Spiny-tailed Utila iguana (Swamper) (Ctenosaura bakeri)

Mohamed bin Zayed Species project number 1025948

Our mission is: to help the Honduran community to conserve their unique natural resources so that they are protected for future generations to benefit. We will do this by: • Protecting the country's endangered fauna and flora through conservation projects • Delivering a dynamic environmental education program • Developing sustainability based on scientific assessment. Our General objectives is: • To contribute with the national efforts of Honduras in order to achieve the human sustainable development. Our main specific objectives are: • To support, guarantee and reinforce the continuity of the Iguana Research and Breeding Station. This project concentrates its efforts for the conservation of the endemic iguana of Utila, Ctenosaura bakeri. • Cooperate with the local and national authorities in order to reinforce the conservation of flora and fauna that is endemic or is of special interest and the conservation of their natural habitats. • Promote, develop and participate in formal and informal programs for environmental education. • Encourage and support the scientific research with biological, ecological or social focus. • Cooperate with governmental or private institutions in the management of protected terrestrial or marine areas. • Enforce the respect of the Honduran environmental laws and support the creation of new environmental laws. • Promote and support the development of projects that improve the quality of life and living conditions of the community. Date it was established: The IRBS was born in 1997 with the main purpose of protecting and preserving the Spiny tailed Iguana of Utila, Ctenosaura bakeri, a species that is endemic to Utila and is presently in danger of extinction due to illegal hunting and the uncontrolled development and destruction of the mangrove forest where they live. After a systematic process in the search of autonomy, since 2008, the IRBS became the main project of the Bay Islands Foundation (FIB) an NGO legally recognized by the Honduran Government as a non-profit conservation organization, that has neither political nor religious ties. Our Geographic area covers: Utila, a 42 Km² island, located 30 km off the northern coast of Honduras in the Bay Islands. The FIB in the near future is intended to cover more geographic areas. Target species: Ctenosaura bakeri, which inhabit the mangrove swamps of Utila island and is in the Red list of the IUCN.