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Back to Project Summary Page


Honduras Pico Bonito Forest Restoration

Biodiversity
The different reforestation activities of the project will help stabilize vulnerable landscapes and improve soil and native forest conservation. The introduction of sustainable management practices and the increase in tree cover will help protect biodiversity more efficiently and will enhance habitat of endangered flora and fauna, like the jaguar, quetzal bird and danto. Selected forested lands that face significant threats of deforestation by local communities for agriculture will also be purchased to avert deforestation and increase the undisturbed area within the park's buffer zone, participating to the improvement in biodiversity protection. In all cases, native tree species will be used for reforestation, which will enhance tree diversity on currently barren and degraded landscapes. Jardin Botanico Lancetilla, operated by National School of Forest Sciences (ESNACIFOR), has been collecting and processing seeds from mahogany and other native species on the slopes of the Pico Bonito National Park since 1930. The project will use the expertise from this facility to collect seeds and propagate seedlings from existing forest remnants within the project area. Individual nurseries also will be established near planting sites.

Other Environmental Benefits and Risks
Old growth forests abutting nucleus of park will be protected and forests facing significant threats of deforestation by local communities for agriculture will be purchased, to protect essential and vulnerable water catchments areas to dozens of downstream communities. Reforestation for agroforestry and sustainable commercial forestry activities will have a positive impact on restoring water catchments areas and improving upland watershed management. The reforested areas will also render additional environmental services, and in particular stabilize vulnerable landscapes, improve soil conservation, and rebuild top soils. Overall, reforestation will enhance water supply and flow regulation, and reduce the erosion process. The selection of lands will be based on availability. However, a preference for reforestation for conservation will be given to degraded lands on steep slopes.

The project's activities will also most likely buffer areas downstream from the negative effects of storms and hurricanes that periodically hit the area. For example, during Hurricane Mitch numerous roads and bridges were washed out due to excessive runoff.

Technical assistance will be provided to farmers to introduce trees on existing agricultural landscapes. The project will plant trees by hand and emphasize chemical free tree planting to minimize impacts, except when absolutely necessary. In such case, herbicides would only be applied during the initial three years that trees are planted.

The project will also make every effort to use existing infrastructure to extract trees from the region. The current cost structure of the project assumes that trees will be brought out of the project site by mules and horses. However, efficiency may be dramatically enhanced by improving existing roads to the project site to allow for larger transport vehicles. While road upgrades would not be considered without first undergoing extensive social and environmental impact assessments, local communities are eager to have improved road infrastructure in their remote region. If there is adequate park and forestry management with community participation, we do not anticipate a potential road upgrade to have a negative environmental impact.

FUPNPAIB will maintain ongoing monitoring of the overall impact of the project including the project's impact on waterways and biodiversity.

Socio-economic benefits and risks
The project will directly benefit communities through employment opportunities. Reforestation components will provide approximately 300-450 full-time jobs between 2006 and 2012, and 100 permanent employees after this date. Contracting will give preference to local people and reflect the gender and ethnic diversity of the project area. Wages have been tentatively set at Lps50/day in addition to legally required benefits that local people never receive for working as unskilled laborers.

The implementation of the agroforestry activities will generate new sources of revenue (wood and non timber products sale) and help increase the income of around 600 additional people. Overall, the project is expected to permanently increase farm income by at least 20% after three years.

The development of these activities and the introduction of sustainable practices will also strengthen formal and informal groups through the training of their members and permanent increase in their capacity to produce and sell wood and non-timber forest products.

The project will purchase unproductive lands used by local people for extensive agriculture. Local people are very interested in selling these lands to the project as the extra income from the land sale will allow them to relocate to more fertile lands outside the project area. FUPNAPIB has already begun to provide education and guidance to help ensure that these farmers do not squander their funds and properly invest their money in purchasing another parcel of land, and that they use sustainable agriculture practices.

Forestry efforts of communities will be supported with technical assistance and extensive training to strengthen their long-term effect on the productive capacity. In particular, communities will receive direct training in soil conservation, pest management, and basic reforestation and agroforestry techniques to introduce trees onto their agricultural landscape. Additionally, training will be provided in organizational development to build effective leadership and accountability within communities; in basic environmental economic so that most community members ultimately begin to understand and value the sale of carbon credits as an emerging market opportunity; and in non-timber and forest products marketing for small-scale producers to foster producer groups in gaining premium prices by selling into fair trade, organic and other environmental markets. Training will be provided by FUPNAPIB, which has a positive track record in providing environmental education to buffer zone communities in the Park since 1994, and Pico Bonito Inc., and will also include people hired by the project.

