When Civil Unrest Stalls Conservation

My Mesoamerican Barrier Reef Program Manager is on the island of Roatan in Honduras this week. His plan was to work with our field team to facilitate a series of public forums that would outline a roadmap for building greater support for Roatan's coral reef marine protected areas.

Well, that was the plan.

I just received word from our people on Roatan that a major protest is going on right now against the electric company there (for raising rates.) As of this morning there have been reports of violence in the streets near West Bay and near Coxen Hole. According to an email I received, rocks have been thrown at vehicles parked along the road. My people are fine, but have been forced to cancel the public forum tonight as many who were planning to attend are now blocked by the protests. And of course we don't want local people to put themselves in a risky situation. According to the police chief, the protests may last several days.

To make matters worse, the electrical power may be shut down as a result of the protests so I may not get any further email updates for a while. I may need to further lengthen my blog title to, Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice, Riots, and Sunsets.