Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Award for Indigenous Ecotourism Project

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 27 2008 (IPS) - The Moskitia Route, an ecotourism project involving four indigenous communities in Honduras, has received the global prize “Tourism for the People”. Hugo Galeano, of the United Nations Small Grants Program, told Tierramérica the experience involves the Pech, Garífuna, Misquito and Tawahkas who live in the northeastern biosphere region of the Plátano River.

Begun two years ago, the Moskitia Route “shows that when people are given the opportunity they know how to preserve harmony with the environment,” said Honduran Tourism Minister Ricardo Martínez.

The project offers comfortable tourism for visitors who take three to nine day tours in this vast region, where some 2,000 indigenous people continue to follow traditional customs.