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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
Central
American Update--Rainforest Alliance's Eco-Exchange
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
June
28, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
Rainforest
Alliance publishes a bi-monthly news briefing on the
state
of forest conservation in Central America called "Eco-
Exchange." The four items this month deal with American
road
building
in Panama, environmental deterioration in the Gulf of
Fonseca,
Costa Rica's new ambitious biodiversity conservation
goals
and forest conservation in Honduras.
This item was posted
by
Rainforest Alliance in econet's rainfor.general conference.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
/**
rainfor.genera: 161.0 **/
**
Topic: Eco-ExchangeNews Briefs **
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Written 11:50 AM Jun 28, 1995 by canopy
in cdp:rainfor.genera
**
ECO-EXCHANGE:
A BI-MONTHLY PUBLICATION CREATED BY THE CONSERVATION
MEDIA
CENTER (a Rainforest Alliance program based in Costa Rica).
These
news briefs can be used or edited with or without credit to
the
Tropical Conservation Newsbureau.
PANAMA:
ROAD WARRIORS
As part
of its Fuertes Caminos, project, the U.S. Army is
constructing
a $16 million network of roads west of Panama City
that
the Panama Audubon Society claims could lead to environmental
disaster
and hardship for local farmers.
According
to Audubon conservation director William Adsett, new
roads
bring new problems. The Army lays down
gravel and the local
government
is supposed to apply asphalt, he explains. But that
never
happens, so as soon as the rains start, deterioration
begins.
Also,
it's unlikely that local residents will benefit from the
roads.
Increased accessibility attracts people with money who buy
out
small farmers for ridiculously low prices.
The farmers,
explains
Adsett, must then migrate to cities to search for jobs or
are
forced to slash-and-burn another piece of forest.
Adsett
points out that in 1991 the Army built a system of roads
east of
the Caribbean port city of Colon that drew scores of
opportunists
who cut and burned forest. The new
roads mainly
benefitted
two mining companies who are now systematically tearing
apart a
once-clear river looking for gold.
The
Panama Audubon Society wants the Army to temporarily halt work
on the
U.S. taxpayer-supported Fuertes Caminos project, apply
asphalt
on the gravel laid so far, plant native trees and grasses
on all
the exposed roadside earth, finance projects that will
encourage
farmers to practice sustainable agriculture and then to
finish
the rest of the project with proper mitigation measures.
Capt.
Merideth Schaefer, deputy public affairs officer for the US
Army in
Panama, notes that an environmental assessment completed
in 1994
evidenced no environmental impact resulting from the
upgrade
of the road.
Contacts:
Panama Audubon Society, Apdo. 2026, Balboa, Ancon,
Panama,
507/224-4740. Capt. Merideth Schaefer,
USARSO, 507/287-
4109.
TRINATIONAL
GULF RESCUE
The
three Central American countries that share the Gulf of
Fonseca
-- El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua -- also share
responsibility
for the on-going destruction of the bay's natural
resources. Working together to halt this
deterioration,
conservationists
from the three nations met in early May to ratify
a
Trinational Civil Association.
More than
three million people live near the Gulf of Fonseca and
depend
on its resources, especially its mangrove forests and
fisheries. The gulf has been a victim of economic
policies in
Honduras,
deforestation in Nicaragua and a population explosion in
El
Salvador, says Elmer Lopez of Greenpeace-Central America, a
sponsor
of the May meeting.
Honduras's
export shrimp-farming industry has destroyed thousands
of
acres of mangroves, natural nurseries for dozens of species of
fish on
which local people depend for food and income.
Mangroves
are
also used as firewood for salt production, a cottage industry,
while
mangrove bark is exploited for tannin.
As more people crowd
the
gulf shores and as the region is developed for tourism, more
mangroves,
estuaries and turtle-nesting beaches are being
devastated,
Lopez says.
The
accelerated destruction of the gulf's ecosystems could lead to
an
ecological disaster with negative social and economic
consequences
for the three populations in this territory, states
the
Trinational Association's compact. At
the May meeting,
members
vowed to promote a sustainable development model that
would
meet local needs without risking the rights of future
generations.
Contacts:
Greenpeace, 10 Calle 3-15, Zona 1, Guatemala 01001,
502-2/534171;
in Honduras, CODDEFFEGOLF, 504/38-0415.
COSTA
RICAN CONSERVATION COMMITMENT
The
Costa Rica government presented an ambitious strategy in May
to
preserve at least 90 percent of the country's biodiversity. The
scheme
calls for protecting 18 percent of the country in national
parks
and another 13 percent as privately owned reserves or in a
category
that will guarantee forest preservation.
Now, about 11
percent
of Costa Rica is part of the national park system. Using
natural
vegetation maps, scientists identified areas with
unusually
high biodiversity: targets for protection.
Only 40
percent
of these lands are government owned.
The country can't
afford
to buy the privately held lands, explains natural resources
minister
Rene Castro, so his agency will create a forest
protection
certificate. This will entitle
landowners to $50 per
2.5
forested acres annually in exchange for their agreeing to
safeguard
the property.
The
country's national parks are increasingly important sources of
water
for drinking and farming and for generating electricity,
Castro
says. Moreover, our parks contribute to
improving the
world
environment, he added, referring to the rainforest's
salubrious
effects on the atmosphere and climate.
Contact:
Proyecto GRUAS, Costa Rican Ministry of Natural
Resources,
Energy and Mines, 506/233-4533.
A FIGHT
FOR FRESH WATER
The
local business community has joined forces with a conservation
group
to keep the water flowing in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
While
the entire country is suffering from serious drought due in
part to
rampant deforestation that leaves watersheds barren and
dry,
the water shortage is particularly acute in this northwestern
city.
Fifty
companies in San Pedro Sula have contributed $1,500 each to
the
Hector Rodrigo Pastor Fasquell Foundation, a citizen's group
active
in reforestation, environmental education, technical
assistance
to farmers and protecting the remaining forests. The
group
plans to safeguard the 2,700-acre Cusuco National Park, a
cloudforest
in the Merendon mountain range that looms above San
Pedro
Sula.
Only
45,000 acres of the 593,000-acre Merendon range are still
forested.
Many of the rivers that flow from the mountains are mere
silt-laden
trickles by the time they reach San Pedro Sula, so the
Hector
Pastor Foundation wants to protect those that flow from
Cusuco
Park to the parched city of 500,000 people.
According
to executive director Fernando Fernandez, the
foundation,
which won the 1994 Honduran Prize for Conservation and
Environmental
Protection, will provide training to women and young
people
living just outside Cusuco Park, so they can throw off the
shackles
of subsistence farming and find good jobs.
Contact:
Fernando Fernandez, 504/52-1014.
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