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Deforestation makes hurricanes more dangerous
This article was published in the New York Times.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Sept. 6 — There is no way to stop hurricanes, but two fierce storms that slammed ashore recently on the Caribbean coast of Mexico and Central America show the importance of forests and mangrove swamps in slowing them and lessening their human toll. “The trees secure the ground and offer a buffer from the storms,” said the Rev. José Andrés Tamayo, a Roman Catholic priest and leading Honduran environmental advocate. Forested areas are shrinking, particularly in Central America, and the environmental degradation is one of the reasons that even what would be a run-of-the-mill rainstorm elsewhere can cause deadly floods and mudslides here.
Hurricane Felix, with 160
mile-an-hour winds, burst ashore on Tuesday in one of the most forested
areas of northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. Although the storm
devastated coastal communities, authorities were crediting the trees
with sapping it of some of its strength. “The forests are obstacles for
the advance of hurricanes,” said President Manuel Zelaya Rosales of
Honduras. The bodies of 24 Miskitos, whose fishing boat had capsized,
were found Thursday near the coast of Honduras, said a federal lawmaker
for the Honduran region, Carolina Echeverría. Dozens of people were
missing. Damage reports have yet to come from at least 70 percent of
the villages and towns along the Nicaraguan coast, said a federal
disaster official, Jorge Ramón Arnesto Soza. The hurricane has killed
at least 71 people.
In Honduras, Mr. Zelaya acknowledged that
hurricanes had become more dangerous with the deforestation that has
ravaged the countryside. “We’re trying to correct this, but it will
take a decade or more.” In fact, Honduras has suffered the greatest
percentage of forest loss of any country in Latin America. Studies show
that it has lost more than a third of its forest cover since 1990.
Father Tamayo mobilizes local residents to stop illegal logging by
blocking highways and bridges and taking over logging operations in
Olancho Province, which has the largest reserves in the country. His
group, the Environmental Movement of Olancho, takes on interests,
including landowners and illegal loggers. “If we don’t get serious
we’re going to turn into a second Haiti,” he said.
Haiti, which
has been stripped of trees, remains a cautionary tale. The difference
between the lush forests in the Dominican Republic and the rocky
hillsides on the other side of Hispaniola in Haiti is clear. Hurricane
Jeanne in 2004 caused 19 deaths in the Dominican Republic and hundreds
in Haiti. On Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Ann Snook, of the Nature Conservancy,
said she was in her house in Bacalar when Hurricane Dean roared through
on Aug. 21. The forests helped weaken it, she said, potentially saving
lives.
Posted By Anne-Sophie Samjee at 2:22pm on September 11, 2007
Comments: 0
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