The Honduran Congress is set to discuss a risk management bill that will replace the current three-decade-old regulations on the subject. Doris Gutiérrez, president of the legislative commission on natural disasters, said to Tierramérica that both civil society and government bodies active in environmental protection and natural resource management were involved in drafting the bill. The initiative is also backed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), which has earmarked 24 million dollars in loans to be granted over the next two years, if Honduras passes the projected law.

Gutiérrez, legislator for the leftist Democratic Unification party, said that the bill is part of a land planning strategy in which the population will be given greater participation.

The law is expected to be passed by late 2009.