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Deforestation in Central America
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Rare trees are disappearing as ‘wood pirates’ log Bolivian national parks 1/29/2020 Monga
Bay: "Lured by profit, gangs of armed loggers routine infiltrate Madidi and
Amboro national parks and harvest mara trees from deep within their forests.
They transport the timber down waterways to cities in Bolivia and across the
border to Peru. After mara and other trees are cut down, coca crops – from which
cocaine is made – are often planted illegally in the new clearings. Spread too
thin and threatened with violence, park authorities say they’re powerless to
stop the onslaught."
‘Fleeing not Migrating’ 12/6/2019 The Progressive: "Back in Honduras,
Cantarero tried farming again. But as the droughts have become longer and the
temperature hotter, he has had to supplement his shrinking income by opening a
small restaurant. In addition to the drought, he notes, environmental
contamination and deforestation fuel migration. Hit hard by the droughts,
neighboring farmers ran out of options. Cantarero says as many as 300 residents
from his community alone have left for the United States, most in recent years.
“Many are now leaving with their families,” Cantarero says. “You can’t make a
living as a farmer.”
In Honduras, years of drought pressure farmers to leave land 9/27/2019 Reuters: "Rising
numbers of farmers in drought-stricken Honduras could be forced to leave their
homes unless support for rural communities is ramped up to help struggling
families better cope with extreme weather and climate change, U.N. officials
have warned."
Hunger driving migration in drought-hit Central America: U.N. 8/14/2019 Reuters: "Poor
harvests and prolonged drought are driving rural families in parts of Central
America from their homes to seek better opportunities in their own or
neighboring countries and in the United States, the United Nations said on
Wednesday."
'People are dying': how the climate crisis has sparked an exodus to the US 7/29/2019 Guardian: "On
the ground, the impact has been devastating. In 2018, drought-related crop
failures directly affected one in 10 Guatemalans, and caused extreme food
shortages for almost 840,000 people, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO). As a result, entire families have been migrating in record
numbers: since October 2018, more than 167,000 Guatemalans travelling in family
groups have been apprehended at the US border, compared with 23,000 in 2016."
Más de 23,000 hectáreas de bosque se pierden al año por tala y quemas 7/14/2019 La
Prensa: "Según el Consejo Hondureño para la Certificación Forestal Voluntaria,
cada año Honduras pierde 2% o hasta 3% de bosque debido a la tala ilegal de
árboles y las quemas sin control; es decir, unas 23,000 hectáreas."
Quieren sembrar un millón de árboles 5/11/2019 La Prensa: "“Nos tienen
listos los viveros y nos van a dar cuatro mil plantas al mes para proceder a
sembrarlas dentro de poco”, informó Marta Crespo, una de las coordinadoras de la
iniciativa de reforestación."
Indigenous Resistance to Criminal Governance: Why Regional Ethnic Autonomy
Institutions Protect Communities from Narco Rule in Mexico 4/10/2019 Latin
American Research Review: "This article explains why some indigenous communities
in Mexico have been able to resist drug cartels’ attempts to take over their
local governments, populations, and territories while others have not. While
indigenous customary laws and traditions provide communal accountability
mechanisms that make it harder for narcos to take control, they are
insufficient. Using a paired comparison of two indigenous regions in the
highlands of Guerrero and Chihuahua—both ideal zones for drug cultivation and
traffic—we show that the communities most able to resist narco conquest are
those that have a history of social mobilization, expanding village-level
indigenous customary traditions into regional ethnic autonomy regimes. By
scaling up local accountability practices regionally and developing translocal
networks of cooperation, indigenous movements have been able to construct
mechanisms of internal control and external protection that enable communities
to deter the narcos from corrupting local authorities, recruiting young men, and
establishing criminal governance regimes through force."
How climate change affects the Honduran economy 3/13/2019 Energy
Transition: "Reforestation is a way in which Honduras can help mitigate climate
change. But this area leaves much room for improvement as the country maintains
the highest rate of deforestation in all of Central America, a large part of
which is illegal. In 2015, however, the country committed itself to the
reforestation one million hectares by the year 2020 in exchange for US$314
million."
