Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge

Last Updated
2026-02-03
Name of the Protected Area / Park / Reserve
Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Barras de Cuero y Salado
Country
Honduras
Status of the Protected Area
In Operation
UNESCO Classified
No
Carbon Offsetting Project
No
IUCN category of the Area /Park / Reserve
Habitat or Species Management Area
Name(s) of the Impacted Indigenous People(s) / Community / Villages
Garífuna
Name(s) of the Support Groups/NGOs and Contact Details

OFRANEH - Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña): Garífuna-supporting organization in Honduras (1)

ODECO - Ethnic Community Development Organization (Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario): organization that supports Afro-Honduran communities, including the Garífuna (2)

1. Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña OFRANEH, https://www.ofraneh.org/ofraneh/index.html.

2. Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario, https://odecohn.blogspot.com/.

Information about Involved Institutions

Major institution involvement appears to be mostly through funding rather than technical support or programming [see the "Donor's Information" section].

Administrative Authority of the Protect Area / Park / Reserve and Contact Details

Nongovernmental organization FUCSA (Cuero y Salado Foundation) manages the park.  FUCSA collaborates with the ICF (National Institute of Forest Conservation) Atlántida region and four municipalities: Esparta, La Másica, San Francisco, and El Porvenir. (3) (4)

3. Fundación Cuero y Salado, https://fundacioncueroysalado.org/ 

4. Programa de Administración, Fundación Cuero y Salado, https://fundacioncueroysalado.org/administracion/ .

National Conservation / Environment Agency or Ministry in Charge of the Protect Area / Park / Reserve

The Department of Protected Areas and the Sub-Directorate for Protected Areas and Wildlife within the ICF are responsible for coordinating and implementing policies related to the protected areas in Honduras. (5)

5. Áreas Protegidas, Instituto Nacional de Conservación y Desarrollo Forestal, Áreas Protegidas y Vida Silvestre, https://icf.gob.hn/areas-protegidas/ .

Major Public and Private Donors
The German Development Bank KfW
The World Wildlife Fund-WWF
Honduran Tourism Institute
Asociación de Representantes de Comunidades Turísticas de Honduras - LARECOTURH
Asociación de Programas de Gestión Ambiental Local - ASOPROGAL
Inter-American Development Bank - IDB
Mesoamerican Reef Rund
The Global Environment Facility -GEF
The World Bank
Donor's Information

Life Web Initiative: The ICF implements the Life Web Initiative in 17 protected areas, including Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge. The project goal is “effective sustainable management of marine-coastal protected areas to improve the living conditions of populations, mitigate the risks of climate change, and conserve biodiversity.” The government of Germany, through the German Development Bank (KFW), financially supports this project. (6)

Caribe Maya Initiative: In the Mesoamerican Reef System, World Wildlife Fund Guatemala/Mesoamerica has worked with the Caribe Maya sustainable tourism initiative, which has supported Cuero y Salado Tours in the wildlife refuge. Other supporters include the Honduran Tourism Institute, Asociación de Representantes de Comunidades Turísticas de Honduras (LARECOTURH), and the Asociación de Programas de Gestión Ambiental Local (ASOPROGAL).  (7) Further, the Inter-American Development Bank (BID), as the administrator of the Multilateral Investments Fund (FOMIN), has supported the Caribe Maya initiative since 2012. (8)

Mesoamerican Reef Fund: Mesoamerican Reef Fund selected the wildlife refuge for support through the Protection of Maritime Resources in Central America III Project. This MAR Fund Project is supported by the German Cooperation through the KfW. (9) In 2009, the Mesoamerican Reef Fund also funded a pilot project for community fisheries in the wildlife refuge. (10)

Older projects:

Honduras Biodiversity Project (1997), funded by the GEF (Global Environment Facility) Trust Fund, has supported the wildlife refuge. (11)

Biodiversity in Priority Areas Project (1997), funded by the World Bank, has supported the wildlife refuge. (12)

Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (2001), funded by the World Bank, has supported the wildlife refuge. (13)

6. Conservación en 17 áreas protegidas del Caribe de Honduras con segunda etapa del proyecto «Life web initiative», Instituto Nacional de Conservación y Desarrollo Forestal, Áreas Protegidas y Vida Silvestre (Sept. 30, 2023), https://icf.gob.hn/2023/09/30/conservacion-en-17-areas-protegidas-del-caribe-de-honduras-con-segunda-etapa-del-proyecto-life-web-initiative/ - need to verify translation.

