An interview with Miguel Salazar, Chief of Forestry Protection in the Honduran Corporation for Forestry Development.
In this interview, Mr Miguel Salazar, Chief of Forestry Protection, describes the activities of the Honduran Corporation for Forestry Development aimed at control of forest fire, including historical background, current policy and plans and projects for the future. (Interview conducted by Mr Fernando Canchón Avellaneda, FAO Representative in Honduras)
Honduras covers a total surface area of 11208800 ha, of which 75 percent is forest land. In January 1974, through Law 103, the Government established the Honduran Corporation for Forestry Development (COHDEFOR) with the main purpose of "using forest resources to best advantage, ensuring their protection, improvement, conservation and expansion, and generating funds to finance state programmes to accelerate the social and economic development of the nation".
Unasylva. First of all, could you put fires in perspective as a source of damage to forests in Honduras?
Salazar. I should like to start by saying that the problem of forest fires is as old as humanity itself. Once they are recognized and accepted as such, we can tackle them and of course try to find some kind of solution to control the number of fires and the damage they cause.
For various reasons, forest fire is a social problem. Human beings are themselves the main agents, since they use fire to restore rangeland for extensive livestock-raising, to exterminate insect pests, to prepare fields for crops to meet their basic needs, or to dispose of agricultural residues. If the use of fire is not controlled, it spreads to the forests; many hectares of forest are burnt every year.
Forest fires are highly damaging to the forests of Central America and the Caribbean, in terms of their immediate effects on pine forests and also the changes they produce in the environment and, as a consequence, their impact on public opinion.
We may say that the harm caused by forest fires varies in proportion to their intensity. In our country specifically, fire damage depends on various factors, including the age and height of the trees, the accumulation and state of forest fuels and, fundamentally, prevailing climatic conditions.
Unasylva What is the present scale of fire damage to Honduran forest resources?
Salazar. Fires lead to the destruction of forest resources because they prevent natural regeneration and weaken the trees, leaving them exposed to attacks by fungus and various pests. For this reason, it is difficult to establish precisely the total extent of damage caused by forest fire in Honduras.
However, we can examine damage caused directly by fire. In our country over the past decade there has been an average of 2762 fires a year, affecting an estimated area of some 68000 ha of forest land. It is estimated that in 30 percent of this area there is total destruction of the seedlings from natural regeneration and partial damage to the young coniferous forest, amounting to more than US$5 million of losses, without even considering the irreversible damage to wildlife, soil and water, as well as possible climatic effects. Some ecologists estimate these losses at ten times the amount have indicated.
Unasylva. What was the situation of forest fire damage before the creation of COHDEFOR?
Salazar. Before COHDEFOR was formed in 1974, there was a General Directorate of Hunting and Fishing Resources which came under the Ministry of Natural Resources. Since there were insufficient human and material resources, as well as an inadequate infrastructure for conducting a national programme of protection against fires, it is estimated that 50 percent of pine forests were damaged by forest fires.
Unasylva. Why did COHDEFOR decide to dedicate human and financial resources to protection against forest fires?
Salazar. It should be remembered that the main asset of Honduras is its forest resources. As we have seen so far, optimum utilization of forest resources includes protection, improvement of quality and increased production; if this does not happen, the development for which we are aiming cannot be achieved. Protecting our forests is one of the most important objectives of the state forestry administration: COHDEFOR is responsible for both management and protection.
Unasylva. Could you describe the method initially adopted by COHDEFOR to control forest fires, and how it has developed over a period of about 16 years?
Salazar. We have certainly come a long way. When we first started, we had no national coverage, no specialized technical personnel, no statistics, not even an organizational structure enabling us to record what happened. As said, before COHDEFOR there was no basic structure with national coverage, which meant that we had to start an aggressive programme of protection against forest fires and pests.
First priority was to reduce the incidence of fires, and to this end we created 43 management units covering nine forest regions. The working structure of these units consists of ten-person squads, one or two observation towers and mobile wardens, and also voluntary groups.
This organizational structure permitted the protection of an average of 2.2 million ha per year over the past ten years, with two types of protection: one intensive and the other extensive. Intensively protected zones include major watersheds, national parks, areas being placed under management and areas populated with natural regeneration and young forest.
More than 11000 people take part in fire-fighting campaigns, of which COHDEFOR provides 4550, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) 4850, agroforestry cooperatives 800, the armed forces 550, the timber industry 350 and other people 500. Participation has been very active, especially in recent years.
HONDURAS IS HEAVILY FORESTED but in some areas, fires have caused widespread destruction of forest resources
COHDEFOR allocates an average of US$3 million to fire prevention and control each year. It should be pointed out that this figure includes $1 million provided by WFP to finance preventive activities, forest superintendence and fire suppression.
Unasylva. What are the major factors that have contributed to the reduction of damage caused by forest fire in Honduras? And what is their significance in terms of national forestry development?
Salazar. I believe various factors have played a role in helping to reduce forest fire damage, including the larger force of foresters that we have at present, the management of fuel through the construction of fuel breaks and the application of controlled burning. One important feature of the protection programme is the collaboration of other groups, under bilateral agreements; for instance, the armed forces, the Secretariat of Public Education and the timber industries. Another important factor has been the fire prevention campaigns promoted by COHDEFOR through the mass media.
