Manuel López Luna:
This Law would endanger protected areas

"For the first time a Forestry Law (the proposed legislation for Forestry and Wildlife) is directly addressing protect areas, but addressing them is one thing while the actual content is quite another. The proposed legislation endangers all the protected areas of Honduras," explained Manual López Luna, president of Friends of La Tigra National Park.

López Luna's concern is based on the proposed creation of the Honduran Forestry Financial Agency that, were it to be founded, would manage a fund for protected areas, capitalized by the protected areas.

"Funds will not necessarily be reinvested in the same place that generates them," explains López Luna, and he adds that "no organization involved in the management of protected areas will invest a single cent or seek funding to generate revenue that will end up in the hands of the government."

The organization that work in the management of protected areas presented a proposal to Congress on July 10, 2000 that included, among other points, the implementation of an "Operating Fund for Protected Areas". The proposal was agreed upon at the time, but is not included in the current legislative draft.

The Operating Fund they proposed would allow funds generated by a protected area to be reinvested in the care of that same area.
Nonetheless, López Luna emphasizes the possibility of the creation of an environmental pay-for-service "that would allow protected areas to be paid for the services they offer."

The proposed legislation actually contains this type of payment, but it would be absorbed by the Fund for Protected Areas with the other income generated by the areas.

"The government does not have the financial or labor capacity to manage all the protected areas of the country," argued López Luna.

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