One of the most mountainous countries in Central America, Honduras lies within the Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot and is home to astonishing biological diversity.

Making up around 80% of the country, the interior highlands separate the lowlands along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts and rise to 2,849 m, producing a varied climate that is hot and humid with higher rainfall in the north and east, cooler in the highlands and dryer in the south. Around 55% of Honduras is forested, with montane mixed forest and pine-oak forests in the highlands, dry forest in the foothills, tropical moist broadleaf forests in the northern lowlands, and coastal pine forests. Mangroves occur along both coastlines, while off the Caribbean shore lies part of the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-largest barrier reef in the world.

Honduras’s exceptional biodiversity is just as diverse as its habitats. A rich avifauna of 710 species includes the threatened Yellow-naped Amazon (Critically Endangered), the endemic Honduran Emerald (Vulnerable) and the wintering Golden-cheeked Warbler (Endangered). The 220 mammal species include the Geoffroy’s Spider Monkey (Endangered) and West Indian Manatee (Vulnerable). Nearly 50% of the 153 amphibian species are threatened with extinction, including the endemic Honduras White-lipped Frog (Critically Endangered). Plant diversity includes an astonishing 630 species of orchids.

Rapid deforestation threatens much of the terrestrial biodiversity of Honduras, with extensive cattle ranching, oil palm and coffee plantations, slash-and-burn subsistence farming, illegal logging, pests, and forest fires being the main causes. Between 2010 and 2021, 10% of the country’s forests were lost. WLT has been supporting the conservation work of our partner, Asociación Ecológica de San Marcos de Ocotepeque (AESMO), since 2011.