The merendon mountain range between honduras and guatemala represents a binational area with high biodiversity, key connectivity for jaguars and crucial socioeconomic value for the local people

This $200,000 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service under the Latin America Regional Program (CFDA 15.640) supports conservation initiatives in the Merendon Mountain range between Honduras and Guatemala. The key objectives of the project are to: 1) Strengthen local water communities through legal support, 2) Continue monitoring biodiversity, key species, and illegal activities in protected areas, and 3) Support local stakeholders in watershed management and securing economic benefits through forest incentive programs. The project aims to protect the clean water source for over 60,000 people while preserving habitat for 49 endemic and endangered species. The awardee, Panthera Corporation, has been working in the region for over 9 years and will leverage its local partnerships to implement these activities over the 2-year award period from December 2024 to November 2026.

Unfortunately, the area is also threatened by deforestation and poaching. Panthera has been working over the last nine years to secure critical habitat, support local partners and communities and implement innovative approaches such as smart, an open-access control and protection reporting tool, and acoustic monitoring to detect hunting activity. Herein we propose a project based on socializations and consultation we carried out with the local people of the area in 2023. The project will target the following objectives: strengthen local water communities through legal support, continue to monitor biodiversity, key species and illegal activities in cusuco national park and sierra caral water and forest reserve and expand to new areas, support local stakeholders in watershed management and securing economic benefits through the forest incentive program. This project has the potential to protect the clean water source of over 60,000 people in honduras and guatemala, while protecting key habitat for over 49 endemic and critically endangered or endangered iucn species known to exist in this area. The project will also generate multiple economic benefits through the forest incentive program. We are confident this project will be sustainable in the long-term, as all proposed activities are based on the local peoples interest and benefits, additionally, panthera has been able to sustain its presence in the area for almost a decade thanks to a growing list of partners.