Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Green Municipality

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Jul 17 2004 (IPS) - Residents of the western Honduran municipality of Tomalá opted one year ago not to burn any more forest to create farmland, and to protect the area's micro-watersheds. Tomalá Mayor Marco Tulio Aguilar told Tierramérica that the idea is to turn it into a ''green municipality'' that allows its inhabitants ''to engage in practices friendly to the environment, but also ensure the quality of life for our children, and the residents of Lempira department,'' home to around 250,000 people and one of the country's poorest areas.

''Excellent results'' have come from halting the burning of forests, from reforesting watershed areas, and from providing the population — including the children — with educational workshops and seminars, he said.

The efforts of forest protection and reforestation are concentrated in the micro-watersheds along the San Francisco River, near the border with El Salvador.