Highlights from Latin America & Caribbean - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sierra Madre Occidental; Chihuahua, Mexico Ecosystem Protection in Southern Mexico Pronatura, A.C.; Mexico El Carricito del Huichol; Jalisco, Mexico Fundación Vida, Honduras The Pantanal, Bolivia Nicaraguan Protected Areas Pic Macaya National Park, Haiti

BSP's Latin America & Caribbean Program

Nicaraguan Protected Areas

Supporting Nicaraguan NGOs in protected area management.

Destruction and delays caused by Hurricane Mitch in November of 1998 resulted in a change in BSP's original plan to provide technical assistance in strategic planning, project design, management, and monitoring to NGOs managing protected areas throughout Nicaragua. A change in the focus by the mission on the CO-MAP (formerly BIOFOR) project resulted in a change of focus for this protected area management project. BSP organized a workshop designed to be an introduction to ecotourism for stakeholders from five of Nicaragua's protected areas in June 2000 at the Biological Research Station on the Island of Ometepe, Nicaragua. Participants included representatives from the communities of the protected areas of El Chocoyero (Ticuantepe, Managua), Isla de Juan Venado (León), Cerro Musún (Rio Blanco, Matagalpa), Cosiguina (El Viejo, Chinandega), and Playa La Flor (San Juan del Sur, Rivas) as well as representatives from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA), Nicaragua Tourism Institute, the private sector, and environmental NGOs. The objective of the workshop was to explore the concept of and identify opportunities for ecotourism so that each team could better understand its impact to be able to develop action plans for their site. Participants worked in groups to develop an inventory of resources and potential ecotourist attractions for their protected area to help them design their own action plan for the co-management of their particular protected area. Proceedings from the workshop were printed and distributed to all participants.