So many unsung heroes at risk in Honduras
Late last week, another social justice activist was killed in Honduras, Tolupan Indigenous leader, Jose de Los Santos Sevilla. This comes at a time when Honduras authorities seek to discredit a Global Witness report published January 2017. This report revealed that Honduras is the most dangerous place for environmental activists, and implicated the government in these deaths. Since 2010, when One Earth Conservation began in Honduras, 120 environmentalists have been murdered.
This is where I am going on Sunday. When I was in Honduras in March, Berta Caceres was assassinated, and I work with Tomas Manzanares, another indigenous leader who survived his assassination attempt in 2009, though he will always carry the scars and the pain of his near death.
You might ask why I would go there?
I go because one published goal of One Earth Conservation is to go to needed areas, which we define as regions where there is very little to no parrot conservation efforts or capacity; communities are marginalized due to socioeconomic factors; there are endangered birds; we can have the most impact for our size; and there is little funding.
I also go because I am healed, affirmed, and invigorated with the chance to work with people like Tomas, and my dearest colleague and partner, Honduran biologist and conservationist (and One Earth Conservation Board Member), Hector Portillo Reyes. We will be in the Moskitia region for 2 weeks, setting up for our 2017 nest monitoring and protection season. We hope to assist even more communities this year, especially now that One Earth has purchased a badly needed truck for the conservation project there. The hope is that we'll spend less time broken down on roads, in fields, and partially submerged in creeks, and more time getting to hard to reach places where the parrots are increasingly threatened.
Truck last year, with a flat once again
I go because I truly believe we all are part of a global community, and that we must act as nobly as we can to stand in solidarity and resistance with those of the "Noble Globals" club, such as Jose, Tomas, Hector, and the many, many others.
I ask that you accompany me on this trip, and again in April, when I return to Honduras for a month. You can keep up with updates here and on our Facebook page, and please consider donating. Let us all be Noble Globals.
Newly purchased truck!