Equator Prize 2002

http://www.mopawi.org

Full Nomination

"Turtle Power" - TVE Hands On Profile

Video

YouTube Video

Description: MOPAWI works with the ethnic populations of Mistikos, Tawahkas, Pech, Garifunas, and Mestizos around the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve (a World Heritage Site) to protect the environment and advance sustainable economic development in the region.

Key Activities and Innovations: MOPAWI's conservation and development landscapes encompass coastal beaches, pine savanna, and rainforest, protecting an important link for the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. Through a combination of agro-ecology, community forestry, eco-tourism, marine protection, micro-enterprises, and land and resource rights advocacy, MOPAWI has brought new sustainable economic opportunities to the region while expanding conservation efforts at the national and local level.

Key Impacts

Biodiversity

• MOPAWI facilitated a 40-year protection agreement on 68,000 hectares of forest in the Mocoron region and secured legal protection of 230,000 hectares of Tawahka ancestral territories through creation of the Tawahka Biosphere Reserve

• The group has launched community projects to protect leatherback and loggerhead turtles along with the rare green iguana

Socio-economic

• The group introduces and supports sustainable income generating activities, including: the production of organic cacao; eco-tourism; and responsible forest management

• Gains from economic activities have opened the doors to both primary and secondary education

• MOPAWI formed the first Miskito, Garifuna, and Mestizo women's groups that facilitate skills building for micro-enterprises and manage ten village banks

Policy

• MOPAWI joined the Tawahka community in developing the project proposal for the declaration of the Biosphere Reserve Tawahka by the National Congress, creating legal power to protect the biodiversity of the region and to benefit the Tawahka people by reducing the illegal trafficking of forest timber and wildlife from the region

• MOPAWI lobbied alongside indigenous organizations and environmentalists in Honduras, to demonstrate the lack of feasibility of the Patuca II project in the Heart of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, as a result construction companies resigned to participate in the construction of this dam.

• MOPAWI is an active participant on the National Environmental Council

Replication

• MOPAWI maintains links with and between communities in Honduras and Nicaragua, organizing community knowledge exchanges to share successful methods of conservation, development, and advocacy

Partners

• Tearfund
• WWF
• The Nature Conservancy
• US Department of the Interior

In the News

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Research

Community-Based Ecotourism Development and Management in the Rio Platano Man and the Biosphere Reserve, Honduras
Leguminous Inga tree use in agroforestry systems for sustainable food production to achieve food security while reducing deforestation
Study of ecosystems producing non timber forest products for family income generation, biodiversity protection, and reduction of deforestation.
Introducing eco-stoves to reduce firewood use while producing the same amount of energy for cooking.
Plantation of firewood SPS to protect native forests

Contacts

Osvaldo Munguia
Residensial Tres Caminos, 1/2 cuadra al Oeste del Instituto Maria Auxiliadora,
Apartado Postal #, Tegocigalpa, M.D.C., Honduras
Tel: +504 235 8659
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