The Atlantic coast of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras is known as Central America’s “hurricane corridor.” The region has endured about 65 hurricanes and tropical storms over the past 60 years, bringing devastating floods that wiped out nearby crops, landslides that destroyed homes and fierce winds that damaged ecosystems. 

Degraded landscapes only worsen these impacts. Decades of forest clearing for farms and cattle ranching have destabilized the soil, making the area more prone to landslides and flooding during heavy or constant rainfall. This puts already vulnerable communities further at risk. 

Restoring these coasts can help communities adapt to the negative impacts of increasingly severe storms. By nurturing healthy riverbanks, upland forests and coastal mangroves, we can reduce landslides, prevent coastal erosion after storms and create hurricane buffers for coastal towns. 

REFORES (Forest Restoration for Climate Resilience) is a regional initiative that strengthens climate resilience along the Atlantic coast of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras through ecosystem restoration as an adaptation measure. It integrates applied science and local knowledge so that riverbanks, forests and productive landscapes can recover their protective role against intense rainfall, floods, landslides and erosion. 

The project is financed by the Adaptation Fund, with the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) serving as the regional implementing entity. Technical execution is led by WRI and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE), which also mobilize networks such as Initiative 20x20 to scale learning and explore investment opportunities. 

REFORES directly benefits nearly 2,000 people and indirectly more than 35,000, including farming and forestry families, community organizations and local authorities responsible for risk management, the environment and climate change across three strategic landscapes in the Gulf of Honduras: the Monkey River watershed (Belize); the Cerro San Gil Reserve–Lake Izabal–Río Dulce and Río Sarstún (Guatemala); and the Merendón Mountain Range and Cusuco National Park (Honduras). 

This project aims to: 

Component 1. Incorporate restoration as a nature-based solution (NbS) for climate change adaptation in public policies and regulatory frameworks. 
Integrate restoration as an adaptation measure into national and subnational policy, regulatory and land-use planning instruments through legal and technical reviews, targeted regulatory adjustments and guidance aligned with National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), using participatory processes with relevant institutions and inclusive engagement. 

Component 2. Implement adaptation measures in selected Atlantic Forest landscapes. 
Implement NbS on the ground in priority landscapes through restoration with native species (riverbanks, slopes and mangrove transition zones), alongside more sustainable productive practices, and co-design multi-hazard community early warning systems linked to national platforms, with training and protocols to enable scaling. 

Component 3. Strengthen capacity and disseminate knowledge and information at local, national and regional levels. 
Strengthen capacities through a regional training program and develop a regional information system that consolidates data, methods, and lessons learned, sharing updated knowledge products through partner platforms to support replication and evidence-based decision-making. 

Across all components, REFORES mainstreams gender equality, social inclusion and social and environmental safeguards. It sets parity targets and practical measures to ensure effective and safe participation while promoting leadership roles for women, youth and Indigenous and native peoples throughout implementation. 

Learn more about this project on the Adaptation Fund website 

Grievance Mechanism accessible through WRI at wri.ethicspoint.com 

  

Cover image by FUNDAECO