Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Timber Companies Propose New Forest Management

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Jul 19 2010 (IPS) - The Honduran Association of Timber Companies has proposed to work with the authorities to formulate a forest management plan to halt illegal logging and negative farming practices. Association member Ramón Álvarez told Tierramérica that illegal logging and lack of forest management are major causes of the quantitative and qualitative loss of the Honduran forests, “with the largest portion of deforestation occurring in broad-leaf forests, where the timber industry does not have a presence.”

“In the pine forests, where all of the country's sawmills operate, forest management is simpler and the protection of that forest should be centered on preventing fires and regulating farming and ranching,” he said.

Next week the timber companies will present an integrated plan to the Institute of Forest Conservation. Eighty-seven percent of Honduran territory is forested, with four main types of forest: cloud, broad-leaf, arid and mangrove.