HONDURAS

Honduras experienced the largest percentage loss of forest cover in Latin America in recent years. Between 1990 and 2005, over 37% of Honduras's forests disappeared and, since the end of the 1990s, the rate of deforestation has increased by 9%.

Many of the reasons for the high rate of deforestation stem from the country's high levels of poverty; it is one of the poorest countries in Central America. Subsistence farmers cut down forests for growing food and grazing cattle and collecting fuelwood. Mining activities and forest fires also take their toll.

Illegal logging is also a huge problem in Honduras. Up to 85% of timber production is believed to be illegal. The trade involves politicians and their families, bureaucrats, timber companies, local mayors, the police and other officials, according to a 2005 report by the Environmental Investigation Agency and the Center for International Policy. This report also revealed that much of the illegally logged timber, including endangered mahogany, was ending up in the US or EU markets. Criminal gangs involved in the trade have been responsible for the deaths of a number of anti-logging activists and many others have been threatened. There have also been clashes between environmentalists and developers.

In addition to the endemic corruption, Government measures to combat the illegal trade are hampered by a lack of resources and a lack of alternative livelihoods for those who rely on the forests for subsistence. In 2005, Honduras received aid under the controversial US Millennium Challenge Account programme, which is providing $215 million to improve the productivity of farmers and improve rural accessibility, whilst requiring the government to clamp down on corruption and improve economic and legal systems. There are concerns that improved access to rural areas may worsen deforestation, but this could be offset by improvements in law enforcement and higher standards of living among the rural poor.