Community leadership and government participation in Pico Bonito Inc. will also help assure community participation in defining indicators and meaningful monitoring of social impacts. Pico Bonito Inc senior management will also provide training to community members on their role in the overall governance and management of Pico Bonito Inc.

Communities targeted for agroforestry technical assistance have been identified as a result of FUPNAPIB's ongoing technical assistance in these villages. The process also included many consultations that have focused on community interest and concern over the potential impacts of project activities. These communities have articulated an interest and a need to adopt agroforestry practices.

Leakage
The conversion of active agricultural land to forest will cause some agricultural activity to shift to other nearby locations. For example, some local squatters will voluntarily relocate to more fertile and accessible lands thus gaining access to better services (e.g. road, water, electricity) and more arable lands. The project design includes several measures to mitigate leakage, and especially will reforest only marginal agricultural land, increase agricultural production using agroforestry on existing lands, and provide employment in forest management to participants. Leakage monitoring from activity shifting will be done by assessing the deforestation rate and will be included in the overall monitoring procedure.

Commercial forestry activities might result if necessary in improving abandoned logging road to access the project area. Improved roads could, together with the improved local economic conditions, cause in-migration. Such migration is however unlikely because communities are already organized to protect their neighboring park and park communities have already undergone their own assessments of available lands.

Risk of Non Permanence
The project and the creation of Pico Bonito Inc. has been endorsed by the Government of Honduras and approved to sell future Emission Reductions. Pico Bonito Inc. will be responsible for assuring that reforested areas are adequately managed for at least the anticipated project duration of 30 years. Forest management and the associated environmental benefits are expected to be sustained by the income that Pico Bonito Inc. will generate from wood product sales. Pico Bonito Inc. also plans to gain Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for its forestry operation, which would further ensure that forests are managed for environmental benefits in addition to financial gain. The Pico Bonito Park Foundation (FUPNAPIB) has a demonstrated track record in effective enforcement that relies heavily on community participation and collaboration. As a consequence of their efforts, they have halted logging without government approved management plans in most areas surrounding the park. In addition to that effort, Pico Bonito Inc. will have its own private patrols to monitor reforested areas.

Land tenure is complex and problematic in Honduras and might be a potential risk to the project. Almost all people in the project region enjoy usufruct rights to their land as per the Honduran law. They however lack clear title to the land where they live. Land tenure risk has been mitigated by collaborating with SERNA & FUPNAPIB, who are actively involved with communities, and by working with 20 chosen villages who are committed to the project. None of the project area lands are disputed, and agroforestry activities will not affect land tenure. In addition, the project is working in collaboration with another World Bank project aiming at reforming and clarifying the land tenure system in Honduras. This cooperation could particularly lead to the use of the project area as a pilot zone for implementing such a land tenure reform.

Hurricanes are a natural disaster risk that is inherent in doing business in Honduras. No mitigation against extreme weather can be implemented; however the project proponent is looking into natural disaster insurance.

Finally, the existence of pests that affect tropical hardwoods and mahogany in particular is known. This risk will be mitigated by working with foresters who are knowledgeable about dealing with mahogany pest risk. Soil conservation techniques like planting Inga native trees and natural form of phosphorous rock will be used. Inga trees restore soil by nitrogen fixing, have an odor that drives away pests, and are quick growing regeneration.

Additionality
Small scale farmers do not have the financial capacity to face the upfront costs associated with the development of commercial plantations and need a regular source of income. The payback for establishment of commercial plantations by Industrial Companies is also too long for the perceived risk. There have been no large-scale plantations established in northern Honduras since 1990. Only few small-scale plantations are in operation on privately held lands. Communities lack the education and technical capacity to develop agroforestry systems, and are unlikely to abandon their land, which constitute their only secure source of income. Therefore the maintenance of the status quo is the most likely scenario in the absence of the project. In the absence of the project lands would continue to be used for marginal agricultural purposes, which may include ranching, or production of beans and corn.

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