The journal Science in January published a paper that drew a correlation between increased drug shipments into eastern Honduras and the loss of forests in that region. Now, a report in The New York Times explores the sad state of forest management affairs in the Central American country:
The journal Science in January published a paper that drew a correlation between increased drug shipments into eastern Honduras and the loss of forests in that region. Now, a report in The New York Times explores the sad state of forest management affairs in the Central American country:
What is happening here in the remote northeast of Honduras shows how quickly the most successful conservation efforts can be reversed when state structures collapse. The rule of law has always been fragile in Honduras, but since a 2009 coup, it has disintegrated even faster under the pressure of corruption and drug trafficking. IIllegal loggers, cattle ranchers and land speculators have long laid waste to the shimmering greens of the forest canopy here at the edge of the country's eastern wilderness. Now, as Honduras has become a central transfer point for drug shipments to the United States, there is more money to pay - and arm - land invaders, who strip the forest and transform the land into businesses like cattle ranching that can be used to launder drug money.
Kendra McSweeney, a geography professor at Ohio State University who co-wrote the Science paper, told The Times that drug trafficking is a "game changer" that "allows the forests to be converted so quickly because they get so saturated with money and violence."
While activists hope new Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez follows through on his promise to use "iron fist" policies to combat the drug dealing and other lawlessness, some say more than simply that is needed. "We feel that we are alone on this issue," Melvin Cruz, director of the Madera Verde Foundation (an organization on the north coast of Honduras created to help improve the socioeconomic status of rural families through responsible forest management), told reporter Elisabeth Malkin. "Nobody has spoken about policies directed at natural resources."