Debt-for-nature swap will protect rainforests in Guatemala

About 20 percent of Guatemala's debt to the United States will be forgiven in exchange for forest conservation efforts in the Central American nation, officials announced yesterday. It's the largest debt-for-nature swap carried out under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998, which allows debt owed to the U.S. to be invested in environmental protection. The U.S. government will donate about $15 million toward cancelling the debt, and The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International are each contributing $1 million; that money, along with interest it generates, will erase more than $20 million in debt and interest. Guatemala's newly available funds will then be dedicated over the next 15 years to protecting threatened plants and wildlife in Guatemala's rainforests, mangrove reserves, and mountains. "The areas protected in this agreement lie in the heart of Mayan civilization, and they are home to jaguars, scarlet macaws, harpy eagles, and countless other species," said TNC President Steven J. McCormick.

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Mass frog die-offs linked to global warming

The mass disappearance of colorful harlequin frog species in Central and South America has long puzzled biologists, but research published in the latest issue of Nature fingers a culprit: global warming. (When in doubt ...) The deadly chytrid fungus that's killing off the tiny amphibians is flourishing in places where it's gotten warmer at night and cooler during the day -- conditions the study's authors say have most likely been created by increased cloud formation due to large-scale, human-caused global warming. The fungus is implicated in amphibian die-offs around the world. "Disease is the bullet killing frogs," says lead researcher J. Alan Pounds, "but climate change is pulling the trigger."

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Mexico and Central America reel under latest gulf hurricane

The name "Stan" does not typically inspire fear (even if it's better than "Stanley"), but a hurricane with that moniker has been wreaking havoc down south. In what is sure to be another blow to North America's hobbled energy supply, all three of Mexico's crude-oil loading ports on the Gulf of Mexico were closed, and state-owned oil company Pemex evacuated nearly 300 workers from gulf oil platforms, in advance of the hurricane's landing just south of Veracruz, Mexico, on Tuesday. In El Salvador, where civil war has wiped out forest cover that might have ameliorated the damage, lethal mudslides crushed areas south and west of capital city San Salvador. So far, around 66 people are known dead in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. A brief note to God: We get it. You can quit with the hurricanes now.

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Macaws and effect in Central America.

A year ago, President Bush signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Since then, the controversial plan has inspired protests across the U.S. and in Central America. And while past trade agreements have been ratified by Congress in less than two months, the Bush administration has delayed the vote on CAFTA multiple times, unable to rally the support needed for it to pass.

The latest vote is scheduled for this month, but CAFTA's passage is by no means inevitable. Many Democrats and some Republicans, having learned from the fallout of NAFTA -- for example, the loss of hundreds of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs -- are expected to vote against it. They're taking this stand because the agreement is weak on both labor and environmental standards, and because they are beginning to realize such treaties promote not free trade, but corporate trade.

The environmental movement has also learned from NAFTA. An impressive coalition of professional and grassroots organizations is fighting CAFTA on the basis that it "would allow foreign investors to challenge hard-won environmental laws and regulations, and fails to include adequate measures to ensure environmental improvement throughout Central America and the United States." Members include Friends of the Earth, Earthjustice, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, among others.

Missing from this fight is an elite subset of the movement: the international biodiversity conservation organizations. Not one of the four major groups in this field -- Conservation International, the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and the Wildlife Conservation Society -- has demonstrated the courage to oppose CAFTA, despite ample opportunity over the past year.

When asked about his organization's position on CAFTA at a recent talk at the University of California-Berkeley, Kent Redford of WCS replied that his organization "does not engage in policy work." (The speech, offering an indication of priorities, was titled, "Has Poverty Alleviation Abducted Conservation?") Conservation International's vice president for conservation and government said, "We don't have a position." A World Wildlife Fund representative wrote, "WWF has not been tracing CAFTA either in Central America or in our U.S. office. As a result, we don't have a position on CAFTA ..." Nor has The Nature Conservancy stated a position.

Their silence is inexcusable. Consider the immediate threats CAFTA poses in a region that, while accounting for less than 1 percent of the world's land mass, is estimated to hold 8 to 10 percent of the planet's species:

In the face of these outrageous threats, how to explain the silence of these four groups, which are so well-endowed in budgets and policy staff?

