Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Private Management for Capital's Green Zone

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 25 2008 (IPS) - The Honduran government has given a 20-year contract to the private Ecological Foundation of Tegucigalpa for the management and recovery of the capital's main green space, the Cerro Juana Laínez. There they aim to plant some 30,000 trees over the next three years, as well as building an ecological recreation center. Work begins in three weeks and will be backed by a state trust of 1.3 million dollars.

“We hope in five years to have a first-rate ecological attraction for the city; one that is economically sustainable,” Foundation director Luisa María Willingham told Tierramérica.

The concession will be supervised by the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce, the municipal government and the ministry of environment. The capital, with a population of 1.2 million, has seen its climate change from cool to semi-arid because of deforestation resulting from migration to the city.