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Migration, Labor Scarcity, And Deforestation In Honduran Cattle Country, David C. Griffith, Raquel Isaula, Pedro Torres, Manuel Villa Cruz

Journal of Ecological Anthropology

Large scale labor migration from Olancho, Honduras to the United States, accelerated after 1998, when Hurricane Mitch devastated the region and resulted in the United States offering Temporary Protective Status (TPS) to affected Hondurans. As growing numbers left for the United States, the loss of productive youth to migration and the development of new local economic opportunities combined to create shortages of labor available for traditional uses of local natural resources in rural communities. Remittances from abroad and sentimental factors also contributed to the erosion of local labor supplies, leading some rural producers to phase back on mixed crop-and-livestock strategies …