The President and Congress are hurrying to approve the Forestry Law for Protected Areas because of pressure from international financing institutions who are making the law a condition for the disbursement of fund, accused the small farmer leader Marvin Ponce. Ponce a leader of the Coordinating Council of Small Farmers in Honduras, also known as COCOCH.

Ponce said that reports from the World Bank made the approval this law a condition for the disbursement of loans designated for the forestry sector. The law has been under discussion and negotiation among government and citizen groups for more than four years.

He warned that international funds might look appealing for the management of the forests, but the situation could end up being against the interests of the Honduran people.

Ponce said he is convinced that the Forestry Law is being reintroduced now because of pressure from international financial institutions and he pointed out that the first real impulse to approve the law arose out of pressure from the World Bank.

"But now that the World Bank is offering a new loan to Honduras, now they are pushing forward the law. But they are making substantial changes to the bill without understanding the concerns that we as civil society have, especially about the administrative body they plan to create with the funds," complained Ponce.

"They want to keep maintaining two institutions as one, one to manage the financial aspects and one to manage the political aspects of the forestry resources. But above all they want to create a grab bag from the funds meant for reforestation and maintenance for protected areas," he added.

Ponce said that small farmers believe a new administrative body should be established to create a consulting council with the participation of civil society and to include a legal body to carry out sanctions and penalties against those found guilty of illegal deforestation or contamination, regardless of their social status.

"And they have to incorporate measures for temporary refuges in areas where the forests are being poorly managed by groups with economic power and a history of taking advantage of the forest. This has to do with our conviction that there has to be more transparency about who participates in our social forestry system. Ethnic groups and small farmers living adjacent to the forests are the groups that now benefit the least from these natural resources. How will rural communities benefit from this legislation?" demanded Ponce.

Ponce believes it is urgent that government leaders and congressional representatives listen to the concerns and ideas of the people to strengthen Honduras' forestry policy.

He said he is also concerned about the Property Law now being discussed in Congress.

"We do not agree with how they are establishing the prices that rural people should pay when they expropriate lots of land. It is not clear how rural communities will fair because, if they say they will apply market prices, it is practically the same as it is now-a free market and not exactly a system of forced expropriation," he expressed.

"We are also against the institutional part, mostly because the institute to manage property must define its role. Is it an institute to define real estate property, or is it going to manage economic property and intellectual property?" asked Ponce.

Ponce considers this an opportunity for the government to revise the trans-national banana concessions and the situations of many companies who have illegally claimed huge swaths of national land.

"We believe it is necessary to clarify once and for all this chapter in Honduran history," said Ponce. "In what conditions have concessions been granted? How have they been administered? What land belongs to the State? Why is there not more information about the conditions of these concessions?"

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