The Yoro Biological Corridor Initiative is an effort to link eight Honduran national parks threatened by conventional coffee production. The legal establishment of the corridor by the Government of Honduras will seek to promote and build on the forest protection and restoration efforts of the park Co-Managers.
The initiative involves an Off-Grid Coffee Processing Facility linked with Integrated Open Canopy™ farming; in the creation of a carbon trading program to conserve and restore forest habitat on private lands throughout the Corridor.
The initiative creates and supports the skills required to adopt renewable energy (solar & biofuels) for rural productive applications, carbon accounting and measurement skills required to increase the sale of carbon offsets to the international market.
The $68 million, 10-year initiative has been prepared for presentation to the Green Climate Fund in conjunction with the Biodiversity Division of the Environment & National Resources Ministry and Honduran Forest Service. To date MDI has provided 250 presentations at meetings with stakeholders, government ministries, and potential funders. The Initiative has broad support from the public, NGOs, and the public and private sector, with over 35 public hearings to date.
Yoro Biological Corridor Metrics
– 12,000 square kilometers
– 26 municipalities
– Includes participation of indigenous community (Federation of Xicaque Tribes, Yoro, Honduras (FETRIXI))
– Current coffee production of 1,486,685 qq
– Current area of coffee cultivation 52,247 Ha or 129,106 acres
– 15,266 registered coffee producers
– Total population approximately 884,660
– Ten threatened protected areas
Endorsements
– National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH)- The Institute for Forest Conservation (ICF) (Honduran Central Government)
– The National Electric Generation Company (ENEE)
– The President’s Office on Climate Change
– The Ministry of Natural Resource & the Environment (MiAmbiente)
– The National Council for Sustainable Development (CONADES)
– The 11 Mayors and Governor of the Department of Yoro, supporting the Co-Management of Pico Pijol National Park and the Yoro Biological Corridor
– The US Forest Service (Department of Agriculture)
– The US Fish & Wildlife Service (Department of Interior)
– The University of Massachusetts
– Tulane University
– Cornell University
– The American Bird Conservancy
– International Partners in Flight
– The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Secretariat
– A growing coalition of coffee companies promoting Cafe Solar® internationally.
The following Yoro Biological Corridor Meeting Report marks a significant point in the Corridor’s development, as there is a recognized crisis (45% of protected Honduran Forest Parks have been deforested been deforested in the last 10 years) …
In this podcast Fabiola Rodriguez, doctoral student from Tulane University, talks about coffee growing and migratory birds in the context of her areas of study: ornithology, ecology, and conservation. She also compares types of coffee farms and how they affect bird habitat …
