Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Demanding an End to Illegal Logging

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Mar 1 2010 (IPS) - Civil society organizations are demanding that Honduran President Porfirio Lobo declare a total ban on lumber activities, in order to halt illegal logging of the nation's forests. Civil society organizations are demanding that Honduran President Porfirio Lobo declare a total ban on lumber activities, in order to halt illegal logging of the nation's forests.

“If there is not a halt of illegal logging through a generalized ban, especially in the watersheds, in the medium term the population will face serious problems related to food and health,” Eugenio Zelaya, of the Agronomists Association, told Tierramérica.

Deforestation in areas where water sources are recharged endangers the supply of freshwater, which is already being rationed due to drought. In Honduras, 65 percent of water goes to agriculture, 25 percent to industry and 10 percent to domestic consumption, said Zelaya, based on research by the Association.

Environmental leader Dolores Valenzuela told Tierramérica that soil erosion in deforested zones is worsening sedimentation processes in rivers and basins.