Honduras Leads Central American Response to Climate Change 11/13/2018 National
Geographic: "During the past 15 years, 25 percent of the Maya Forest and 30
percent of the Moskitia Forest have been deforested. An incredible 90 percent of
this deforestation is due to an unusual culprit – the cow. Illegal cattle
ranching, often linked to organized crime, money laundering, and territorial
control for drug trafficking, is devastating the region’s national parks and
indigenous territories, and fomenting insecurity in key border areas. The
Honduran government has vowed to take on organized criminals, remove illegal
livestock, and evict cattle ranchers from the core area of the Moskitia. This
will be achieved through immediate field operations to re-claim critical forest
areas, as well as long-term actions such as hiring and training new park guards
and establishing permanent control posts in the region." [Similar government
plans have hitherto produced no results.]
Honduras ha perdido más de 1.6 millones de hectáreas de bosque 9/8/2018 El
Heraldo: "Hay escasez de agua, las hambrunas aumentan y la sed se multiplica,
mientras el bosque de Honduras se sigue perdiendo. La depredación es a nivel
nacional y a pesar de que la inversión para recuperarlo es millonaria cada año,
el impacto es más fuerte. Honduras cuenta con una cobertura forestal de
5,384,424.88 hectáreas, que representa el 48% del territorio nacional. Pero hace
50 años, según informes del Instituto de Conservación Forestal (ICF), el 65% del
territorio era verde, es decir, alrededor de siete millones de hectáreas."
EEH REALIZÓ JORNADA DE REFORESTACIÓN EN LA CEIBA 9/2/2018 Hondudiario: "La
Empresa Energía Honduras (EEH), realizó la jornada de reforestación en La Ceiba
a la orilla de la playa Los Maestros, los arboles de Icacos, Uva de Playa,
Almendros y Laurel fueron plantados los àrboles. De igual forma se reforesto la
mediana del boulevard con Laurel, especie ornamental muy atractiva. La actividad
se realizó con el apoyo de Mi Ambiente zona litoral."
Community: The Secret to Stopping Deforestation in Guatemala 8/16/2018 Rainforest
Alliance: "What that means, in plain language, is that nine local communities
have been given the right by the government of Guatemala to make a living from
the forest, as long as they do so sustainably. The Rainforest Alliance has been
working with these concessions since 1999, first on certification, and then to
develop sustainable forest enterprises, which include harvesting and selling
“non-timber forest products” (such as nuts and palm fronds for floral
arrangements), in addition to extracting timber for export according to the
rigorous standard of the Forest Stewardship Council."
Garífunas de Sambo Creek protestan contra construcción de represa 1/28/2018 La
Tribuna: "Desde la madrugada de hoy los garífunas están parados frente a la
Serna para exigir que detengan esa construcción que provocará una erosión
costera. Recordaron que desde hace diez años están protestando por esa
construcción a la cual le han cambiado cinco veces el nombre, pero el objetivo
es el mismo, desforestar. Unos 8 mil habitantes de la zona se benefician del
agua lo que ocasionaría problemas a fututo, debido a la desforestación."
Emergencia en colonias de La Ceiba por severa escasez de agua potable 6/13/2017 La
Prensa: "“Ya llevamos más de tres meses sin tener agua potable, todo este tiempo
hemos tenido que ir al río para traer agua a fin de lavar los trastes y los
baños. Nuestra situación es triste, pero gracias a este apoyo vamos a descansar
un poco”, manifestó Karla Murillo, habitante de la colonia Los Cedros. Las
represas que abastecen el sistema potabilizado por gravedad de La Ceiba ubicadas
en la cuenca del Danto han disminuido su caudal en un 30% en los últimos días.
Con este nivel, las bombas impulsadoras no cumplen su función."
Intervienen cuenca del río Danto por grave deforestación 6/2/2017 La
Prensa: "Desde 1915, la cuenca de Danto viene abasteciendo a La Ceiba con el
vital líquido. En los últimos años, el 45% de su área ha sido afectada por las
invasiones, descombros para sacar carbón, cultivo de palma y ganadería. Esta
cuenca tiene 6,954.61 hectáreas, donde nacen dos ríos y un tributario, el Danto,
Bonito y La Ausencia, respectivamente. Debido a los daños que sufre esta zona
productora de agua, el caudal del río Danto ha bajado sus niveles, siendo en
verano donde el servicio de agua potable en la ciudad deber ser racionado. De
esta cuenca depende el 40% el sistema potabilizado de La Ceiba."
Narco-deforestación en Centroamérica: la plaga que devoró hasta un 30% de sus
bosques 5/31/2017 Ladobe: "Cocaína. Esta es la droga que ha originado que
en los últimos 15 años el fenómeno de la narcodeforestación produzca la pérdida
de entre 15 % a 30 % de la cobertura boscosa en Guatemala, Honduras y Nicaragua.
