Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Pact for Olancho Forest

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Oct 13 2007 (IPS) - Timber businesses and environmental groups in the northeastern Honduran department (province) of Olancho announced Oct. 8 that they had agreed on a pact for forestry management, under military supervision, of the Telica River Basin. They hope to preserve the forests and prevent new clashes between loggers and environmentalists, like the ones that occurred over the past three years, said Romeo Vásquez, chief of the Armed Forces of Honduras.

The pact includes a technical plan that was drafted after broad consultation. “If these agreements are not heeded, the timber companies will not be able to exploit the forest,” Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, of the Olancho Environmentalist Movement, told Tierramérica.

A year ago, the government designated the military as guarantor of compliance, which also includes protecting Father Tamayo, decommissioning the clandestine sawmills, and reforestation in Olancho, one of the country's most deforested departments.