Honduras:
The reasons for defending the forest
In Honduras, every year between 80,000
and 120,000 hectares are deforested.
Our forests are multi-diverse: pine
forests, with a variety of seven species; broad-leafed forests,
with 200 species of trees and rich biodiversity, particularly
in the lowlands; broad-leafed cloud forests: pine or mixed forests
in the highlands; broad-leafed in dry climatic areas; and mangroves.
Forestry policy in Honduras is not formulated
by civil society or by citizen power but by the dictates of multinational
capital through the World Bank and the Free Trade Agreements linked
with the local oligarchy who, through their representatives in
Congress and in other State powers, adopt laws and policies aimed
at forest exploitation on the basis of imperial and globalizing
capital.
In order to implement these policies
they have the military forces that are given the power to “look
after” the forest. Is it possible that those who destroy the forest
during armed confrontations, by art of magic turn into environmental
heroes? Furthermore, the “sicariato” – hired murderers – is a
concealed way of aggression towards the indigenous, peasant and
garifuna* communities.
In our country, timber exploitation
has always been related to corruption, violation of human rights
and impunity. The persecution of Father Tamayo and other leaders
and the murder on 20 December 2006 of Heraldo Zuñiga and Roger
Ivan Cartagena, members of the Olancho Environmentalist Movement
by the security apparatus of the State of Honduras, are a reflection
of the terror involved in the struggle to defend the forest in
Honduras. A recent event is the murder of Mario Guifarro
in the community of Parawasito, Municipality of Dulce Nombre de
Culmí, in the Patuca Medio, while he was carrying out tasks for
the ICADE project for forest demarcation, following the mandate
of the Honduran Indigenous Tawahka Federation (FITH).
The governments and most of their technical
personnel have always blamed poor people for forest destruction.
However, they have never mentioned deforestation caused by mining,
shrimp farming, pineapple and banana agro-industries, large sugar-cane
plantations, transgenic corn and African oil-palm, (the latter
two intended for the new agro-fuel super-business). To these are
added accidental forest fires or arson, particularly to justify
the exploitations of timber and extensive cattle ranching aimed
at beef exports to make hamburgers.
Forestry policies are geared to turn
trees into simple merchandise, without considering that, due to
deforestation of the river basins and micro-basins, erosion, cave-ins
and land slides are on the rise and for this reason the consequences
of tropical storms and hurricanes and climatic distortions are
more serious and the damage irreparable.
Unfair trade treaties and the immoral
and unjust capital rationale promote the promulgation of laws
and the application of forestry policies divorced from water and
energy policies and from those foreseen regarding climate change.
These are the laws that impose privatization of forests, energy,
water, education and health. The National Congress shamefully
allocates over one third of the national territory to the mining
industry which destroys the forest and affects animal, plant and
human health.
The loss of biodiversity due to deforestation
and heavy metal pollution caused by mining and pesticides from
agro-industries favour dengue, malaria, parasitic and mental disorders
which, in addition to producing disease and death, cause multimillionaire
losses to the country.
The development of human, comprehensive
and planetary policies is an urgent challenge for each and every
Honduran. The linking of the forest, health and human rights in
an educational programme for young people is an important strategy
in the training of leaders to create awareness about deforestation
in the country and to set up forest protection laws.
Consequently, at the level of the Mother
Earth Movement (a member of Friends of the Earth International)
and the organizations Central America is Not for Sale, Oilwatch
International and the Honduran Committee Action for Peace (Comité
Hondureño Acción Por la Paz - COHAPAZ), we are suggesting that
one million trees should be planted and continuously tended in
Honduras. Our urgent task is to unite the whole social and environmental
movement against predatory policies and companies. Let us incorporate
all our awareness to this splendid task in defence of the life,
dignity and health of our people!
By Juan Almendares, e-mail: juan.almendares@gmail.com
*Black-Carib culture