La investigación logró calcular que desde el 2001 hasta mediados del 2014 en los
tres países citados se han deforestado más de 400 000 hectáreas de bosques. La
deforestación es causada por actividades productivas financiadas con el lavado
de dinero del narcotráfico."
Illegal deforestation of the banks of Sambo Creek - Deforestación ilegal de las
orillas del Río Cuyamel 5/21/2017 GarifunaWeb: "The deforestation along the
banks of the Cuyamel river, where the Honduran government wants to dam, started
the very morning Omar Suazo was arrested. They were ready to go, they knew from
previous events that Omar Suazo would prevent them from proceeding were he a
free man. La deforestación a lo largo de las riberas del río Cuyamel, donde el
gobierno hondureño quiere construir una presa, empezó la misma mañana que Omar
Suazo fue arrestado. Estaban listos para ir, sabían de acontecimientos previos
que Omar Suazo les impediría proceder si era un hombre libre."
'Narco-deforestation' study links loss of Central American tropical forests to
cocaine 5/16/2017 Science Daily: ""It turns out that one of the best ways
to launder illegal drug money is to fence off huge parcels of forest, cut down
the trees, and build yourself a cattle ranch. It is a major, unrecognized driver
of tropical deforestation in Central America."
A spatio-temporal analysis of forest loss related to cocaine trafficking in
Central America 5/16/2017 IOP Science: "We estimated that cocaine
trafficking could account for between 15% and 30% of annual national forest loss
in these three countries [Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua] over the past decade,
and 30% to 60% of loss occurred within nationally and internationally designated
protected areas. Cocaine trafficking is likely to have severe and lasting
consequences in terms of maintaining moist tropical forest cover in Central
America. Addressing forest loss in these and other tropical locations will
require a stronger linkage between national and international drug interdiction
and conservation policies."
La Ceiba
combate la deforestación de la cuenca del Río Danto 11/7/2016 YouTube
Garifunas y el derecho a la consulta: agua para La Ceiba o playa para Sambo
Creek 10/28/2016 Jubileo Sur Americas: "Los Garífunas entendemos
perfectamente el problema del abastecimiento del agua de la ciudad de la Ceiba,
sin embargo hemos sido testigos del mal manejo y la falta de voluntad política
para proteger las cuencas hidrográficas de dicha ciudad. La municipalidad hizo
caso omiso a la deforestación de la cuenca del río Danto. El No a la Represa
manifestado en múltiples ocasiones por la comunidad de Sambo Creek, es
simplemente la defensa de su playa, la que cada día se ve más afectada por la
erosión costera. En otras palabras los sambeños se ven ante el dilema de otorgar
el agua del río Cuayamel para la Ceiba o perder lo que resta de playa."
Enhancing Sustainable Production at the Landscape Level 10/27/2016 Catholic
Relief Services: "In Resilience through Enhanced Adaptation, Action-learning,
and Partnership (REAAP) areas, community-led initiatives are channeling water
through integrated water and soil resource management interventions.
Micro-catchments, used to harvest water in highland areas in East and West
Hararghe zones, perform a particularly important function during periods of
erratic rainfall or drought. Even the smallest rainstorm results in runoff that
is collected in the micro-catchments, and the water stored in the soil under the
micro-catchment is sufficient to sustain trees or plants during a dry spell."
Militares espantarán a depredadores del Cangrejal y Danto 8/12/2016 Tiempo
Digital: "Los destacamentos militares serían tres, uno en la cuenca del río
Cangrejal y los otros dos en el Danto y la Ausencia, según Pineda."
Por tala ilegal y quema Honduras pierde hasta 3% de bosque al año 9/27/2015 La
Prensa: "Por su parte, Karla Díaz, directora del departamento de desarrollo
forestal comunitario del ICF, reveló el plan para evitar el grave daño a los
bosques. Este se llama “Forestería comunitaria” y consiste en que el Estado de
Honduras asigne bosque público a comunidades organizadas para que lo conserven y
protejan. “Cooperativas agroforestales de las comunidades se convierten al mismo
tiempo en guardianes. Asimismo, se les permitiría aprovecharlo de manera
sostenible”, declaró Díaz."