7. The "Caribe Maya" sustainable tourism initiative receives an award, WWF (Oct. 25, 2017), https://www.wwfca.org/en/ofinterest/news/caribe_maya_receives_award/.

8. Caribe Maya, a sustainable tourism initiative, obtains an award in FITUR, WWF (Jan. 18, 2017), https://www.wwfca.org/en/caribe_maya_award_fitur/.

9. Strengthening the conservation of coastal marine protected areas in the MAR: MAR Fund announces the launch of the second Phase III call for proposals and the selected proposals from the first call, MAR Fund (Aug. 28, 2024), https://marfund.org/en/strengthening-the-conservation-of-cmpas-second-call-phase-iii/.

10. Annual Report 2020, MAR Fund 1, 26, https://marfund.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FONDO-SAM-Ingles-v3_19.10.21-dobles.pdf.

11. Honduras Biodiversity Project, Eur. Comm’n eConservation, https://econservation.jrc.ec.europa.eu/project/5000010.

12. Biodiversity in Priority Areas Project (GEF), Eur. Comm’n eConservation, https://econservation.jrc.ec.europa.eu/project/1000461.

13. Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (GEF), Eur. Comm’n eConservation, https://econservation.jrc.ec.europa.eu/project/1000376.

Historical Background

The National Congress of Honduras created Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge in 1987 through Decree No. 99-87. The National Congress expanded the park’s total area and established FUCSA’s management in 1989 through Decree No. 38-89. As of 1993, 84 families were living in the area, although it is unclear how many families were Garífuna. (14)

14. Information Sheet on Refugio de Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Refuge) Barras de Cuero y Salado, Ramsar 1, 2–3 (Mar. 26, 1993, translated Feb. 3, 1995), https://rsis.ramsar.org/RISapp/files/RISrep/HN619RISformer1993_EN.pdf?language=en

Short description of the alleged violations

Violation of land rights and restriction on the use of natural resources: 

  • The Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge “overlap[s] with Garífuna territorial land claims.” (15) The creation of the park restricted the Garífunas’ right to food and forced some of them to migrate. (16)
  • Since then, the Garífuna have experienced conflict with park officials over the use of park resources, including the over-enforcement of fishing restrictions against the Garífuna.  (17)
  • In 2008, Honduran naval officers killed Guillermo Norales Herrera, a Garífuna fisherman, whom they claimed was fishing illegally in the wildlife refuge. (18)
  • Environmental damage has occurred in the park in recent years, such as logging, debris, and burning. (19)

Lack of consultation:

Biodiversity in Priority Areas Project: The Biodiversity in Priority Areas Project, funded by the World Bank, did not consult the Garífuna when it promoted the management of Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge by an external entity. “The government and the NGOs that manage the protected areas not only ignore the rights of the Garifuna communities to manage and use the natural resources in their territory, but they also carry out actions that seriously harm their right to life and the right to food, among other rights.” (20)

Physical abuses:

According to OFRANEH in 2015, if park patrol finds artisanal fishermen within the park, the patrol seizes the fishermen’s property, threatens them, and beats them. (21) This is most clearly seen in the 2008 murder of Guillermo Norales Herrera.

15. Christopher A. Loperena, Conservation by Racialized Dispossession: The Making of an Eco-destination on Honduras’s North Coast, 69 Geoforum 184, 185 (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.07.004.

