We urgently need your help to raise £443,540 so our partner AESMO can expand their work protecting the threatened cloud forests and watersheds of western Honduras.
The Trifinio region of Honduras is home to lush high-elevation forests, mountains, waterfalls, and streams. An array of threatened species find refuge in this humid landscape, and it also provides crucial clean water to over 250,000 local people.
But these vital forests are under serious threat. Between 2002 and 2023, 509,000 hectares (1,257,764 acres) of humid primary forest were cut down in Honduras, largely to make way for coffee plantations and cattle pastures.
Now the forests of the Trifinio region are extremely fragmented, with only patches of forest left standing among vast swathes of degraded land. If we do not act now, what little remains will be lost forever.
Your donations will help our partner AESMO save 91 hectares (225 acres) of precious cloud forest
before it is too late.
DONATE NOW
The Impact of Your Donations
“At AESMO, we are connecting local people and scientific knowledge to do extraordinary things together in western Honduras. With your help, we can protect this severely fragmented landscape, safeguard water and preserve habitat for threatened species.”
– Victor Saravia, Executive Director of AESMO –
BY DONATING TO THIS APPEAL
YOU WILL:
YOU WILL:
PROTECT EXTREMELY FRAGMENTED FOREST:
The project will allow AESMO to purchase approximately 91 hectares (225 acres) of standing forest in and around the Güisayote and Volcan Pacayita Biological Reserves, bringing it under permanent protection.
Part of this land purchase includes a 31-hectare (77-acre) property in the Volcan Pacayita Biological Reserve which has four water springs within it. This specific property is located directly beside land being used for coffee farming, leaving it at severe risk of being deforested next. Your donations will secure this property as soon as possible to avoid losing forest and vegetation cover to expanding coffee production.
EMPLOY THREE RANGERS FOR THE NEXT THREE YEARS:
AESMO’s team of rangers play a vital role in ensuring the long-term protection of this land. Their responsibilities include patrols to prevent hunting and forest fires, regular biodiversity monitoring, recording species using camera traps, reforestation activities, and measuring vital water sources. All of this is done in close partnership with local people who co-own the land.
Your donations will put three more rangers out in the field for the next three years, significantly helping AESMO’s work on the ground to safeguard these cloud forests for the future.
PRESERVE CLEAN WATER SOURCES
The land AESMO will purchase through this appeal has been specifically chosen as it provides essential clean water to surrounding rural communities. By protecting this land, you will help to improve the quality of life of local people, who rely on the water from these forests for both domestic and agricultural use.
Image: Click on the map to enlarge..
PROTECTING VITAL HABITAT FOR WILDLIFE
Situated within the Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot, the third largest in the world, the cloud forests of Honduras are home to astonishing biological diversity, including mammals such as the nocturnal Margay (Leopardus wiedii) and stunning birds like the Wine-throated Hummingbird (Selasphorus ellioti).
One notable species is the Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia), an Endangered migratory bird which spends its winters in the region’s lush pine-oak forests before migrating back to Texas in the spring to breed. Your donations to this appeal will help to ensure the forest is there for them when they make the journey back to Honduras.
Similarly, endemic amphibians depend on this region. The Critically Endangered Cerro Pital Salamander (Bolitoglossa synoria) needs cloud forest to thrive, finding its home on tree trunks close to streams. Meanwhile, the Critically Endangered Honduras White-lipped Frog (Leptodactylus silvanimbus) is the only one in its genus to live at such high elevation, with no more than 50 mature individuals left. These amphibians are only found in Honduras, existing in just a small, restricted range.
By supporting our appeal, you will help AESMO to protect the forest home of these incredible species and countless others for many generations to come.
Image: Wine-throated Hummingbird, Margay, Cerro Pital Salamander, Golden-cheeked Warbler.
SAFEGUARDING CLEAN WATER FOR COMMUNITIES
The land in the Trifinio region is a vital water source for over 250,000 local people who live within the surrounding communities. Among these are the indigenous Lenca people, also known as the “People of the Jaguar.”
Due to high levels of rural poverty, many of the villages in the Trifinio region do not have access to mains sanitation and water, so are highly affected by the quality of water supplied from the surrounding watersheds and streams. They depend upon this for drinking water in their homes and for agricultural use to support their livelihoods. Without the forests we are seeking to protect through this appeal, this water supply would be severely threatened.
Communities are recognising that the remaining forest needs to be preserved in order for their water source to be protected and, crucially, to make sure the water is clean. For this reason, local municipalities are now actively engaged in forest conservation with AESMO.
Image: Clean watercourse in the project area.
A PARTNERSHIP WITH LOCAL PEOPLE
AESMO is pioneering a community-driven conservation model and currently works with 58 communities across the region to support their access to clean water. As part of this model, AESMO co-owns purchased land with local communities and stakeholders, who all contribute funds.
They then share responsibility for its protection, making joint decisions about the ongoing preservation of the land through management councils. Each stakeholder contributes their own unique knowledge and perspective to these councils, including in-depth knowledge from local communities about weather patterns, biodiversity, and traditional land and water uses.
Local people are also actively involved in protection activities out in the field alongside AESMO’s rangers, participating in patrols and species monitoring.
This appeal will help to strengthen AESMO’s co-ownership model, securing more threatened land and providing further opportunities for collaboration with local people.
“The magic touch, the secret, is to empower people to participate, to support conservation with funds, with time and with voluntary work. By fostering an environment of respect and mutual understanding, relationships of trust can be built, and more sustainable conservation outcomes can be achieved. We are working toward ensuring this sense of commitment reaches deep into the community.”
– Victor Saravia, Executive Director of AESMO –
Image: Rangers and community members meeting in the project area.
ACT NOW TO DEFEND FORESTS UNDER THREAT
AESMO’s passionate and dedicated work in the Trifinio region is already making a positive impact upon conservation in Honduras. But the threat of deforestation continues to rise, and the forest remains heavily fragmented.
Land is still being rapidly cleared to make space for expanding high-altitude coffee plantations and cattle pasture, while forest fires and hunting also threaten both habitat and species.
All these threats have left these fragmented forests extremely vulnerable and it’s crucial that we come together to defend them from deforestation while there is still time.
“Extensive agriculture and livestock farming are the greatest threats to our cloud forests. If we do not protect the forest that remains, deforestation will only continue, and the landscape will become more unstable. As threats to the cloud forests grow, so too must our commitment to protect them. Now is the time for us to act.”
– Victor Saravia, Executive Director of AESMO –
Image: A view across the threatened Honduran cloud forest.
Key Species
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Cerro Pital Salamander (Bolitoglossa synoria)
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Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia)
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Highland Guan (Penelopina nigra)
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Honduras White-lipped Frog (Leptodactylus silvanimbus)
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Margay (Tree Ocelot) (Leopardus wiedii)
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Merendon Palm Pit Viper (Bothriechis thalassinus)
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Monte Cristi Graceful Brown Snake (Rhadinella montecristi)
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Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno)
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White-lipped Peccary (Tayassu pecari)
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Wine-throated Hummingbird (Selasphorus ellioti)
Support our appeal today to help AESMO expand their vital work in western Honduras. Your donations will make a tangible difference to the future of these precious cloud forests.