Working intensively, we have managed to reduce the number of fires appreciably. In 1989 we had 2092 fires, about 670 less than the average over the past ten years, and we hope to bring this figure down still further. As regards the area burnt, in 1989 we estimated that this was 21100 ha, namely 47500 ha less than the ten-year average.
Unasylva. One of the key points in the success of a programme of protection against fires is the participation of local people. Could you tell us about the efforts made to inform the public by the forestry extension services, and about peoples participation in forest fire control in Honduras? What is COHDEFOR's role in this work?
Salazar. In fact, people's participation in forest protection has been growing, and statistics show a substantial improvement. Very significant achievements have been made, particularly in zones where, because of the influence of specific projects, applied extension work has been conducted. This type of extension has diversified peasant activities with a view to agricultural stabilization and therefore to greater participation in forestry production activities. COHDEFOR has been conducting a social policy through the integrated management areas.
Basically it consists of the integration of a technical expert into a carefully selected community. We try to motivate peasants participating in forestry production so that they react spontaneously to a fire. Meetings are also held to enable the local authorities to understand the problem and to gain popular support. Other activities include courses and seminars for rural schoolteachers, and the organization of forestry clubs. We consider it very important to inform and train for responsibility the citizens of the future, since they will certainly be wanting some kind of service from the forest. Our hope lies in future generations, and we have therefore conducted a series of activities to improve information on forest fire in primary and secondary school curricula.
We also have several groups called Forest Defence Committees that participate directly in protection activities of their own free will; of course as an incentive we are trying to give their members some type of share in the benefits from the resource so that they feel themselves part of the country's forestry development.
Unasylva. So far we have talked about limiting the damage to forests caused by uncontrolled fires; could you say something about the use of fire as a management instrument in Honduras?
Salazar. Although fire is usually considered a threat to the forest, it can be beneficial in managing conifers. It plays an important role in pine forests, especially in the removal of plant residues, in reducing fuel, in improving grazing areas and in preparing sites for natural regeneration. These are the main objectives of controlled fires.
This activity has been undertaken with great caution; nonetheless, much valuable experience has been gained. In the past two years we have been using prescribed burning on an annual average area of 30000 ha, with positive and varied results. In addition to the objectives to which have referred, forest conditions have been improved through reducing the presence of fungi and stimulating the growth of trees and making them more resistant to insect attack. In this respect, controlled fires are becoming one of our most important silvicultural tools in managing conifer forests.
AN OBSERVATION TOWER built by COHDEFOR in the Mosquita region
Unasylva. What has been the function played by international technical assistance in the Honduran programme for protection against and control of forest fires?
Salazar. International technical assistance has been fundamental throughout COHDEFOR's forestry programmes, and particularly in the field of forest fires, personally am very grateful for what have learned from the experts who have come to my country, and feel very proud of having been their counterpart on a number of projects. One of the organizations that have played a major role in our forestry programmes is the United Nations, through FAO and WFP-the first with programmes for forest conservation, development and management, and the second with food, which brought more than 8000 people into forest protection.
The United States Agency for International Development (AID) has also been a great help in forestry programmes, particularly in training and donating protection equipment. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has contributed to forest protection programmes and broad-leaved forest management. The Governments of the United Kingdom, Japan and Spain are participating substantially in various programmes.
I should like to make special mention of one technical and financial assistance project for forestry protection funded by the Government of Japan, which will strengthen the system of communication, transport and control equipment for fires as a contribution to the Tropical Forestry Action Plan.
Unasylva. Can you tell us whether Honduras has benefited from the experience and expertise of other countries in the region in developing its fire control programme, and whether the experience gained in Honduras could be used in other countries of the region?
Salazar. Of course, and we have tried to use the experience of other countries such as Belize and Nicaragua, with good results. COHDEFOR's experience over 16 years has been varied, and we can say that Honduras has made appreciable progress in forest management and protection with both conifers and broad-leaved species, compared with other countries in Central America and the Caribbean.
We have added to our experience as regards protection against fires and forest pests, forestry extension and community forestry, environmental education, interinstitutional coordination, reforestation, forest management and controlled fires.
Unasylva. In conclusion, could you sum up for us the strategies to be followed to ensure the future of Honduran forests?
Salazar. The challenge of the decade we are just starting is interesting because of the degree of concern over the destruction of forest resources throughout the world on the one hand, and rapid population expansion leading to pressure on forests on the other. These two factors oblige professional foresters to combine their efforts to establish a practical and objective framework for forest conservation and management, which should be in line with the national reality.
In Honduras, COHDEFOR has made major decisions with regard to the social forestry system, which requires adequate inter-institutional coordination, greater coverage and the consolidation of a capable and efficient organization to manage our forest resources.
Despite my country's achievements, much remains to be done; we need technical, scientific and economic assistance from developed countries and international organizations if we are to have "a green Honduras by the year 2000", in the words of a well-known broadcaster in my country. In the last analysis, it will depend on the policy decisions taken by the new government administration, which we must support in order that forestry development may become a reality and the resource may be converted into a basis for the economic and social progress of Honduras.
PROFESSIONAL FORESTERS AND VOLUNTEERS collaborate in forest fire suppression