We might look to an important paradigm shift. In the heady days after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, all of the major biodiversity groups embraced the concept of sustainable development. But over the past few years, the conservation pendulum has been swinging back to a stricter preservationist ideology. Little by little, the international conservation organizations have shifted to market-based approaches to conservation.

A decade after Rio, at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, these groups championed public-private partnerships. They also lauded the new reign of "ecosystem services," whereby any aspect of the environment can be had, for a price. It's not that the big organizations don't "do" policy; rather, they do only a certain kind of free-market policy work.

To facilitate the uptake of this free-market approach, international conservation groups have opened their doors to transnational corporate leaders. Today, three-quarters of Conservation International's board and half of the slots on The Nature Conservancy's board are given to representatives of major corporations -- including Wal-Mart and Gap, Inc., two companies actively lobbying in support of CAFTA. Are these corporate dollars a Faustian bargain for the international environmental movement? Are they subtly distracting these large conservation organizations from seeing the links between political economy and environmental degradation?

In these final critical weeks of debate, we need the lobbying support of the international conservationists working in Central America. Together, the four major groups control well over half of conservation dollars available worldwide, and wield enormous influence. Their partnerships with in-country organizations make them perfectly suited to lobby both on the ground and in Washington, D.C. They could give detailed testimony about CAFTA's impact on the regional environment. They could also lend support to the courageous Central Americans who have already spoken out vociferously against CAFTA.

Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy, and Wildlife Conservation Society: it's time. We challenge you, with all your resources and your clout, to see beyond corporate interests. Join the many others in the environmental community who oppose this dangerous trade agreement.

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José Andrés Tamayo Cortez.

Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize.

The woodlands of southeastern Honduras range from mountaintop cloud forests to low-lying rainforests; they are home to more than 500 bird species and a wide array of other animals and plants. But in recent years, more than half of the 12 million acres of forest in the isolated Olancho region has been mowed down by unregulated logging. Rev. José Andrés Tamayo Cortez, a Catholic priest from Tegucigalpa, has witnessed the devastating effects of logging on the diverse Olancho landscape, and has seen its people intimidated, harassed, and even murdered by the crime bosses who control the area.

Tamayo, 47, directs the Environmental Movement of Olancho, a coalition of farmers and other Olancho residents dedicated to stopping the logging spree. He has led thousands of people on two weeklong marches to the nation's capital, drawing national and international attention to the problems caused by unregulated logging, associated crime, and alleged corruption in the Honduran forestry agency. The second march, in June 2004, led to a government investigation of the forestry agency and the resignation of its general manager.

Tamayo was the recipient of the 2003 Honduras National Human Rights Award. In an April 18 ceremony in San Francisco, he was awarded one of six 2005 Goldman Environmental Prizes. He spoke with Grist through a translator.

Could you describe the forests of the Department of Olancho?

Once it was called Olancho Libre -- Olancho Free Land. The entrance to it is still practically an entrance to paradise, a welcoming into the forest. But in the interior, it's all destruction -- it's like they have killed its soul. There are a few places in the interior that remain as relics, as witnesses, to the fact that here there was something beautiful.

How has unregulated logging affected the people of eastern Honduras?

What we witness is an absence of water -- because of the lowering of the water table -- a loss of harvest, an emigration of the youth, and greater poverty. People's clothes are tattered, they are malnourished, and they have no desire to be seen -- you can see it in the faces of the subsistence farmers. We are also seeing a strong and worrisome increase in delinquency.

Was there a particular event or person that inspired you to speak out against illegal logging and related development?

Yes, there was. I was once in a place in the forest, enjoying the air, the sounds of the water, the freshness of the air -- it was a beautiful landscape. Then, a week later, I returned to the same location, and this place had been destroyed. I became deeply saddened, and shed tears. I said, "God, what road, what path, can I take so that this situation doesn't occur again in Olancho, or in this country?" At that moment, I felt compelled to start my efforts on behalf of the environment.

Have authorities in your church supported your efforts?

It has been a consciousness-raising effort. They see the problem, but they don't experience or suffer the problem.

I understand you led two weeklong marches, each involving thousands of people, to protest illegal logging and government corruption. What has the effect of the protests been?

Tamayo with his parishioners in Salama, Olancho, Honduras.

