Over the past month, more than 33,000 square meters of parasitic plants have been removed from the waters of idyllic Yojoa Lake in western Honduras. The aquatic weed know as water lettuce has invaded a large part of the lake and is destroying the wetlands, Carlos Flores, director of the non-governmental volunteer initiative called Project Water Body Rescue, told Tierramérica.

Clean-up work is focused on four critical sections of the lake, and will later move on to the tourism area where restaurants are located. Yojoa Lake is shared by the departments of Cortés, Santa Bárbara and Comayagua. It was declared a natural reserve area in 1971 in recognition of its significant botanical, historical and archeological wealth.