The Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve (on Honduras’s Platano River) has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982, but it is in danger due to drug trafficking and illegal deforestation in the area. Despite attempts to protect the area with regular army patrols, landing fields are created for aircraft carrying drugs from South America.

Honduras evaluates the areas of Colon, Olancho and the Gracias a Dios departments every year, he said. The disappointing results have led countries such as Germany to threaten to withdraw 12 million dollars in aid that Honduras receives for the conservation of the natural forest areas. Once source said Germany believes Honduran authorities are indifferent to the protection of the biosphere.

The Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve includes mountains and lowlands of a tropical rain forest, and is home to a great diversity of flowers and animals, with an indigenous population of about two thousand inhabitants.