Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Misquitos Challenge World Bank Project

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 10 2005 (IPS) - The indigenous Misquito peoples of Honduras and Nicaragua have expressed their doubts about the World Bank's Mesoamerican Corazon Biosphere project, saying it is exclusive and an attack on the preservation of their population and culture. The project is an attempt to preserve the national systems of protected areas that are part of the Mesoamerican corridor — 3.4 million hectares that hold the region's most representative habitat and ecosystems. At a cost of 12 million dollars, the project is to last six years beginning in 2006.

Edgardo Benítez, a Honduran Misquito leader, told Tierramérica that the MUIHKA (“brother” in the Misquito language) Binational Coordinator is suspicious of the plan because “they aren't also considering preserving the human and cultural heritage, which is us.”

These lands “are ours, and should be legalized” as such, he said, adding that the Misquitos are not against preserving the ecological reserves, but that “it should be done with the active participation (of his community), not excluding it.”