Honduras
is a Central American country that is located between Nicaragua and Costa Rica
and is touched by both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Its climate is tropical, with rainy winters
and humid summers. The topography of
the country is mostly mountainous, with an abundance of typical rain-forest
flora. Recent disregard of environmentally
sustainable techniques to expand housing and farmland into the mountainous
north coast has resulted in destruction of natural and human habitats. Losses
have been due to mudslides following torrential tropical rains or hurricanes
(e.g. Mitch of 1998), and many rivers that are part of the watersheds of
Honduras are damaged and incapable of supporting large movements of water
without causing harm to the surrounding environment. This work reports on
restoration of Honduran river system through ecological design.
Ecological
restoration is systems based, and requires a database of nature’s reference
pattern, profile, dimension and substrate for a given valley type and climate.
Such a database will contain dimensionless ratios of various pristine river
types, and be categorized by the Rosgen Stream Classification System. Information gathered to create this database
included the longitudinal profile of the bankfull, the water surface, the thalweg,
the cross-sectional profile of a step and a pool, the bankfull material and the
substrate. Equipment such as the laser
level and the rod eye and techniques such as the Wolman Pebble Count Procedure
were used. Many data were converted
into dimensionless ratios, and graphically analyzed for assessing natural forms. Restoration
design parameters extracted from the data were bankfull depth at step, bankfull
width at step, cross-sectional area, flood-prone width, average width-to-depth
ratio, entrenchment ratio, median channel substrate class, bankfull discharge,
bankfull slope and classification of the river. Database parameters are to later provide a template to guide the
restoration of environmentally damaged rivers of similar classification to
their natural geomorphologic design.
USING
ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN ANALYSIS TO ASSESS POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO REEF
DETERIORATION IN HONDURAS Liz DeAngelo, and Dr. Ted Endreny, ERE 496 Ecological Engineering in the Tropics,
207 Marshall Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse,
NY 13210
Monetary constraints in
Honduras, Central America, are considered the primary cause of natural resource
and environmental degradation. Honduran
coral reefs are a major tourist attraction of Honduras. As a consequence of excessive tourist
activities resulting in pollution, and coastal development, the reefs are
rapidly degrading. Through nineteen
principles of ecological engineering design, a sustainable system can be
achieved by encouraging the natural regeneration process of the reefs. In summary, the principles focus on aspects
such as the biology of a system, the inter- and intra-specific activities of a
system and identified that there are certain areas of each system that will
have more or less activities. Some
simple solutions to the reef restoration issue that can be derived from the
ecological design principles includes, the addition of a riparian buffer zone
around agricultural lands nearing river systems that ultimately flush out to
the ocean. Regulations on recreational
activities can also hinder the rate at which damage is inflicted on the
Honduran reefs. The most difficult
obstacle to overcome in any sort of restoration project, especially in
Honduras, is the lack of available funding.
Environmental rules and regulations that have already been established
are not enforced because of money and human power. In following these ecological design principles, more cost
effective techniques and approaches for reef restoration can be developed. This will allow for the preservation of
precious biological diversity in the coral reef habitat.
Using Ecological Engineering Design Analysis to Assess the Sustainability of Pineapple Plantations in Honduras. Paul Pawelzik, Dr. Ted Endreny ERE 496 Ecological Engineering in the Tropics Course, 207 Marshall Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210
Pineapple plants are not easily cultivated in Honduras, where the environment needs to be modified in order to grow them. In a large-scale commercial operation such as the Dole plantation, different agricultural techniques are used to profitably grow pineapples. However, these techniques are primarily designed to provide a suitable environment only for growing pineapples. The ecosystem that is created is single-crop, with the nutrients utilized by the pineapples not replenished by other plants. Also, because there is a lack of biodiversity, erosion and storm water management is necessary to maintain a productive plantation. The lack of biodiversity leads to a need for pesticides and fertilizers to protect and nourish the pineapple plants. These chemicals then find their way into the aquifers and rivers from which the local people draw their drinking water.
A more sustainable and less polluting method of growing pineapple and other crops is to grow them on a small plantation that uses local vegetation to replenish the soil nutrients and reduces topsoil erosion. By using nitrogen-fixing trees, the soil is replenished with nutrients that are needed to grow pineapples, while crop rotation reduces the stress on the soil by allowing it to be replenished with other necessary nutrients and reduces top soil erosion. Providing for and developing a diverse ecosystem where multiple plants and animals can live allows for minimal effort in replenishing lost nutrients and protects against insects because most of the effort is sustained by the healthy ecosystem. This in turn has made the production of pineapples and other crops more ecologically friendly and economical for the local population.
