Ecotourism in El Carbon/Planeta.com

Update on Ecotourism in El Carbon
by Kevin Postma and Kate Thomson

July/Julio 1998

Introduction

With funding from "Partners for Biodiversity" the Environmental Committee Wata of the Pech tribe of El Carbăn, Olancho, Honduras constructed the basic infrastructure necessary to bring ecotourism to their community and the surrounding Las Montañas del Carbăn. During 1997 and the first months of 1998, Wata built two small hostels using traditional building techniques and an interpretive trail to an impressive waterfall in the mountains. During the first five months of 1998, 53 ecotourists have visited. Although this number is small, the community has had an overall positive reaction to ecotourism and as a result there have been a number of economic, cultural, and environmental benefits. Guides, artisans, and service providers have benefited economically, a revival of interest in Pech handicrafts and traditional forest uses has occurred, Las Montañas del Carbăn were included within the limits of Sierra de Agalta National Park, and artisans are learning to value and manage forests to ensure the survival of the trees whose bark is used to produce their traditional handicrafts.

Problems encountered include a robbery of a group of tourists, divisions within the community, and a dependency on us, the local Peace Corps Volunteers, for leadership and guidance.

Background

El Carbăn is a Pech indigenous community of 818 inhabitants (ICADE 1996) located in the northeast corner of the department of Olancho, Honduras and is on one of the three main roads connecting the interior of Honduras to the north coast, approximately three hours by bus from the north coast towns of Trujillo and Tocoa. The community is situated at the base of Las Montañas del Carbăn which form part of the Sierra de Agalta mountain range. These mountains together with the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve form the largest biological corridor in Central America. Las Montañas del Carbăn contain approximately 35,000 hectares of rain forest, cloud forests, and dwarf cloud forests (Albers 1997) which recently have been included in the limits of the Sierra de Agalta National Park. The combination of a rich diversity of flora and fauna in Las Montañas del Carbăn, the Pech indigenous culture, and the accessible location give El Carbăn a strong potential to attract some of the growing numbers of backpacking ecotourists visiting Honduras.

The first person to bring the concept of ecotourism to El Carbăn was Linton Escobar. Linton is a campesino from the community who has held a number of leadership roles within the tribe and has also worked with the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History as a guide in the Olancho and La Mosquitia regions. In the fall of 1995 he was selected by the CAPS-HOPS program of USAID to study ecotourism both here in Honduras and in New Mexico. Upon his return, with the help of Peace Corps Volunteer Richard Albers, he established the Environmental Committee Wata. The name Wata comes from the name given to the former Pech shamans who were the tribe's spiritual leaders and direct link to the natural world. The objectives of the newly established Wata committee were to promote the conservation and rational use of El Carbăn's forest resources and to promote ecotourism.

In August of 1996 Wata began focusing on the development of an ecotourism enterprise and wrote a proposal to obtain the finances to construct the basic infrastructure necessary to implement ecotourism, including hostels where visitors can stay, a visitors'/cultural center, and an interpretive trail to a waterfall in the mountains. The consensus was to construct the hostels and visitors' center in a traditional style with "modern improvements" to ensure visitor comfort. There would be two hostels containing four beds in each. The visitors'/cultural center would be larger than the hostels providing sufficient space for local artisans to display and sell their handicrafts, for displays providing information about the forest, Pech culture, the problems both face, and a place for local meetings. An already existing trail passing through Pech forest lands and national forest would be improved and used as an interpretive trail. In January of 1997 Wata's proposed project was approved and received funding from the "Partners for Biodiversity." Previous to the initiation of the project work a one week workshop on ecotourism was given to nine men and one woman of Wata who were interested in being guides. The workshop was taught by Peace Corps Volunteers Kevin Postma and Kate Thomson and by Linton Escobar. In the workshop the group defined ecotourism, the positive and negative impacts of ecotourism, and explored differences between themes versus topics in environmental interpretation while practicing guided hikes. During the course of the workshop the abilities of the guides were evaluated. Two of the guides are "curanderos" or shamans and decided to promoted themselves by offering medicinal plant hikes.

