Much Remains to Be Done To Fully
Integrate the Public
in Policy Decisions, But For Now the Idea
Is To Craft a Just Law
This was the proclamation of the Association for a More Just Society, expressed through Gilda Espinal Véliz, after the conclusion of a series of meetings that were held over the past few days. In these meetings various factions collaborated on and discussed a proposal for the new Forestry Law to be presented before the National Congress.
She revealed that as with everything, the Forestry law does not meet all the expectations of the public as the parties that are invested always have differing interests, "but the best is being done to accomplish the objectives suggested at the outset of the proposal process."
The idea is to craft a law that combines all the conditions to create a healthy environment, improve development in the forestry sector, and provide access for the parties directly or indirectly work in the industry.
WHAT REMAINS OF THE ORIGINAL PROPOSAL
Espinal Véliz said that the veiled interests of each sector are evident in the draft of the law, "although the interests of the groups who have the most clout, as always, will be favoured in this project."
She indicated that a point of contention that, since the discussions about putting together a proposal for the law began 5 years ago, has remained a permanent fixture is the Community Forestry. There has been and continues to be a lack of trust surrounding the management of funds.
Another issue is the management of contracts and concessions. The hope was that there would be more transparency regarding this process, in the form of a distinctive compartment to deal with infractions of the law in this arena.
Espinal Véliz promulgates that despite all the progress, much remains to be achieved to fully incorporate society in such political processes and "to leave our descendants with a better country than what we have today."
The important element is not that a law is put into place, but that it is executed. Espinal Véliz adds that, "in this process of trial and error we can achieve a law that will enable better management of the forests' resources so that Honduras can say it is truly a forest-friendly country."
Espinal Véliz indicated that party interests are going to play
a role in the organizational structure of the forestry sector. She concluded
by saying that, " there are going to be people who know absolutely
nothing about the forests' resources, but who will respond to presure
from the groups that put them in office by catering to their interests.
This is one of the risk we will run into when the law is passed."
Article:
New
Forestry Law
proposal sent
to Congress
Law
works to respond
to all concerns
Interviews:
Rural worker´s perspective
AJS lawyer -Gilda Espinal
Former Director of Honduran Forestry Development
President
of the Honduran Federation of Agro-Forestry