Using
Ecological Engineering Design Analysis to Assess the Sustainability of a Dole
Pineapple Plantation in Honduras. Megan Scott & Dr. Ted Endreny.
ERE 296 Ecological
Engineering in the Tropics Course, La Ceiba, Honduras, SUNY ESF, Syracuse, NY
The Dole Pineapple Plantation in La Ceiba, Honduras was awarded the ISO 14001, a series of specifications relating to Environmental responsibility and worker safety. Despite being awarded this, the actual sustainability of the pineapple plantation is in question, regarding some ecological design principles defined by William J. Mitsch and Sven Erik Jorgensen in their text, Ecological Engineering and Ecosystem Restoration. The plantation, in the same way as most corporate farms, fails to maintain biodiversity, a major component in any self-regulating system. Dole also failed to use the natural ecosystem that once occupied the land as a model when creating the plantation. These are two important design principles in any ecologically sustainable system.
Eric McNeill & Dr. Ted Endreny ERE 596 Ecological Engineering in the Tropics, Spring 2004. 207 Marshall Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210.
Ecological Engineering is the design of an ecosystem using functions and values already available in nature. By employing ecological engineering humans will be able to design projects that will allow for the benefit of society and nature concurrently. Plantations are a dominant force in the lowland ecosystem of Honduras because they occupy vast amounts of land. Many issue face the Dole pineapple plantation, such as soil erosion, sedimentation of local rivers, and water conservation. Some ecological engineering designs that would mitigate these problems could be, an extension of the previous buffer zone, and to incorporate a self-watering system. Both designs once implemented would run themselves and need very little human involvement.
WESTERN
EXPECTATION OF PERFECT PRODUCE, LA CIEBA, HONDURAS. Mary Gifford & Dr.
Ted Endreny, ERE 496
Ecological Engineering in the Tropics, 207 Marshall Hall, SUNY College of
Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210
While studying ecological engineering in the tropics, aspects of different agricultural systems were examined. Large-scale monoculture fruit plantations were toured and students observed harvesting techniques, water irrigation systems as well as environmental impacts. One aspect of large-scale agriculture for worldwide markets is the pressure of companies to conform to inflated expectations of produce. Currently, fruits sold in the Western market must have little to no imperfections on the skin of the fruit. These heightened expectations can lead to a greater amount of waste from the plastic bags used to protect the fruit, as well as the increased need for insecticides on the fruit crop. This also can lead to greater waste of satisfactory fruit that have blemishes.
Ecological Engineering Options for Sustainable Agriculture on the Mountainous Terrain of Honduras C.A. Mike Miller & Dr. Ted Endreny, ERE 496 Ecological Engineering in the Tropics, Spring 2004. 207 Marshall Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210.
Honduras is a tropical country in Central America and occupies approximately 112,090 km squared. Of this almost 80% is Steep slopes and mountainous terrain. Much of the Honduran Population lives on theses steep slopes and attempt to subsistence farm on them. These steep slopes already poor in nutrients and top soil receive massive amounts of rain creating unique obstacles to sustainable farming. The current practice is to clear a slope and to farm it for 3-4 years until it is rendered infertile and to then clear another plot and repeat the process. This style of farming in slowly deforesting the Honduran countryside and has caused concern in many groups ranging from domestic to foreign entities. Together these groups have been establishing more sustainable farming techniques including alleocropping. Alleocropping is the mutualistic pairing of crops. It involves planting rows of Inga, which are both N fixing plants which replenish the nutrient availability of the soil, and help retain the soil via their permanent root structure, and through bioterracing with their rapidly produced biomass. When traditional crops are paired with Inga that has been allowed to propagate for three years a much more sustainable style of agriculture is produced.
Determining the power released by a dammed step-pool river, Rio Corinto, Honduras. Eric McNeill & Dr. Ted Endreny ERE 596 Ecological Engineering in the Tropics, Spring 2004. 207 Marshall Hall, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210.
Ecological Engineering
is the design of an ecosystem using functions and values already available in
nature. By employing ecological engineering humans will be able to design
projects that will allow for the benefit of society and nature concurrently.
Recently the Pico Bonito Lodge, which resides in the Pico Bonito Forest
Reserve, Honduras, is looking into using hydroelectricity as a means of power.
During the three weeks spent in Honduras, I with the help of two others spent
time differential surveying the Rio Corinto. This was used to find the unknown
head from the manmade dam to the edge of the Pico Bonito campus. This
ecological engineering design is possible for the lodge because it is located
in proximity of the Rio Corinto, a classic step-pool river. The river’s
discharge is 1.08 m3/s, and at a head of 21.37 meters, the river can
produce 160 kilowatts. This doesn’t seem like enough power to keep a small
community running.