The workshop participants decided that they would limit the number of guides to those who had received some degree of training in environmental interpretation to try to ensure a quality experience for tourists and to avoid having an abundance of untrained guides anxious for work, as was formerly the case in the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve.

Methods

When the proposal was written it was thought that the primary beneficiaries would be the Wata members who would work as guides and their families who would manage the hospedajes. These individuals contributed an estimated 25% of the project costs, primarily with free labor. Indirect beneficiaries included members of the recently formed Pech artisan group Kataja who would be able to sell their handicrafts to tourists, women who would sell food from their homes, the local diner, and general store owners.

It took 11 months to complete the guide training and the construction of the hostels and trail. In the end the visitors'/cultural center was not constructed, due to the fact that money in the budget was not allotted for unexpected and higher costs. Instead one of the hostels was converted into a part hostel and part cultural center where cultural information and objects are displayed and local artisan handicrafts are for sale. The money left over was used to make further improvements to the hostels which were not included in the proposals, such as cement floors and a pila (cement water holding tank).

Promotion of El Carbăn as a tourist destination was to take three forms. Word of mouth was considered the most valuable promotional method. If one group of tourists had a good experience they are bound to tell other travelers about El Carbăn. On the other hand, if they had a bad experience it can easily work against the success of ecotourism in El Carbăn. Contacting guide books was the second method and this responsibility was appointed to us, the Peace Corps volunteers, since most guide books are written in English. The third method was to design fliers to put up in restaurants, hostels and other tourist destinations throughout Honduras, which were auto-financed from income generated by the project.

Results and Conclusions

During 1997 approximately 25 people visited El Carbăn as tourists. By the end of May, 1998 already 53 people have visited El Carbăn this year. These numbers are attributed to promotion. Both Ron Mader and Jim Gollin's Honduras: Adventures in Nature and Chris Humphrey's The Honduras Handbook have information about El Carbăn and have attracted visitors. At the end of May Wata completed their flier, and although it is still being distributed, it too has already brought in visitors. Although these numbers are small they have made obvious impacts on the community.

Economic Impacts

Though the numbers of tourists are not yet large or steady, a degree of economic input has been provided by ecotourism. Wata charges L 25.00 per person for each night they spend in the hostel and for a guided all day hike to the waterfall guides charge L 65.00. The hostels are being taken care of by the women members of Wata and the majority of money received from guests is divided among the women. They work using a rotational system and at the end of each rotation 25% of the earned money is deposited into a fund to be used to maintain and improve the hostels and the remainder is divided equally among the women. Because all of the women have large families most of their money is used to buy food, medicine, and clothing. Initially the guides decided to deposit L 15.00 of the L 65.00 they earned into a fund to maintain the trail and to invest in other ecotourism projects. Unfortunately only one guide has ever done this. It is difficult to say whether all of the money earned by the all male guides is spent for the good of their families needs, however, in most cases we have observed the a substantial part is used to provide for the families.

Most importantly, Wata has reached a minimal level of financial auto-sufficiency. While they do not have a great deal of money they now have sufficient funds to make their own small improvements to the enterprise, print fliers, and have even pooled the L 1,000.00 necessary to receive their personaria juridica, or legal status as a cooperative organization.

Money from ecotourism is also being earned by secondary beneficiaries. Through the sale of bags, hammocks, table mats, and hanging baskets made of woven tree bark and traditional drums and maracas artisans have generated approximately L 11,000.00 in 1998. Since the time the project proposal was written the artisan group Kataja has grown from three members to twenty-six. As their numbers have grown so has the quality and quantity of their products. They first began with selling their handicrafts at the biannual Peace Corps artisan fair. Now, in addition to the artisan sale they sell their crafts in El Carbăn and to souvenir shops in Roatan, La Ceiba, and Tegucigalpa.

Because the majority of the artisans are women it can be expected that much of this money is being invested directly into their families. One enterprising young man who has learned to make drums invested his earnings in a general store and has turned a L 1,000.00 investment into a L 5,000.00 earning. Additionally, with help from the Institute of Anthropology and History Kataja formed a cooperative with Wata and many of the artisans are now banking a portion of their earnings.

