Participatory research zoning of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve in the Honduras Mosquitia

Participatory Research Zoning (PRZ) had the primary objective to define a consensual land zoning system for the Rio Plátano Biosphere Reserve aimed at empowering reserve residents in the management of their lands while aiding natural resource conservation efforts by the state. The activity was part of the Rio Platano Biosphere Project implemented by the Forest Authority AFE-COHDEFOR with financial support from Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). The consultancy Gesellschaft fur Agrarprojekte (GFA) was contracted to provide technical assistance. The PRZ activity allowed the biosphere's indigenous and mestizo populations to articulate their local knowledge of resource use into standard maps and descriptive data. A participatory team of elected community representatives and a technical team developed the process, using the information produced to design a zoning system with land-use regulations that is now proposed as part of the Global Management Plan. The PRZ activity accomplished the broad education of the Platano Biosphere's residents regarding the administration and conservation of lands in the biosphere while proposing a way to provide for security of land tenure, resolution of conflicts and improvement of indigenous/state relations. It offers a model for developing management plans in other inhabited protected areas.