This spring, we need your help. We urgently need to raise £443,540 so our partner AESMO can purchase 91 hectares (225 acres) of vital and vulnerable forest in the Trifinio region of Honduras.
Rapid deforestation for coffee plantations and cattle pasture has left the lush forests of the Trifinio region under serious threat. By supporting our Save the Cloud Forests of Honduras appeal, you can help to preserve these fragmented forests before it’s too late.
With your generous support, AESMO will work in collaboration with local people to protect land, preserve habitat for species and safeguard essential water sources for surrounding communities.
What your donation will do:
- Enable AESMO to purchase key areas of standing forest in and around the Güisayote and Volcan Pacayita Biological Reserves: bringing 91 hectares (225 acres) under permanent protection before it’s lost to deforestation. This includes a 31-hectare (77-acre) privately owned property in Pacayita which contains four water springs and sits directly next to plots of land currently being used for coffee farming, leaving this property under imminent threat of being cleared next.
- 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. Your donations will put three 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 to be purchased through this appeal has been specifically chosen as it provides essential clean water to surrounding rural villages. 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.
With funds raised through the appeal, AESMO will purchase targeted plots of land where good forest cover still remains.
An array of vibrant wildlife
Despite the level of deforestation in the Trifinio region, the patches of remaining standing forest provide crucial habitat for threatened wildlife.
In the streams, endemic and Critically Endangered amphibians such as the Cerro Pital Salamander (Bolitoglossa synoria) and Honduras White-lipped Frog (Leptodactylus silvanimbus) thrive. Meanwhile, charismatic mammals like the Margay (Leopardus wiedii) roam the forest canopy, and the stunning Wine-throated Hummingbird (Selasphorus ellioti) and Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) find their homes high in the treetops. The migratory Golden-cheeked Warbler (Setophaga chrysoparia) is also a regular visitor to the region, returning each year to spend its winters in the lush pine-oaks forests.
By supporting this appeal, you will help AESMO to protect habitat for these species for many generations to come.
The Golden-cheeked Warbler depends on these cloud forests each winter, after a breeding season in central Texas. Credit: Jason Crotty
Clean water, communities and collaboration
Alongside diverse wildlife, over 50 communities live in the Trifinio region, including the Indigenous Lenca People. Many local villages do not have access to mains sanitation and the fragmented forests are an essential source of clean water. By preserving the forest that remains, your donations will in turn protect the water these local people depend upon.
The forests of the Trifinio region supply clean water to over 250,000 local people. Credit: Enrique Girón/AESMO
The communities themselves are also active participants in caring for their land and water sources with AESMO. Through AESMO’s community-driven conservation model, local municipalities and stakeholders co-own land with AESMO and share the responsibility of its ongoing protection through co-management councils.
Local communities contribute their own unique knowledge to these councils and then join AESMO’s rangers out in the field for regular patrols and species monitoring.
AESMO’s rangers and local community members regularly patrol the land to ensure its long-term protection. Credit: Enrique Girón/AESMO
Defending forests under threat
AESMO’s passionate team of young biologists, led by Executive Director Victor Saravia, are making a tangible difference on the front lines of conservation in western Honduras.
But with forest still being rapidly cleared, it’s crucial that we come together to defend this land from deforestation while there is still time.
As Victor says, “As threats to the cloud forests grow, so too must our commitment to protect them. Now is the time for us to act.”
Every hectare protected in this incredibly biodiverse area plays a much wider role in the fight for the forests of Honduras. Join our mission to save them.
Find out more about the species mentioned in this news story:
Cerro Pital Salamander, Honduras White-lipped Frog, Margay, Wine-throated Hummingbird, Resplendent Quetzal, Golden-cheeked Warbler.