16. Kenny Castillo Fernandez, Cuero y Salado: Ministerio Público investiga delito ambiental, Wa-Dani (Jan. 31, 2020), https://wa-dani.com/cuero-y-salado-ministerio-publico-investiga-delito-ambiental/ - need to verify translation; Cuero y Salado. Recuerdan a la primera comunidad garífuna, eliminada casi por decreto, Wa-Dani (May 13, 2022), https://wa-dani.com/cuero-y-salado-recuerdan/ - need to verify translation.

17. Loperena, supra note 17, at 186, 189.

18. Loperena, supra note 17, at 187–88.

19. Fernandez, supra note 18.

20. OFRANEH, Letter to International Finance Corporation Compliance Advisor Ombudsman 4 (Oct. 9, 2015), https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/sites/default/files/downloads/REDACTEDLetterofComplaint_Tela_Honduras_October_9_2015.pdf – need to verify translation.

21. OFRANEH, supra note 22.

Categories of Human Rights Violations
Right to Consultation and Free and Prior Informed Consent
Rights to land, territory and natural resources including access to means of subsistence, adequate food and adequate housing
Social Rights
Economic Rights
Civil Rights
Cultural Rights
Before Violations Overlapping Extractive Activities or Industries in the Protected Area / Park / Reserve

The oil palm industry constitutes the primary overlapping extractive activity affecting the Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge and its surrounding landscape.

The department of Atlántida, where the refuge is located, is one of Honduras’s main oil palm-producing regions, and large-scale plantations operate throughout the Tela Bay watershed, which connects to Cuero y Salado.[1] Deforestation associated with oil palm expansion has contributed to a loss of over 4 per cent of tree cover in the Cuero y Salado area between 2001 and 2017, reflecting substantial forest conversion pressure in and around the refuge[2].

[1] Palm oil, fire pushing protected areas in Honduras to the “point of no return”, Mongabay (2019) https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/palm-oil-fire-pushing-protected-areas-in-honduras-to-the-point-of-no-return/

[2] ‘It’s getting worse’: National parks in Honduras hit hard by palm oil (Mongabay, 24 Apr 2019) https://news.mongabay.com/2019/04/its-getting-worse-national-parks-in-h…

National Court Decisions

On June 15, 2012, David Eduardo Hernandez Tabora was convicted of the 2008 murder of Garífuna fisherman Guillermo Norales Herrera. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. (23)

* NOTICE * This information presented here has been translated; for direct citation or information, refer to the original source.

23. Edwin Álvarez, Condenado a 15 años de prisión militar homicida de pescador garífuna Guillermo Norales Herrera, ODECO (June 15, 2012), https://odecohn.blogspot.com/2012/06/organizacion-de-desarrollo-etnico.html 

National Legislation Links

The National Congress of Honduras created Cuero y Salado Wildlife Refuge in 1987 through Decree No. 99-87. The National Congress expanded the park’s total area and established FUCSA’s management in 1989 through Decree No. 38-89. (22)

22. Information Sheet on Refugio de Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Refuge) Barras de Cuero y Salado, Ramsar 1, 2 (Mar. 26, 1993, translated Feb. 3, 1995), https://rsis.ramsar.org/RISapp/files/RISrep/HN619RISformer1993_EN.pdf?language=en

Sources

 

