The governmental Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research (FHIA) began a program this month in sustainable forest management aimed at preserving 10,000 hectares in the eastern region of Aguán, along the Atlantic coast. Over the next 30 months, 350 small and medium farmers in the Aguán Valley, one of the country's most fertile zones, will receive training, says project coordinator Jesús Sánchez.

The plan is to protect 10,000 hectares of the valley's remaining forests, as well as the micro-basins of the Tocoa and Tijuica rivers. Honduras loses 80,000 hectares of forest a year.