Leah Manak

Cocaine trafficking is a significant driver of deforestation and land use change in Central America’s tropical forests. Over the past 18 years, Honduras, situated between cocaine supply regions in South America and major markets in North America and Europe, has experienced significant narcotrafficking activity. This activity has led to rapid land use change as traffickers secure territorial control, launder illicit proceeds, and build transportation infrastructure. Militarized counter narcotic efforts have further dispersed trafficking into remote regions. As one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, Honduras faces socio-economic disparities and slow progress towards the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), exacerbated by the corrupting influence of drug trade on governance state actors implicated in narcotrafficking and illicit extractive activities weaken institutional legitimacy and sustainable development (SD) efforts. In this context, Honduran conservation and SD NGOs play a vital role in addressing governance failures, particularly in conservation. We seek to provide a richer understanding of this phenomena through an examination of NGO experiences with illicitness. The purpose of this paper is to understand: 1) the spatial and temporal extent of narcotrafficking events across Honduras; 2) differences between transit and enduring trafficking activities; 3) how narcotrafficking compares to other illicit extractive activities in challenging NGO efforts; and 4) NGO perceptions of narcotrafficking effects on licit and illicit economies. Findings reveal narcotrafficking’s pervasive influence in NGO operational areas, its link to illicit extractive activities, and embeddedness in licit economies. This research underscores how narcotrafficking undermines Honduran NGOs’ conservation and SD initiatives.

Environmental scientists and managers increasingly recognize that socio-cultural evaluations expand the understanding of human–nature relationships. Here, user groups’ perceptions of the benefits from and threats to nature were analysed in Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina. We hypothesized that the different relationships of users to this place would lead to significantly different valuations among local Ushuaia residents (n = 122), Argentine nationals (n = 147) and international tourists (n = 294). All users perceived a broad spectrum of benefits. The three groups assessed intrinsic and relational values more highly than instrumental benefits, and significant differences included a higher mean valuation of benefits by Argentine visitors. Overall, threats were less perceived than benefits, and significant differences included a higher mean threat assessment by Ushuaia residents. To explain these relationships, we found that mean valuations of benefits and threats were weakly related to increased biodiversity knowledge for residents and international tourists, but not for Argentine visitors. These findings can orient environmental management in Patagonia and elsewhere by identifying areas where information can improve user experiences and by contributing a more pluralistic understanding of nature from multiple stakeholders.