Merchants of Green Coffee

Meeting of Advisory Committee to Complete Legal Request to Establish the Corridor

This Yoro Biological Corridor Meeting Report marks a historical point in the Corridor’s development, as it finalized the legal framework to implement the progressive model of regional and interconnected sustainable development. Main objective(s) of the meeting included:

The legal submission of the YBC was completed on December 22, 2021 (a.k.a. the legal documentation under the forestry law for creating biological corridors). This was the final requirement in a 4-year process for Mesoamerican Development Institute (MDI) to submit to the Honduran government for the legal establishment of the Yoro Corridor. The advisory board is made up of experts in their fields and submitted to ACTA.

Meeting Details

Who: Coffee producers, members of the Honduran Network of Private Natural Reserves (REHNAP), members of the College of Forestry Engineers, Merchants of Green Coffee, and MDI field researchers and international students.
What: Meeting to complete the final legal documentation to request the legal establishment of the Corridor.
Where: Online on Zoom meeting platform.
When: Wednesday, December 22, 2021 @ 2:00pm EST
Why: To legally request the establishment of the Corridor in order to promote investments in biodiversity, sustainable development and forest restoration. (MDI is currently co-managing two national parks within the Corridor).

Conclusion & Next Steps

The legal documentation for the YBC was filed with El Instituto de Conservación Forestal (ICF) on the final week of 2021 by the Mesoamerican Development Institute, Honduras.
As Co-Managers of two national parks—Pico Pijol and Montaña de Yoro National Parks, MDI was invited (at a follow-up meeting on Friday, January 7, 2022) to meet with the incoming administration to discuss Co-Management, and also introduce the Yoro Biological Corridors Initiative to the new representatives of the Xiomara Castro Administration. We’ve been instructed on how to send our Yoro Biological Corridor proposal directly to the incoming president. We will be following up, asking them to move quickly on establishing the Corridor and to provide any No-Object Letter that may be required for the international development banks and Green Climate Fund with which we are currently engaged. MDI will be submitting the “YBC package” to the new president by Friday, January 14, 2022.

A photo from the follow-up meeting in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on Friday, January 7, 2022, at Universidad Pedagógica Nacional Francisco Morazán (UPNFM), in preparation to submit the Yoro Biological Corridor package directly to the newly elected government.

Interesting Facts

Honduras is the only Central American country with a law to establish legally protected Corridors. This is a progressive development in dealing with biodiversity and climate change!
Honduras is the second Central American country to elect a female President.
The Corridor process is expensive and complicated and Yoro Biological Corridor™ is the most advanced Corridor program in Honduras.
MDI is currently co-managing two national parks bordering the Corridor.
The process of legally establishing the Corridor and co-managing the parks is providing the opportunity for Honduran students to study and obtain advanced degrees in the US.

Get Involved with the Yoro Biological Corridor …

The primary concern of the Yoro Biological Corridor is to create public/private partnerships to promote voluntary restoration and protection of forest on private property (coffee farms) through a multi-disciplinary approach to sustainable development. YBC is a science-based initiative modeled on the UN Sustainable Development Goals & Paris Agreement targets, and has grown to become the longest-standing, most sophisticated Corridor project in Honduras to date! It also needs public support, awareness, and participation in creating consumer demand for products produced under the sustainable methodologies being introduced and adopted by small producers. This series of Yoro Biological Corridor Reports is meant to drive awareness; show transparency and promote progress to stakeholders; and inevitably get more eyes on and dollars directed towards protecting what little remains of the regions high-elevation forests, critical to maintaining healthy watersheds. We are urging everyone to get involved by signing their name in support of the Corridor and following along with these reports and helping to propel the official YBC creation process.