page_title: Water resources management in Honduras
section_title: Water management history and recent developments
hierarchical_section_title: Water resources management in Honduras / Water management history and recent developments
caption_attribution_description: Map of Honduras
context_page_description: Water resources management in Honduras is a work in progress and at times has advanced; however, unstable investment and political climates, strong weather phenomena, poverty, lack of adequate capacity, and deficient infrastructures have and will continue to challenge developments to water resource management. The State of Honduras is working on a new General Water Law to replace the 1927 Law on Using National Waters and designed to regulate water use and management. The new water law will also create a Water Authority, and the National Council of Water Resources which will serve as an advising and consultative body.
  Initiatives such as the new 2009 General Water Law and The Water Framework Law along with international monetary and technical assistance and an increasing global focus on integrated water resources management provide hope that Honduras will be able to protect and manage well, their water resources.
  Honduras has abundant water resources as the country is located in the tropics but there in lies another major challenge, Honduras must constantly prepare for and recover from frequent heavy storms and flooding.
context_section_description: Of a historical note, research and subsequent literature of Water Resources Management in Honduras from the Late Classic period (A.D. 600-900) in Copán, a water-rich region of western Honduras, have suggested that lagoons located in Copán's urban residential sectors may have been conceptualized, utilized, and maintained by the inhabitants of surrounding domestic groups. These lagoons, thought to be forms of communal property, created an economic and ideological basis for social integration. Because the lagoons were seen as a shared communal resource, it was difficult for community elites and power brokers to centralize power and monopolize water resources. Presumably, management of water resources continued to evolve among these native communities until the Spanish conquest. Honduras later declared independence from Spain in 1821; however, information regarding water resource management until 1927 has not been located for this overview.
  Early 20th century developments in Honduran water resources management were in some ways a response to an expanding export market for bananas during the twenties. The need for irrigation within Honduras' banana farming operations became important for economic development. These irrigated banana fields were located in the fertile valleys of Sula, Aguán y La Ceiba along the Atlantic coast. And today, irrigation is still very important for the agriculture sector of Honduras as it provides for internal consumption and seeks to amplify exports in non-traditional crops.
  In 1927, the Law on Using National Waters (Ley Vigente de Aprovechamiento de Aguas Nacionales) was passed to approve measures addressing water use, irrigation, industrial use, and hydropower. Furthermore, the 1927 law marked the beginning of policy measures designed specifically to manage water resources—albeit not yet integrating sectoral policies. Around 1957, Honduras was mostly under military rule until a freely elected government came to power in 1982. It is unclear how military rule sought to manage water resources during this period. The next major water resources policy measures were signed in 2003 as the Water Framework Law which, among many aspects, aims to reduce poverty through better water resources management. In August 2009, a new General Water Law was passed to replace the 1927 water law. Within the new water law a National Water Authority was created to oversee the work of sector institutions. .
  In spite of ongoing efforts to improve water resources management in Honduras, many challenges continue to exist such as insufficient employment generation, unfavorable investment climate, overvalued currency, lack of credit, high commercial interest rates, deficient infrastructure (water delivery, electricity, communications, and roads), weak legal institutions, inadequate education and workforce productivity, burdensome bureaucratic obstacles, and an unstable political climate. As Honduras and the international community work together to address these hurdles, Honduras will improve water supplies, quality of water, efficiency in irrigation, important freshwater wildlife habitats, and reduce annual flood damage.
caption: A map of Honduras.
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