Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Coffee Pact Criticized

By - - and IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Feb 15 2010 (IPS) - The Honduran Environmental Prosecutor denounced an agreement between the government's Forest Conservation Institute and a coffee-growers' association, saying it endangers the flora and fauna in Comayagua and El Paraíso departments. The Honduran Environmental Prosecutor denounced an agreement between the government's Forest Conservation Institute and a coffee-growers' association, saying it endangers the flora and fauna in Comayagua and El Paraíso departments.

Environmental prosecutor Aldo Santos told Tierramérica that the agreement gives the non-governmental Honduran Institute of Coffee the power to enter forest preserves and grant cultivation permits or certificates to producers, which has led to the felling of some 5,000 trees in one year.

“The sector hardest hit is the cloud forest, and has resulted in the deaths of many animals, like the quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno, a colorful bird) and howler monkeys, in danger of extinction, which is why we are going to speak up to overturn this harmful pact,” said Santos.