Ecobreves – HONDURAS: More Military Troops to Fight Forest Fires

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Apr 16 2011 (IPS) - The Honduran Congress has authorised the creation of a contingent of 2,000 military troops specialised in controlling and combating forest fires. These troops will join with another 2,000 who already form part of the “green battalions” provided with an annual budget of 3.6 million dollars by the government.

The country is on the brink of a forestry emergency, “because more than 17,000 hectares of forest have burned down so far this year, and the military troops cannot keep up,” congressman Augusto Cruz Asencio told Tierramérica.

Every hectare of forest that burns down represents a loss of over 700 dollars for the country. The hardest hit areas are the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, the northern department of Yoro, the southern department of El Paraíso, and the central Comayagua Valley.