Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Timber Industry Calls for Government Transparency

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Aug 1 2011 (IPS) - The Timber Association of Honduras has demanded more transparency from the government in its measures to protect the forests and the activities and expenditures carried out by the Armed Forces through the so-called green battalions. Ramón Álvarez, director of the Association, told Tierramérica that public information on the activities of forest management agencies, including those with military involvement, requires "greater transparency and accountability, in order to reduce the perception of corruption in the forest sector."

The Association submitted a proposal to President Porfirio Lobo a month ago calling for joint forest management and support for the industrial forestry sector through the planting of broadleaf tree species that can be used in the timber industry.

Honduras has more than five million hectares of forests, half of which are broadleaf forests.