Browse Honduras Daily Stories

Honduras's Congressional Environment Commission announced it will meet Thursday with the Forest Conservation Institute director to plan action against the pine bark beetle, which has already damaged pine forests in four departments.

Honduras is mobilizing 350 technical teams to georeference coffee farms and issue non-deforestation certificates required by the European Union's deforestation regulation, which affects roughly half of the country's coffee exports to Europe.

The Public Ministry's environmental unit filed charges against Olman Osorto Cruz and his son Sergio Gustavo Osorto Guzmán for illegal forest exploitation in Las Peñitas, with evidence gathered in July raids; both men also face murder charges.

Honduras's Environmental Police (DPI) have arrested 97 people for environmental crimes so far in 2026, according to the National Police.

Honduras is accelerating geo-mapping of coffee farms by December to meet European import requirements that all coffee be free of deforestation since 2020, protecting about 60% of the country's coffee exports.

Annual forest losses from fires, illegal logging, and beetle infestations—between 60,000 and 70,000 hectares—are severely damaging Honduras's timber industry, according to government sources and the country's largest forestry company.

The European Union is requiring Honduran palm-oil producers to prove via geolocation tracking and environmental compliance that their crops come from non-deforested areas to maintain and expand access to European markets under new EU regulations taking effect later this year.

A forestry engineer warns that El Niño arriving earlier than usual from June through September will reduce water supplies for drinking and power generation, harm planting of beans and corn, and increase wildfire risk across Honduras.

Honduras recorded 1,007 forest fires during the extended dry season, scorching 93,634 hectares nationwide, with Olancho suffering the worst damage and officials warning of serious risks to water supplies.

The arrest this month of the alleged killer of Carlos Luna, a forest-rights activist murdered 28 years ago, has brought some relief to his family and renewed attention to the dangers faced by environmental defenders in Honduras.