Credit: AESMO
Earlier this year, as part of our Save the Cloud Forests of Honduras appeal, World Land Trust supporters raised £443,540 to help our partner AESMO purchase 91 hectares (225 acres) of vital and vulnerable forest in Honduras’ Trifinio region.
Today, we’re delighted to announce that AESMO have successfully purchased and protected the first of three properties funded through the appeal.
Alongside funds from WLT, AESMO received some co-funding from local communities to secure the property, which totals 24 hectares and sits within the Cerro Negro watershed. AESMO’s work focuses on protecting crucial areas such as this, where there is good remaining forest cover despite the severe deforestation in the region. The land in and around this area also provides clean water to rural communities.
Credit: AESMO
This particular plot of land was important to secure because it’s part of the vegetation cover in the water recharge zone of the Cerro Negro micro-basin. A water recharge zone is an area where water is able to flow into the ground to resupply a water body, a vital process for producing sustainable and clean drinking water as well as supporting healthy ecosystems for wildlife.
If AESMO hadn’t secured this property, the land was at risk of being used for livestock and coffee farming in the coming months or years. Instead, it has been permanently protected with the help of WLT supporters.
The purchase of this property so soon after our spring appeal is testament to the impact WLT supporters have on threatened land and species. Your donations are already making a huge difference to Honduras’ cloud forests and the incredible wildlife and communities that reside there. We can’t wait to give you more updates from the appeal as the project progresses.