Photo: Christian Lazen-Bernardt.

It has placed all of these various problems on the government's discussion table. It has developed consciousness among the people -- more than anything, they have come to realize that life has no value outside of nature. It has also drawn international attention to our efforts.

What we want is to unify people around the defense of the environment. We want to raise the awareness and understanding of the violence and abuses committed by the government and large corporations. We want to broaden our efforts to fight [international free-trade agreements such as] NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement] and CAFTA [the Central American Free Trade Agreement]. What we have to do is bring people together to fight the invasion of this monster, and to protect the biological corridor of Mesoamerica.

I understand you have been harassed, threatened, and even assaulted because of your work. What gives you the strength to keep working?

My courage emerges from my own consciousness. Death threats don't perplex me -- I don't waste my time thinking about death. I work in defense of life, for the fulfillment of the gospel, and I work to be faithful to God and the people.

How can people in other countries aid your efforts?

They can research what is going on, and make the destruction and corruption internationally known. They can put conditions on aid and loans to the government, and create a [timber] certification law. They can also raise awareness so that people cannot enjoy, say, furniture or other products when they know that this enjoyment, these benefits, are causing deprivation and misery among the Honduran people.

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Latin American activists have string of successes against gold mines

Even with mining laws, environmental laws, and international free-trade agreements heavily weighted against them, activists in Latin America have had a string of recent successes stopping open-pit and cyanide heap-leach mines from polluting their groundwater and decimating hillsides. In Peru last November, protestors blocked roads near the city of Cajamarca, forcing U.S.-based gold giant Newmont Mining Corp. to close an exploration site, marking the first time Newmont caved to pressure to close a mine. Last summer, officials in Honduras halted a Canadian company's strip mine, saying it intruded on a nature reserve. And the highest court in Costa Rica nixed a gold mine in December, ruling it would damage the environment. But with gold prices at over $430 an ounce, the number of U.S.- and Canadian-owned mines in the region is only expected to increase, even in the face of fierce resistance.

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Guatemalan Catholic church protests mining project

Catholic Church officials in Guatemala have become unlikely activists in a fight against a major open-pit gold mine being carved out in the mountains near San Miguel Ixtahuacan. Speaking from the pulpit, on a church-owned radio station, and during street demonstrations, church leaders have been educating parishioners, most of whom haven't finished primary school, on the potential environmental evils of the mining project, like contamination from arsenic and other nasties. Although aggressive protests like these were common in Latin American churches several decades ago, social activism declined during Pope John Paul II's tenure, as more conservative priests took to the pulpits. "Some are upset that the church is speaking out against the mine," says Rev. Eric Gruloos. "But we are doing what Jesus did. He came to wake people up to injustice." In February, the Guatemalan government announced it would freeze future mining permits and create a special commission of government and church officials to discuss the future of mining in the country.

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Quick: what do sea turtles, black bears, and Philippine fruit bats have in common?

Rise up on behalf of the turtles.

At first glance, not much. They don't look alike, and they have very different ranges and habitats. In fact, one would be hard-pressed even to find them on any of the same guest lists.

But these creatures share one very important trait. Along with seahorses, rhinoceroses, and macaques, they are all hunted, sold, and consumed for use in potions and dishes with alleged "aphrodisiacal properties." For men. And I think we know what that means.

In a more perfect world, we men might be willing to age gracefully and hang up -- well, whatever it is we hang up, say, spurs -- and retire from certain pleasures of the flesh. When that happens, though, men will be too distracted to care. We'll be busy watching pigs fly.

Until that day arrives, there will be a market for products that enhance "male performance" (presumably not in rugby). In Asia and Central America, among other places, this means resorting to traditional, animal-based remedies. Two tragedies can result. The first is personal: they may not work. The second is even, ahem, greater: threatened species are being hunted to extinction, with untold consequences for ecosystems and economies.

As experts in international development know, however, this is generally not a matter of good guys and bad guys, black hats and white. Poachers, often poor and uneducated, are simply trying to make a living by meeting a demand. If the market for their contraband product dries up, or if alternative livelihoods are available, they might well find other work.

Of course, this is easier said than done. Behavior and culture take time to change, and there is no silver bullet. There is, however, a little blue pill.

Take two and call me when the rhinoceroses have rebounded.

