Deforestation

Deforestation! This one act causes so much destruction here in Honduras. Trees take moisture from the clouds allowing a region to stay cooler than it would without trees. Without trees the mountainside is susceptible to erosion, which will more than likely cause landslides during the rainy season, destroying more of Honduras’ environment. Questions you may have are “Who’s to blame?” “Why does this continue if Hondurans know this?” “What is being done?” These are questions that I will attempt to answer.
The fault, I believe, does not lie with any one person or company. Hondurans use llena (firewood) to heat their stoves. Many campesinos have no other source of fuel or money to purchase other fuels if they were available therefore they look to the forest and nature to provide llena. If it were only local Honduran campesinos cutting down trees in their own aldeas, deforestation would not be such an issue. Logging companies throughout Honduras build dirt roads into the forest of one mountain cut down trees and move on. So you may ask “Why are there some trees left?” Honduras has begun using forestry engineers to mark good seedling trees that will help to reforest the mountain after logging but…….as we know corruption flows through many areas in our world and trees that would have made great seedlings are cut and smaller trees are left in their place.
Throughout Honduras, reforestation projects have begun by the government, local and international NGOs, and some logging companies. Reforesting natural and artificially take years to complete. Natural reforestation occurs by natural course of trees losing their seeds creating new trees. Artificial reforestation occurs when trees are planted and grown in a greenhouse and then transplanted into the forest a year later. Down sides to artificial reforestation are many man hours are involved in care and maintenance of the trees for 3 years, many trees are lost through the process from seed to transplant to maturity, and the seeds selected may not always grow in the area if they are foreign to the region.
So why is this such an issue for me? Well, as a wat san volunteer, trees protect watersheds and water sources. Many communities have little access to water and part of my job is to help these communities find water sources and create water systems if possible. Trees are vital to the health of a water source; they bring rain and moisture to a watershed, which helps keep the spring alive. I hope to get involved with reforestation projects here in the department of Yoro. It is still too early to tell how much motivation exists for such a project I am praying that there is.