A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

338 MARINE AND COASTAL
PROTECTED AREAS
22. Roatan, Honduras: Protected Area Under
Management of Business Community
Background
Honduras, is the site of a spectacular and biologically diverse coral reef ecosystem,
attracting divers from all over the world. 1 This case describes the development of a
management plan for the Sandy Bay-West End Marine Reserve, which is under the
management of a local NGO, the Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA). Two
management plans have been developed for the Reserve. The first is the “Plan for the
Management and Development for the Sandy Bay-West End Marine Reserve”, which
was commissioned in 1997 by a Sandy Bay resort owner as a result of development
permit conditions required by the Secretary of the Environment. The second, a draft
released for review in July 1999, is the “Management Plan and Operational Plan for
the Sandy Bay-West End Marine Reserve” (MPOP) prepared by the Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS). 2
In 1996, BICA was entrusted by the Government of Honduras through the
Administración Forestal del Estado-Corporación Hondureña de Desarrollo Forestal—
Forestry Administration of the State-Honduran Corporation of Forestry Development
(AFE-COHDEFOR)—to manage the Reserve. 3 BICA’s Board of Directors administers
the Reserve. 4 The Asociación de Hoteleros de Roatán, an organization of hotel and resort
owners on the northwest portion of the Island, provides financial support to BICA
for protection of the reefs in the Reserve.
In 1994, the Inter-American Development Bank approved a $US 27 million loan
to prepare the Programmea de Ordenamiento Ambiental de las Islas de la Bahía—
Programme for the Environmental Management of the Bay Islands (PROAMIB).
The goals are to protect and manage the marine resources by legally establishing a
system of marine parks and provide for sustainable utilization of the resources in
conjunction with maintaining the health and vigor of the coastal and marine
ecosystems.