Cocaine: the new face of deforestation in Central America 3/11/2014 Monga
Bay: "Finally, profits from drug trafficking cannot be declared as income and
thus must be laundered. Drug cartels often get around this by purchasing remote
land and clearing it, allowing them to convert drug-money into legalized private
property without leaving a trail. Large ranches or narco-estates formed by
deforestation, often masquerade under the fronts of agriculture and oil palm
plantations. Land titles are falsified, government officials bribed, and
ultimately, such land becomes legalized when unsuspecting legitimate
corporations purchase it from “locals” as an agricultural investment."
Narco-Deforestation: Linking Drug Policy and Forest Conservation 2/6/2014 Our
World: "A new article published in the journal Science, co-authored by United
Nations University researcher Dr. David Wrathall, provides compelling evidence
that flows of drugs through the Americas are directly related to deforestation
rates in North America’s most biodiverse and biosensitive region. The article,
“Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco-Deforestation” is the result of
collaboration between researchers at the UNU Institute for Environment and Human
Security (UNU-EHS) and four US universities: The Ohio State University, Northern
Arizona University, the University of Denver and the University of Idaho."
Drug Trafficking Spurring Deforestation Throughout Central America, Study Finds 2/5/2014 Huff
Post: "Before the drug trade arrived, deforestation in Honduras was occurring at
about 20 square kilometers per year, she told the BBC. “Under the narco-effect,
we see over 60 square kilometers per year. In some parts of Guatemala, the rates
are even higher. We’re talking up to 10 percent deforestation rates, which is
just staggering.”
Erosión costera
y los efectos del cambio climático devoran a comunidades Garífunas 1/31/2013 ALAINet: "El
coco fue introducido a la costa del caribe mesoamericano por los españoles, los
cuales importaron la nuez desde África occidental y paulatinamente remplazó a
las especies vernáculas, como los icacos y las uvas de mar. Durante siglos las
plantaciones de coco fueron uno de los pilares de la economía informal Garífuna,
además de conformar la barrera natural mas importante de protección del litoral.
Podemos señalar el arribo del huracán Mitch, como el inicio de la hecatombe en
el caribe mesoamericano. A partir de noviembre de 1998, comenzaron a aflorar una
serie de graves indicios en relación al desequilibrio de los habitats costeros y
marítimos, que reflejaron el ecocidio existente durante décadas. La enorme
deforestación y sedimentación de los ríos del istmo, causó miles de muertos
además de las pérdidas económicas."
Analisis ambiental PATH fase II - Plan de manejo ambiental 6/15/2011 Banco
Mundial: "El Programa de Administración de Tierras de Honduras en su segunda
Fase se ha propuesto proveer a la población, en el área geográfica del Programa,
de servicios modernizados en administración de tierras, incluyendo mayor
confiabilidad en las transacciones y un mejor y mayor acceso a los registros de
la propiedad. Para alcanzar este objetivo, el Programa continuará promoviendo la
confiabilidad del proceso de regularización, titulación y registro y el
mejoramiento de los servicios de administración de tierras en términos de acceso
y transparencia. Para la segunda Fase del PATH se tiene proyectado un
financiamiento neto de la AIF por 32.8 millones de dólares (USD), sin
contrapartida nacional, para ser ejecutados en un período de cinco años del 2011
al 2016."
Palm Oil Industry will never be sustainable 11/28/2008 Rainforest
Rescue: "The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests has identified government
policies replacing forests by industrial tree plantations, including palm oil
plantations, as the causes of deforestation and degradation. Palm oil is
produced in large scale monocultures in tropical countries to be exported to the
global market (including the EU, China, India and the United Nations of
America). The negative consequences of monoculture oil palm plantations are
tangible in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua-New Guinea, Cameroon, Uganda, Côte
d’Ivoire, Cambodia, Philippines and Thailand and also in Colombia, Ecuador,
Peru, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Costa Rica."
Colombia: violence and deforestation in the Choco region 11/1/1999 World
Rain Forest: "The Pacific Region of the country, known for its abundance of
natural resources and cultural richness, as well as for the constant process of
depredation that it has suffered since colonial times (see WRM Bulletin 27 ) is
victim of this type of activities. The Forcibly Displaced Afro-Colombian
Communities of the Cacarica Basin of the Choco, provisionally settled in Turbo,
Bocas del Atrato and Bahia Cupica have denounced the illegal and indiscriminate
deforestation of their lands by the YIREH cooperative. This company is
apparently operating in connection with the logging corporation Darien Woods
Company (Maderas de El Darien)."
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