The functions of the Honduran Forest Conservation Institute (ICF) are increasingly being taken over by the Armed Forces, which is weakening the capacity of this state institution responsible for protecting the country’s forests, say environmentalists. While legislative decrees are being adopted that limit the functions and decrease the funding of the ICF, special units like the Armed Forces Green Battalions are being created outside of its jurisdiction, activist Rigoberto Sandoval of the Democracy Without Borders Foundation told Tierramérica.

The ICF has an annual budget of around four million dollars to cover its administrative operations, but it is not funded to handle preventive operations since these have been handed over to the Armed Forces, despite the fact that the forest law clearly establishes that these fall under the jurisdiction of the ICF, said Sandoval.

The Coalition for the Environment, of which Sandoval’s organization forms part, plans to organize a public debate aimed at urging the government to stop dismantling the state institution created to protect the forests and manage their use.