This doctoral research investigates resource users' responses to agricultural expansion and the role of protected area tenure policies on local land-use decision-making in the Mosquitia Biological Corridor of eastern Honduras and northern Nicaragua. The ability of traditional resource users to craft appropriate conservation institutions in response to economic and demographic changes is hotly contested by both social and natural scientists. In Latin America, increasing pressure for farm and range lands challenge traditional natural resource management systems and threaten previously remote forest lands. This study compares the evolution of local land-use institutions in the context of two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in the Mosquitia Corridor: the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, Honduras and BOSAWAS Biosphere Reserve, Nicaragua.
While the two reserves share similar demographic and ecological characteristics, the Rio Platano management policies have limited residents' rights to the land and its resources. In contrast, BOSAWAS policies have generally enhanced resident resource management and land tenure security. Both reserves are threatened by outside encroachment. In each reserve, community-level case studies will identify current land-use norms, resident perceptions of major changes in land-use and resident perceptions of tenure security. The community studies will be compared to previous anthropological studies of land-use practices in the region and will be combined with an analysis of protected area policies and participatory processes in each reserve. Satellite images will be used to analyze forest cover change with respect to protected area policies and local land-use practices. The different policies related to protected area tenure offer an ideal setting to examine how local communities are responding to agricultural expansion and to test how tenure security influences rule-making and enforcement activities.
