ENVIRONMENT: Deforestation Rampant in Honduras

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, May 15 1998 (IPS) - Deforestation is ravaging the environment to such an extent that Honduras could end up without any significant wooded areas within the next two decades, according to new study.

More than 100,000 hectares of forestlands disappeared every year and, due to the absence of policy to promote sustainibility and conserve natural resources, the environment faced a bleak future, according to a study carried out by the Central American environmental organization “oFumanitas” and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Between 1962 and 1990, some 1,471,000 hectares – 20 percent of the total surface area of the remaining forest areas – were destroyed in Honduras.

The situation was particularly alarming in the mangrove swamps along the Pacific Coast and posed a serious threat to the natural habitat of the Golfo de Fonseca, a maritime frontier shared with Nicaragua and El Salvador, the report, released Wednesday, said.

The problem of deforestation was more than worrisome “if we take into account that the forests could disappear in the next 20 years,” said Ian Walker, one of the researchers involved in the study. Away from the coast, deciduous trees were fast disappearing in the central, Atlantic and eastern regions of the country causing an “impoverishment” of the country’s biodiversity.

“We are experiencing a process of environmental degradation of which few peoplem are aware, and whose economic cost has yet to be determined,” Walker said.

The problem was exacerbated by the unplanned burning of trees, the illegal cutting of wood, and the indiscriminate use of firewood for domestic and commercial use, particularly in rural areas of the country. The use of stoves made of ceramic that operate using firewood is one of the most common causes of deforestation. Three of every four rural families use this technique to cook their food, while in urban areas, nearly 59 percent of the population uses this method.

Honduras, the second-largest country in Central America, possessed a wide variety of natural ecosystems that, if managed properly, would guarantee an improvement in the standard of living for the present and future population, according to environmental experts.

But despite the country’s natural riches, Honduras remained one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with a low level of human development that revealed the absence of policies to adequately promote economic development and sustainability.

Rafael del Cid, of Fumanitas, said the present situation had resulted from development strategies designed in the 1970s, that were geared toward transforming the agrarian and forest sectors.

“But the achievements until now have been insufficient in terms of reaching to awaited economic take-off and improving the life chances of the population,” he said.