As ecotourism continues to grow in El Carbăn it can be expected to replace logging as a primary source of outside income for some families. It will not replace their basic agriculturally subsistent lifestyle but it will provide a means of purchasing necessities such as clothing, sugar, medicine, and tools.

Cultural Benefits

Tourism in El Carbăn is creating a cultural revival of traditional Pech handicrafts. Today, as the traditional crafts sell well in three cities as well as to tourists who visit the community, Pech youth are taking an interest in learning to make the crafts. More than half of the twenty-six artisans are young adults or teenagers, most of whom are learning directly from their parents and grandparents. Two years ago Don Vicente Garcia was the last remaining Pech drum maker. Now there are four young men learning from him. If it were not for the economic incentive these crafts may not have been taught to this generation and may have died out with the older generation.

Among the younger guides there also exists a growing interest in medicinal plant and other traditional Pech uses of forest resources as they see the interest tourists have in learning about the ethnobotany of Las Montañas del Carbăn.

Environmental Benefits

While it is difficult to quantify the environmental benefits, ecotourism is leading to the conservation of the El Carbăn's forest resources and the biodiversity found within them.

Las Montañas del Carbăn are included in the Limits for Sierra de Agalta National Park.

Due in part to the actions Wata and the artisans have taken to promote ecotourism in Las Montañas del Carbăn this year, the Protected Areas division of the Corporaciăn Hondureña del Desarollo Forestal (COHDEFOR) decided to include the mountains when they expanded the limits of Sierra de Agalta National Park this year.

At the time when the proposal was being written it was expected that the increased attention ecotourism would bring to the area would help strengthen support for declaring the mountains as an anthropological reserve. Twice previously the proposal to declare the mountains a part of an anthropological reserve has been brought before the national congress but both times congress failed to take action on the issue. Additionally many members of the Pech community questioned the significance of "anthropological reserve." Its inclusion as part of Sierra de Agalta offers the mountains official protection where there would be no promise for such protection through continued efforts for its declaration as an anthropological reserve.

Unfortunately this new protection as a national park exists only on paper. Since including the mountains within the national park limits COHDEFOR Protected Areas has only visited El Carbăn once to drop off a sign. No information has been provided to the community concerning what it means to have the mountains considered a national park, what their role as a buffer zone community entails, and to what extent COHDEFOR will support sustainable development within the community. Unfortunately COHDEFOR Protected Areas has had trouble providing this information to the buffer zone communities it has been present in for years, so there may be little hope that COHDEFOR's presence will increase in the near future. Perhaps as ecotourism brings attention to Las Montañas del Carbăn and Sierra de Agalta in general, COHDEFOR will increase there presence and conservation activities.

Reaching an agreement with landholder who threatens the forest

Wata has received the verbal support of the owner of a large ranch downstream from the waterfall. In past years his clearing of primary rainforest to plant pasture has advanced steadily upstream. During informal talks with Wata members he promised to stop clearing land along the river. Unfortunately in May he cleared another large patch of forest along the river. If Wata wants to protect this area for ecotourism's purposes they need to deal with the issue in a more formal manner involving COHDEFOR and the mayor of the municipality.

Management of species used by artisans

Perhaps the most concrete ecological benefit of the ecotourism industry has been the artisans' use of the secondary forest tree species: majao and chulmeco. Although the artisans cut these trees down to harvest their bark, the forested areas in which these species grow are increasingly valued and subsequentially protected as artisans realize the economic potential of managing these areas. Often, forests in Las Montañas del Carbăn are seen as worthless after the valuable hardwoods such as mahogany, cedar, and San Juan have been removed and are cleared for agriculture or pasture. But as community members learn the economic and utilitarian value of non-traditional forest products the forest gains added value and the people learn to manage it for those resources.