  1. Organizacion Fraternal Negra Hondureña OFRANEH, https://www.ofraneh.org/ofraneh/index.html.
  2. Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario, https://odecohn.blogspot.com/.
  3. Fundación Cuero y Salado, https://fundacioncueroysalado.org/ – need to verify translation.
  4. Programa de Administracion, Fundación Cuero y Salado, https://fundacioncueroysalado.org/administracion/ – need to verify translation.
  5. Areas Protegidas, Instituto Nacional de Conservación y Desarrollo Forestal, Áreas Protegidas y Vida Silvestre, https://icf.gob.hn/areas-protegidas/– need to verify translation.
  6. Conservación en 17 áreas protegidas del caribe de Honduras con segunda etapa del proyecto «Life web initiative», Instituto Nacional de Conservación y Desarrollo Forestal, Áreas Protegidas y Vida Silvestre (Sept. 30, 2023), https://icf.gob.hn/2023/09/30/conservacion-en-17-areas-protegidas-del-caribe-de-honduras-con-segunda-etapa-del-proyecto-life-web-initiative/ - need to verify translation.
  7. The "Caribe Maya" sustainable tourism initiative receives award, WWF (Oct. 25, 2017), https://www.wwfca.org/en/ofinterest/news/caribe_maya_receives_award/.
  8. Caribe Maya, a sustainable tourism initiative obtains an award in FITUR, WWF (Jan. 18, 2017), https://www.wwfca.org/en/caribe_maya_award_fitur/.
  9. Strengthening the conservation of coastal marine protected areas in the MAR: MAR Fund announces the launch of the second Phase III call for proposals and the selected proposals from the first call, MAR Fund (Aug. 28, 2024), https://marfund.org/en/strengthening-the-conservation-of-cmpas-second-call-phase-iii/.
  10. Annual Report 2020, MAR Fund 1, 26, https://marfund.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/FONDO-SAM-Ingles-v3_19.10.21-dobles.pdf.
  11. Honduras Biodiversity Project, Eur. Comm’n eConservation, https://econservation.jrc.ec.europa.eu/project/5000010.
  12. Biodiversity in Priority Areas Project (GEF), Eur. Comm’n eConservation, https://econservation.jrc.ec.europa.eu/project/1000461.
  13. Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (GEF), Eur. Comm’n eConservation, https://econservation.jrc.ec.europa.eu/project/1000376.
  14. Information Sheet on Refugio de Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Refuge) Barras de Cuero y Salado, Ramsar 1, 2–3 (Mar. 26, 1993, translated Feb. 3, 1995), https://rsis.ramsar.org/RISapp/files/RISrep/HN619RISformer1993_EN.pdf?language=en
  15. Christopher A. Loperena, Conservation by Racialized Dispossession: The Making of an Eco-destination on Honduras’s North Coast, 69 Geoforum 184, 185 (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.07.004.
  16. Kenny Castillo Fernandez, Cuero y Salado: Ministerio Público investiga delito ambiental, Wa-Dani (Jan. 31, 2020), https://wa-dani.com/cuero-y-salado-ministerio-publico-investiga-delito-ambiental/ - need to verify translation; Cuero y Salado. Recuerdan a la primera comunidad garífuna, eliminada casi por decreto, Wa-Dani (May 13, 2022), https://wa-dani.com/cuero-y-salado-recuerdan/ - need to verify translation.
  17. Loperena, supra note 17, at 186, 189.
  18. Loperena, supra note 17, at 187–88.
  19. Fernandez, supra note 18.
  20. OFRANEH, Letter to International Finance Corporation Compliance Advisor Ombudsman 4 (Oct. 9, 2015), https://www.cao-ombudsman.org/sites/default/files/downloads/REDACTEDLetterofComplaint_Tela_Honduras_October_9_2015.pdf – need to verify translation.
  21. OFRANEH, supra note 22.
  22. Information Sheet on Refugio de Vida Silvestre (Wildlife Refuge) Barras de Cuero y Salado, Ramsar 1, 2 (Mar. 26, 1993, translated Feb. 3, 1995), https://rsis.ramsar.org/RISapp/files/RISrep/HN619RISformer1993_EN.pdf?language=en.
  23. Edwin Alvarez, Condenado a 15 años de prison militar homicida de pescador garifuna Guillermo Norales Herrera, ODECO (June 15, 2012), https://odecohn.blogspot.com/2012/06/organizacion-de-desarrollo-etnico.html - need to verify translation.

IUCN Sources: