Linking Culture and the Environment

K. Horochowski and R.N. Moisey 191
individuals with influential connections and/or money are allowed to continue
destructive practices while the poor and powerless are punished for
doing so. ‘If a poor man gets caught, his equipment and catch is confiscated
but if someone working for a powerful man is caught, everyone looks the
other way; no one is punished.’
Conclusions
The Honduran Tourism Institute, along with other government offices and
international agencies, is eager to capitalize on the thriving tourism business,
particularly ecotourism. To attain this goal, many of those working with the
park system are enthusiastically programming a participatory strategic planning
process for the communities surrounding some of the country’s protected
areas. Their aspiration is that, through participation, the local needs
and views will be addressed and accommodated while natural resources are
protected and the tourism industry is developed. The NSTP (IADB, 2005)
identifies the development of locally owned small tourism support services
as one key objective in reaching national sustainable tourism development
objectives. However, it is assumed that the affected populations will welcome
this opportunity and participate fully. In this chapter, we argue that the
social conditions, traditions and attitudes must be carefully examined and
scrutinized before such assumptions can be made and before such endeavours
are undertaken.
The communities neighbouring the Cuero y Salado and Guaimoreto
Wildlife Reserves frequently organized themselves in similar ways. Family
connections, ethnic heritage, basic infrastructure needs (i.e. potable water
and electricity), religion and emergencies were all influential reasons for
uniting individuals into organized groups, even if temporarily. In the rural
sector of northern Honduras, the single most important institution was the
family. People generally distrusted anyone outside of their immediate circle
of relatives and intimate acquaintances.
Need was the greatest and most frequent motivator in the unification of
these communities. Emergencies, such as floods or untimely deaths in poor
families, constituted the reasons for which people united into common efforts.
However, once an immediate need was met, the organization was disbanded.
With very few exceptions, actions did not express community interest that
contributed to the creation of development organizations (Humphrey and
Wilkinson, 1993), leadership skills and roles (Beaulieu, 1990), and shared sentiments
among local residents (Luloff, 1990). The overall perception of
institutional frameworks, political or not, was of distrust and incompetence,
but with theoretic potential. Thus, unifying associations and entrepreneurial
social infrastructure, components deemed necessary for community development,
were not apparent. A long and vivid history of political corruption and
abuse of power, along with their daily preoccupation to seek out a subsistence
living, created an environment not of ‘community’, but rather of individual
struggle and survival.