Honduras Environment News

Honduras's College of Biologists has criticized Decree 107-2026, which accelerates environmental permits for agribusiness, energy, and tourism projects, arguing the law weakens environmental protections, limits public participation, and risks irreversible damage to ecosystems and protected areas.

An integrated food-security analysis projects that 157,000 people across Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala in the Rio Lempa border region will face acute hunger from July through October 2026, driven by seasonal grain depletion, inflation, and El Niño drought risk.

Environment Minister Juan Carlos Ramos is pushing Congress to approve a solid-waste law that has cleared first debate, saying it would unlock international funding for sanitary landfills and improve trash collection across Honduras's 298 municipalities.

Tegucigalpa faces critical water shortages as reservoir levels risk falling to 15–20% capacity if rains do not increase by late August, forcing many families to ration supplies and rely on water trucks while authorities warn of health risks from prolonged storage.

Geographer Carlos Héctor Sabillón warned that Honduras faces water shortages from decades of poor planning and urged the government to adopt a long-term national strategy to capture rainfall, reforest watersheds, and build storage infrastructure.

Roatán Marine Park is accepting underwater and ecosystem photography entries through September 17 to showcase the Bay Islands' marine biodiversity and promote ocean conservation; winning images will appear in the 2027 calendar.

The Honduran Navy's Guanaja base, working with Zeus Academy and community partners, planted over 200 seedlings at La Rambla Los Fuertes in Roatán to restore one hectare and preserve the island's green spaces and tourism appeal.

Agroindustrial leader Gustavo Flores cautioned that climate change could disrupt Honduras's agricultural output and threaten the country's food security and access to basic grains.

Hundreds of families in San Pedro Sula neighborhoods live alongside severely polluted rivers and streams choked with sewage and garbage, exposing residents to health hazards and environmental risks.

Roatán's municipality is stepping up weekly or biweekly beach-cleaning crews during the March–September peak season to remove sargassum and solid waste from Guatemala (via the Motagua River) and Puerto Cortés that wash ashore on the island's unmonitored beaches.

The Environmental Coalition of Honduras (COAH) warns that a proposed marine terminal in Omoa and a planned smart city in La Mosquitia would destroy coastal forests and coral reefs, claiming the projects would cost the country over $255 million annually in lost ecosystem services, tourism revenue, and climate damages.

Tegucigalpa is confronting its worst water shortage on record as prolonged rainfall deficits have drained the city's two main reservoirs to critical levels, forcing authorities to tighten rationing.

Tegucigalpa faces a severe drought, with its two main reservoirs at critical levels (Los Laureles at 39.88% capacity, La Concepción at 35.19%), prompting authorities to tighten rationing for 1.6 million people and warning reserves could be exhausted by late August without significant rainfall.

Vice Minister Diana Waleska Herrera emphasized the importance of protecting the region's major water sources across Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to ensure water security and strengthen agricultural production.

Yoro department hosts nearly one-seventh of Honduras's documented socio-territorial conflicts, many tied to disputes over land, water, and mining, prompting civil-society researchers to hold a regional dialogue on the findings.

Environmental officials discovered an orange, oily chemical substance in a drainage canal and sewage system near San Alejo in Tela, allegedly from an agribusiness facility run by Grupo Jaremar, along with barrels of the same material and structures apparently built to contain the spill.

The Forest Conservation Institute (ICF) discovered environmental damage in the buffer zone of Sierra de Agalta National Park in Olancho, including about 1.5 hectares of illegal land clearing, agricultural plots, and evidence of fires set to prepare land for planting.

Edwin Vega, a forestry official investigating an oil spill from an agroindustrial plant owned by the Jaremar Group in the Blanca Jeannette Kawas National Park, says he was fired before completing his technical report, preventing notification of authorities as required by law.

The first swamper iguanas (Ctenosaura bakeri) of the 2026 breeding season have hatched on Utila, advancing conservation efforts for the critically endangered species found only in the island's mangroves; hatchlings will be reared at a research station before reintroduction to the wild.

The National Autonomous University of Honduras warned that the country experiences at least one social conflict daily, with most disputes centered on environmental, land, and water rights.

Televicentro and Emisoras Unidas held their annual tree-giveaway event on July 4–5, distributing 4,000 ornamental and timber saplings in Tegucigalpa and an unspecified number in San Pedro Sula, with support from both municipalities and volunteer groups.

Civil-society organizations and lawmakers in Cortés are challenging the Forestry Conservation Institute's plan to redefine the boundaries of the El Merendón protected forest reserve, arguing it would benefit private real-estate projects while the reserve supplies 80% of San Pedro Sula's water and is vital to regional biodiversity.

Critics report that Honduras has spent 3 billion lempiras (roughly $120 million) on reforestation projects without measurable evidence of impact, raising questions about how public funds are being managed and overseen.

Military and police seized 565 board feet of illegally logged cedar wood in Quimistán, Santa Bárbara, following anonymous reports of environmental crimes and illegal forest harvesting in the region.

Honduras's capital water utility sanctioned seven people for misusing potable water during an ongoing shortage, imposing fines up to 20,000 lempiras (about $800) for excessive use in homes and businesses.

Honduras's agriculture ministry held an international workshop on bean breeding with scientists from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) to develop improved varieties that resist disease, tolerate climate stress, and boost yields, addressing the country's annual demand of about 3 million quintals (roughly 135,000 metric tons).

Engineer Dulio Medina cautioned that water access is worsening nationwide, particularly in Tegucigalpa and the southern region, where he says saltwater intrusion from the Pacific is contaminating wells and threatening agriculture and livestock, and urged the government to declare an emergency and deploy pumping systems to tap surface sources.

Honduras granted a 2013 oil concession covering 35,256 square kilometers of Caribbean waters in La Moskitia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, without consulting the four indigenous peoples living there, violating international law.

CaribX (UK) Limited, a British company with no prior oil experience, holds 55% of a hydrocarbon-exploration concession in Honduras's Moskitia as the non-operator alongside Bermuda-based H2P as the 45% operator, yet six years of exploration results remain undisclosed to the public.

Over 40 years, the Gulf of Fonseca communities of Cedeño and La Puntilla have lost up to 100 meters of coastline to sea-level rise, destroying homes and businesses and driving residents—many of them young people—to migrate to the United States.