosphere (UNESCO), specifically in the Güisayote Biological Reserve, the micro-watershed El Espinal-Cerro Negro and the Pacayita Volcano Biological Reserve, in the Western region of Honduras, which at the same time is part of the Trifinio region shared with El Salvador and Guatemala.

With more than 1048 hectares of land purchased up to 2016, within the framework of mitigation and adaptation to climate change, with contributions of the municipal governments, community water administrator boards, AESMO and of our strategic partners IUCN NL, World Land Trust and Puro Coffee, the present process proposes an exercise of knowledge exchange and inter-organizational learning.

Last update: 01 Apr 2019

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Context

Challenges addressed

Erratic rainfall

Increasing temperatures

Land and Forest degradation

Loss of Biodiversity

Wildfires

Conflicting uses / cumulative impacts

Pollution (incl. eutrophication and litter)

Poaching

Erosion

Ecosystem loss

Lack of access to long-term funding

Lack of alternative income opportunities

Lack of technical capacity

Lack of public and decision maker’s awareness

Poor monitoring and enforcement

Lack of food security

Unemployment / poverty

Scale of implementation

Local

Subnational

Multi-national

Ecosystems

Agroforestry

Rangeland / Pasture

Tropical evergreen forest

Pool, lake, pond

River, stream

Theme

Habitat fragmentation and degradation

Adaptation

Connectivity / transboundary conservation

Ecosystem services

Protected and conserved areas governance

Indigenous people

Watershed management

Location

El Guisayote Biological Reserve

Central America

Impacts

The purchase of more than 1048 hectares of land, for over a decade, in order to conserve the biodiversity and water sources in the biological corridor between the Trifinio-La Fraternidad Biosphere Reserve and Reserve del Hombre and Lempira Lord of the Mountains Biosphere (UNESCO), is a new and unique process for mitigation and adaptation to climate change in Honduras.

Behind this achievement is the establishment and cultivation of partnerships including municipal governments, administrative boards community water, AESMO and conservation institutions of international partnership as UICN-Netherlands, World Land Trust and Puro Coffee. These partnerships have generated conservation mechanisms of natural resources, mainly water, for present and future generations, providing a series of learning and a wealth of knowledge that we hope will be useful to address challenges of a similar nature at national and international level.