DOCUMENTS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
01/05/2009	Tropical Forest Tenure Assessment: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities The goal of this report is to present and analyse the state of forest tenure in much of the world’s ...	Rights & Resources Initiative (RRI) & International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO)
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15/06/2006	America's Free Trade for Illegal Timber – how US trade pacts speed the destruction of the world's forests EIA report documenting the link between FTAs and increased trade in illegal timber from Honduras and ...	EIA
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25/05/2006	Status of Tropical Forest Management 2005 Is forest management improving in the tropics? This report sets out to answer that question. It provides ...	ITTO
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01/03/2006	Justice in the Forest: Rural Livelihoods and Forest Law Enforcement This study was born out of a concern that a narrow focus on law enforcement could unintentionally harm ...	CIFOR (Marcus Colchester)
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01/12/2005	Best Practices for Improving Law Compliance in the Forestry Sector: FAO Forestry Paper 145 This report looks at some of the innovative approaches being used by governments to combat illegal logging. ...	FAO
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01/11/2005	The Illegal Logging Crisis in Honduras The result of a year-long undercover investigation by EIA, the report "documents how U.S. imports ...	EIA
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01/09/2005	IFM Pilot Project Honduras - Summary Report Global Witness and the Honduran National Commission of Human Rights (CONADEH) have started piloting IFM ...	Global Witness
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01/01/2002	Barriers to Legality in the Forest Sectors of Honduras and Nicaragua Examines the features of the socio-economic, political and institutional environment that work against ...	La Tala Ilegal en Centro America (Arnoldo Contreras-Hermosilla)
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01/01/2002	Impacts of illegality and barriers to legality: a diagnostic analysis of illegal logging in Honduras and Nicaragua This paper summarises a diagnostic analysis of the illegal timber trade in Nicaragua and Honduras conducted ...	Richards, M, A Wells, F del Gatto, A Contreras-Hermosilla and D Pommier
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NEWS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
11/08/2009	10 countries with the highest deforestation rates in the world Hopefully it comes as no great surprise to you that deforestation is a major problem in many areas of ...	Tree Hugger
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16/02/2009	Honduras priest leads fight to save the forests Salama, Honduras ' The countrys environmental movement in Honduras has significantly slowed deforestation ...	Canada Western Catholic Reporter (Canada)
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17/11/2007	The Cross, Honduras and Stopping the Global Timber Thieves Honduras - Father Andres Tamayo now gets company as he drives the church pickup truck around his rugged ...	Pacific Free Press (Canada)
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05/11/2007	Honduras: The Fight to Put Forestry Law in Action La Ceiba, Honduras - The battle that broke out decades ago in Honduras over illegal logging has now shifted ...	IPS (Italy)
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02/10/2007	Saving lives and forests in Honduras If Congress does not place demands on the logging industry in Honduras, we could see more murders there ...	El Diario (USA)
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07/06/2007	Cedar, rosewood fail to win protection at U.N. talks The Hague, The Netherlands - Bids to curb logging of South and Central American cedar and rosewood trees, ...	Reuters (UK)
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22/05/2007	Act against illegal logging The deaths of nine activists; a parish priest who requires military protection from loggers; the environmental ...	El Diario/La Prensa (USA)
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25/04/2007	Honduras: Illegal Logging and Unpunished Assassinations Honduras - Tierramrica reports that grassroots organizations in the department of Olancho, Honduras, ...	Upside Down World (USA)
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22/01/2007	Two forest activists murdered in Honduras: International coalition of environmental groups demand full investigation and overhaul of national forest policy (EIA and Global Witness Press Release) Eleven environmental groups, with millions of members worldwide, ...	EIA/Global Witness
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15/06/2006	America's free trade pacts driving illegal timber trade: destruction of Asian and Latin American forests (Press Release) Washington, USA - US free trade agreements are accelerating the destruction of tropical ...	EIA
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26/04/2006	Power and illegal logging (poder y tala ilegal) The Independent Forest Monitor in Honduras publishes today two new reports, both of which document illegal ...	Global Witness (UK)
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21/03/2006	Successful regional workshop on forest independent monitoring The first Regional Workshop on Forest Independent Monitoring took place in Honduras, from February 26th ...	ACICAFOC (Costa Rica)
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20/03/2006	Letter from Honduran NGOs The enclosed letter was sent to the American DIY company Home Depot by a wide coalition of Honduran NGOs, ...	EIA
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01/03/2006	Illegal Logging: Tracking Timber in Honduras Effective environmental enforcement posed acute problems in Brazil, a country with a middle-of-the-road ...	International Enforcement Law Reporter
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04/11/2005	Report cites loggers' bribes Massive illegal logging in Honduras thrives thanks to bribes and death threats, a conservation group ...	The Miami Herald (USA)
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03/11/2005	Honduras: Greasing palms to plunder forests Honduras - Illegal logging by corrupt interests tied to major political figures is devastating the rapidly ...	IPS News Agency
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03/11/2005	Illegal logging devours Honduran forests - US group TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Illegal logging driven by an underground timber trade that stretches ...	Reuters (UK)
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01/11/2005	Undercover Investigation Reveals Illegal Logging Crisis and Environmental Tragedy in Honduras On Thursday, the Center for International Policy and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) will ...	US Newswire (USA)
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26/10/2005	Undercover Investigation Reveals Illegal Logging Crisis and Environmental Tragedy in Honduras; U.S. Businesses Implicated Next Thursday, The Center for International Policy and The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) will ...	U.S. Newswire (USA)
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30/08/2005	Violence Threatened Against Honduras Environmental Movement; Center for International Policy Urges Secretary Rice to Speak Out Against Threat of Violence WASHINGTON, USA -- A Catholic priest in Honduras, and his supporters in an environmental movement fighting ...	US Newswire (USA)
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10/07/2005	Honduras wins aid pact tied to human rights, anti-corruption efforts Last month Honduras became to second country to receive aid under the controversial Millennium ...	Mongabay.com
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21/07/2004	Honduras Deploys Troops Amid Logging Protests The Honduran government has sent troops to the eastern province of Olancho amid fears of violence between ...	Voice of America
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PRESENTATIONS

DATE	TITLE	AUTHOR
25/01/2007	IFM Project in Honduras	Honduran Commission for Human Rights/ CONADEH (Fausto Mejía Zelaya)
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21/07/2006	VERIFOR Update: Phase One Review and VERIFOR in Latin America	ODI (David Brown and Hans Thiel)
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EVENTS

DATE	TITLE
Thursday 19th January 2006	Illegal Logging Update and Stakeholder Consultation Number 7 The seventh in a regular series of meetings coordinated by Chatham House and funded by DFID. The meeting ...
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LINKS

TITLE	DESCRIPTION	REPORT
La Tala Ilegal en Centro America	Concentrating on Honduras and Nicaragua, this website communicates the findings of the first study to attempt to systematically analyse the dynamics of illegal logging, including legal failings, the institutions and policies behind it, as well as the impact on society, the economy and governance.	Broken link
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