One Earth Conservation is helping endangered wild yellow-headed amazon parrots and local communities in Punta Manabique, Guatemala that were impacted by two hurricanes in 2020. One Earth is training local people to improve their conservation efforts and pay stipends that will help them rebuild their community, heal and grow stronger. The project leader, Miguel, and his family were left homeless after Hurricane Eta. Even so, his 2 young adult children continue to patrol and protect parrot nests.
In 2020, our project counted 89 yellow-headed amazons in Honduras and 8 in Guatemala. The counts were conducted before hurricanes hit both countries and many nest trees and homes were destroyed. Also, nest poaching in Guatemala approaches 100% without intervention. Our partners in this bi-national border region want to increase their efforts and need help. One ranger said, "My family's needs are so great that I constantly consider immigrating to the USA, but the parrots and my family need me."
The project provides people with sustenance to recover from the hurricanes and training for youth that will lead to paid work, while protecting an endangered parrot. We will place nest boxes near where the villagers are, making it easier to protect nests from illegal wildlife traffickers. We have identified a new nesting area that might have less pressure from poaching. We hope the nest boxes and nest protection activity will increase the number of fledged chicks and decrease poaching.
One Earth's work is about relationships - we love the parrots and working with the people. In all of our projects, we see the suffering of others and how our lives interweave with the tragedy of the commons that causes hunger through ecosystem failure, loss of biodiversity and climate crisis-fueled hurricanes. One Earth and our partners continue to build relationships and look for ways to ensure a sustainable, long-term future for all, such as developing future eco-tourism activities.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
