Communities Organizing for Watersheds - Honduras

Through the utilization of partnerships, women-led leadership and widespread community participation to promote sustainable watershed management and environmental conservation, Communities Organizing for Watersheds is increasing resilience for climate change adaptation in an area threatened by worsening water conditions and shortages.

Fast facts:

Since 2007, 533 women have been involved in this project;
56 women have taken charge of water management and reforestation activities by leading initiatives, joining/leading village councils, engaging in land use planning, or being on the board of directors in the Association of Water Committees of the Southern Sector of Pico Bonito National Park (AJAASSPIB);
Additionally, at least 400 women have been trained in work related to stoves, many of these as trainers of trainers or as stove cluster leaders, where they help groups of neighbours build and maintain stoves;
Countless women in 27 communities across northern Honduras, and now the Municipality of Olanchito, have directly benefited from AJAASSPIB’s efforts to provide clean, potable running water; build stoves; and protect the ecosystem upon which their families depend.

The problem

Honduras is currently dealing with long-term projections of higher temperatures and increased extreme weather conditions. Climate change threatens water security, where water stress is already high. In rural Honduras, less than 14% of water systems deliver potable water. Deforestation and river degradation, caused primarily by unsustainable agriculture and expansion of pasture, have caused water contamination and unreliable flow, compromising villagers’ health and food security.

The solution

The activity’s overall goal is to set in place long-term strategies to conserve and reduce pressure on the forested water sources that communities rely on for their drinking water. This activity is actively engaging women and communities through education on climate change, conservation, and natural resource management to ensure that they understand the effects of human actions on the resources they rely upon for their livelihoods. Women are taking on leadership roles when it comes to community watershed planning and conservation work, silvo-pastoral systems, and forest protection and reforestation activities. This activity trains women in land use planning and management, with a focus on offering access to conservation awareness and information and land management capacity building for women and girls.

Helping the planet

Women are also involved in projects that are constructing and promoting the use of fuel-efficient wood-burning cookstoves. In rural Honduras, women do the majority of the cooking. Small groups of women, gather to receive training on stove construction, maintenance and benefits, and then construct stoves as a group, progressing to each group member’s home. By ensuring that stove recipients participate in reforestation activities in exchange for their stove, AJAASSPIB facilitates greater leadership and solidarity among women in actively solving the environmental and economic challenges they face.

Helping people

The stoves installed by this activity are significantly safer and more efficient than traditional cooking methods, reduce firewood consumption by over 60%, and include chimneys to vent smoke and pollutants out of the home to improve health. In addition, they improve combustion efficiency so women and children spend less time foraging for wood, and thus have more time for study, income generation, and other activities. Since this work began in the area, more than 1,200 stoves have been built in family homes, with each stove representing progress on forest conservation, better health for women and children, and a step forward for women’s empowerment in their communities.

Scaling up

This activity is transferring rural innovation and expertise back to an urban area, scaling up to help a city facing severe water pollution and shortages to ensure clean water for its citizens. Through partnerships, this activity is establishing environmental funds for conservation of the 6,500-hectare Uchapa-Pimienta subwatershed, which supplies water to its 40,000 residents. This activity envisions several medium- to long-term strategies that aim to engage other community organizations and local and municipal governments to implement more coordinated climate change adaptation efforts across common landscapes.