Photo: Lynne Lancaster.

Yupper. That one. Sildenafil citrate, though no one calls it that. It is currently sold by Pfizer (in which I have no stock) under the name of Viagra, but even after the patent expires the name seems likely to remain in the language, like Kleenex or Xerox, as the term for a whole product category and not just one brand.

Of course, there are now other products for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, which goes by the friendly acronym ED. (This sounds like someone you might play poker with once a week.) Treatments for our pal ED now include Bayer and GlaxoSmithKline's Levitra (vardenafil hydrochloride), a brand name derived from the Latin root of the verb "to raise," and ICOS and Eli Lilly's Cialis (tadalafil), which sounds like an MTV VJ from the late 1980s. More brands are forthcoming and, as with Viagra, after the patent period expires, the eventual generic market for these drugs is expected to be sizeable.

The implication is clear. If we want to save black bears and rhinos, we have to get these drugs into the hands of the people who would otherwise be paying for those animals' parts or doing the hunting for themselves.

Many can pay, and for them -- and our endangered animal friends -- liberalized trade and e-commerce have their advantages.

But those who can't pay shouldn't be left out. Responsibly packaged along with condoms, to prevent unwanted pregnancies and the spread of disease, a little pharmaceutical lift might brighten an aid recipient's day a wee bit more than the typical relief package of rice, beans, and cooking oil. Scented candles, of course, could be optional.

Believe it or not, there's a precedent for this. In 1998, Bear Stearns chair Alan "Ace" Greenberg (bless him) donated $1 million to New York's Hospital for Special Surgery to provide Viagra to men who otherwise couldn't afford it, when that was the only game in town. Whatever else the recipients of his largesse might be doing, they don't have to scour the alleys and backrooms of Manhattan in an attempt to score black-bear gall bladder, macaque meat, or powdered seahorse. Other potential donors (we're looking at you, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) could do the same for the developing world.

Of course, no proposal is perfect. Pharmaceutical manufacturing creates pollution in the form of smokestack emissions and runoff. And pharmaceutical use produces externalities: fluoxetine hydrochloride, the active ingredient in Prozac, has been detected in (probably cheerful) fish in urban waterways. While the effects of ED medications on aquatic life have not been studied extensively, one might have reason to believe that in some places the fish will really be jumpin'. The situation will need to be watched, though not too closely -- that would be kind of creepy.

The private sector, governments, and NGOs all have roles to play in what could be one of the most important conservation initiatives of our time. Countless biotic and human communities could benefit.

And the old methods wouldn't be missed. As far as I can tell, no one is eating Philippine fruit bat for the taste.

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Honduras forest activists slow deforestation

In central Honduras, where deforestation is widespread, poor farmers and rural residents under the leadership of Roman Catholic priest Andres Tamayo have had a string of successes in their struggle to save the pine forests that sustain them (or used to). The activists say Honduras' forests have been poorly managed for decades, resulting in topsoil erosion, water shortages, and declining wildlife. Last year, the farmers-turned-activists managed a dozen times to shut down all logging operations in Olancho, a popular timber province. Tamayo has called for a logging moratorium in the rest of the country as well until the forests can be managed more sustainably and all lumber can be milled in the community where it was cut. But environmental activism is a dangerous pursuit in Honduras. Powerful logging interests, as well as the government, strongly oppose the movement, and illegal logging gangs have intimidated villagers and made attempts on Tamayo's life.

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Central American coffee industry rebounds by going green

A global surplus of coffee five years ago sent the Central American coffee industry into a tailspin, but it is gradually recovering by focusing on high-quality beans -- which in many cases means organically grown. In that rarest of things, a genuine win-win situation, the industry is being helped by an odd coalition including large U.S. coffee corporations, international conservation groups, U.S. aid agencies, and Central American governments. The U.S. government sees aid as a way of encouraging financial stability in nearby nations; conservation groups see it as a way of encouraging biodiversity and reducing erosion, both enabled by organic coffee farms; U.S. coffee corporations see it as a way of ensuring a steady supply of high-quality coffee, which is in high demand these days; and Central American governments see it as a way of reducing unemployment and social unrest. The assistance available to farmers willing to go organic also enables them to pay higher salaries and offer more health benefits.

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