UN World Heritage Site in Danger

Earlier this year the United Nations officially added the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve to its list of endanger world heritage sites. The Río Plátano, along with adjacent national parks, protects nearly the entire lower-patuca watershed. The Biosphere reserve is home to over 2,000 indigenous peoples. 


In 2007 the old Honduran government requested the site be placed on the list of endangered sites due to "the combined threats of illegal logging, fishing and land occupation, poaching and the reduced capacity of the State to manage the site, notably due to the deterioration of law and to the presence of drug traffickers." UNESCO.  

Courtesy of Cultural Survival 

Now, with the threat of dam construction on the river, there is yet another threat to the reserve. Many scientists, ranging from biologist to hydrologists, have stated the damming of the Patuca River wil have adverse affects on the river's ecosystem. Dams restrict the flow of nutrients downriver, alter water chemistry and temperature, which can drive species from their historic waterways. 


In the United States, the Glenn Canyon dam fundamentally altered the ecological conditions. Many species of local fish were driven out, allowing invasive species to dominate the local ecosystem. Since the dams completion, water temperatures at Lees Ferry, several miles downstream of the dam, have dropped significantly. 

USGS FS–014–00

This change has allowed rainbow trout, a species that normally cannot survive on the Colorado River, to dominate the local ecosystem. In addition, the natural ebb and flow of the river changed, and many of the species dependent upon this fluctuation could not longer exist. The chart below compares the flow rates prior to dam construction to those after. 

USGS FS–014–00

Why is this related?
The Glen Canyon dam showed us these construction projects are not benign, and serious ecological consequences do exist. The Glen Canyon dam was a mistake, a decision made with unknown consequences, but the Patuca River dam would be a tragedy. Those of us in the United States made mistakes, and we are learning from them. It is our hope the Honduran government and people can learn from our mistakes, instead of making their own. 

Patuca River Letter Campaign

Letters may be sent directly to the Honduran government, or sent to a domestic address for collection. International postage is 98 cents from the United States. Domestic collection letters will be forwarded to nine key parties. 


Letters may be sent directly to the Honduran government, or sent to a domestic address for collection. International postage is 98 cents from the United States. Domestic collection letters will be forwarded to nine key parties. 

Domestic Address  

Austin Federa
711 E Boltd Way
SPC 109
Appleton, WI, 54911

Honduran Address

Sr. Porfirio Lobo Sosa Presidente de la República de Honduras Edif. José Cecilio del Valle Boulevard Juan Pablo II Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Dams on Patuca River Violate Indigenous Peoples’ Rights  

Dear Mr. President, I commend your country for endorsing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the International Labor Organization’s Convention 169, which recognize Indigenous Peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent for projects that would affect them.  

I commend your country on its conservation policies, being home to a United Nations World Heritage Site, the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve.

The Patuca III dam project is a test of Honduras’ commitment to Indigenous Peoples’ rights. To comply with the UN Declaration and ILO 169, your administration must not approve construction of dams on the Patuca unless or until you obtain the free, prior, and informed consent of the Tawahka, Pech, Miskito, and Garifuna peoples. For more than a decade, these Indigenous peoples have steadfastly opposed dam construction on the Patuca River, and they continue to do so.  

I am deeply concerned that damming the Patuca River will exacerbate the impacts of global warming, threaten food security and the cultural survival of the Tawahka people, disrupt transportation and commerce for all the peoples of the Moskitia, alter a vital river ecosystem, and put at risk the invaluable biological diversity of Patuca National Park, the Tawahka Asangni Biosphere Reserve, and the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve. Because of the Patuca III dam project, in early 2011 the United Nations added the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve to its list of World Heritage sites in danger.   

I urge you to suspend development of dams on the Patuca until and unless independent studies determine conclusively that the project will not harm the environment nor threaten the well being and cultural continuity of the Indigenous Peoples of the Moskitia.

Sincerely,