Some 5,000 trees were planted in the first month of a reforestation campaign carried out by residents of the southern Honduran community of Orocuina, in the highly desertified Choluteca department. Fernando Cruz, mayor of this town of 16,000, told Tierramérica that the goal of the “Trees for Life” program is to plant 10,000 trees in the area.

With 240 families from nine communities participating in the effort, the aim is to establish tree nurseries and continue planting in order to conserve soils, as well as involve citizens in resolving environmental problems, explained Cruz.