Assessment of coastal regulations and implementation: Case study of Roatán, bay islands, Honduras

Abstract

The Bay Islands of Honduras are surrounded by one of the world's most magnificent coral reefs. However, the reef communities have suffered greatly due to human activities on the islands. Even though permit regulations and agencies have been established since 1991, degradation of the environment continues because of the lack of technical expertise in environmental evaluations of projects, inconsistency in enforcement of the regulations, lack of community participation, and the weakness of the environmental legislation. This is the first evaluation of the effectiveness of coastal regulations for development projects and of the associated environmental impacts on the Bay Islands covering the period from 1992 to 1995. The results indicate that, although compliance to the regulations increased, the number and severity of the environmental impacts also increased. A $27 million loan from the Inter‐American Development Bank to prepare a Program for the Environmental Management of the Bay Islands is designed to maintain the quality of the environment, with an emphasis on coastal resources and sustainable uses of these resources. With appropriate planning, combined with community participation, adequately trained staff, and sufficient budgets, the Bay Islands could become the western Caribbean model for well‐planned, economically viable development that maintains environmental integrity and responds to the sociopolitical context of the islands.

Keywords:

• Caribbean Islands
• coral reefs
• development
• Environmental Impact Assessments
• tourism