Fortunately majao and culmeco are two tree species which can be easily managed. Both are early colonizers of secondary forest. In fact, after a patch of forest is cleared and burned these are reported to be some of the first trees to recolonize. Artisans also are very selective in choosing trees to harvest which insures the reseeding of harvested forests. They prefer to use younger trees of two to four years of age because the bark of older trees binds to the wood of the trees too strongly to make it practical. They prefer straight trees with few limbs and knots so as to insure long strands of bark to use for weaving. In a study conducted on the use of majao in Las Marias, Gracias a Dios (Boxer-Macomber and Ayudelo 1998) it is reported that if the trees are cut at an angle and from 15 - 20 cm. above the ground they will regenerate in two or three months. This provides another harvest within two to four years. When we shared this information from Las Marias concerning the cutting of trees and proposed the idea that artisans could manage their individual forest plots for these trees a few of the artisans reported that they were already practicing this to some extent and when clearing fields were leaving patches containing majao and chulmeco.

Much work remains to be done to assure that all of the artisans understand how to manage the use of these species and that they take steps to assure future harvests. Fortunately several have started upon their own initiative and as this knowledge is passed from artisan to artisan the management of secondary forest habitats will evolve to protect the resources the Pech depend on to produce their traditional handicrafts and to protect the plant and animal species which share this habitat.

Problems

With the introduction of ecotourism in El Carbăn there have also been negative impacts evident in the community.

Robbery

In May of 1998 a group of tourists from Canada had several items stolen from the hostel while they were eating at the local diner. When they left to eat they left the windows open through which someone entered and stole a wallet with a great deal of Canadian money and Lempiras, a watch, a flashlight, and a walkman. A big fuss was made by the community concerning the stolen items and a couple of days later most of the items were found discarded in a plastic bag in the brush. About half of the money from the wallets was never recovered. It is thought that the thief is someone from the neighborhood due to the circumstances of the robbery and the testimonies of neighbors.

Because a Wata member has family ties with this person, the group has not pressed the issue further and has decided to take the preventative measure of placing a guard around the hostels on evenings when visitors are present and by posting signs in the hostels advising tourists to close and lock all doors and windows when leaving. If Wata wants to continue with their efforts towards promoting ecotourism they need to continue such preventative measures and educate all community members about ecotourism to assure similar incidents are not repeated.

Community Divisions

We have also observed that community tensions exist regarding the control of tourism. There exists a division within the community which goes back several decades between two of the larger families. One of these families lives in the center of the town and the other lives in the neighborhood, Barrio del Campo, where the hostels are located. This division reveals itself whenever money enters the community from outside. As tourism continues to grow economically inter-tribal squabbling will likely continue along the line of this familial division. Wata needs to increase efforts to include community members from both sides of this division so that they will learn how to work together to improve El Carbăn's ecotourism potential so its benefits will reach all parties interested in working towards this.

Dependency

Wata's dependency on us, the Peace Corps Volunteers, for leadership was an issue we struggled with during the construction phase of the project and as tourists have begun to visit, it remains a problem. There are many factors that contribute to their dependency but the two largest are an absence of strong leadership within the organization and a lack of knowledge and experience with ecotourism.

Leadership within the group primarily comes from Linton Escobar but as he is involved with many community projects and has trouble focusing his energy on Wata. Members of the group look to him for guidance and when he fails to provide it, they then turn to us. We have been making efforts to draw out the leadership qualities of other Wata members, especially the women. These efforts have been met with a limited degree of success and the group is still a long way from being self-reliant.

Wata also continues to be dependent on us for guidance on how to receive and care for tourists. It is difficult for them to conceive what the tourists' needs and wants are they do not understand how to sell themselves as guides, artisans, or providers of services. As they continue to receive training through workshops and with more experience we believe they will attain a firmer grasp on the concept of ecotourism and will better learn to attend to visitors' needs.

Literature Cited

Albers, R.N. 1997. Improving the Link between Developmental Conservation Goals and Acculturated Indigenous Groups in Honduras, Central America: Developing Practical Guidelines (Unpublished Masters Thesis). Fort Collins, Colorado.

Instituto para la Cooperacion y Autodesarrollo (ICADE). 1996. Resumen Ejecutivo de Diagnostico de las Comunidades Pech (Unpublished report). Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., Honduras.

Boxer-Macomber, L. and N. Agudelo 1998. Ayuda Memoria del Estudio de Majao y Observaciones del Proyecto de Artesania de Majao (Unpublished report). Las Marias, Gracias a Dios, Honduras.

Contact the authors via mail at Bonito Oriental, Colon, Honduras Central America or via email

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