Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have agreed a biodiversity project with a budget of 4.6 million dollars aimed at benefiting some 670,000 people in more than 45 municipalities along the three countries' shared border. Honduran Vice-President Elvin Santos told Tierramérica that the project, to begin in 2007, is focused on protecting water, forests, soil and ecosystems, and will be financed by the Inter-American Development Bank.

The initiative, signed on Aug. 16, is part of the Three-Party Plan — launched in the 1980s with backing from the European Union — that aims to integrate the border villages of the three countries in coordinating economic and social development.