Icf

Environmental officials discovered an orange, oily chemical substance in a drainage canal and sewage system near San Alejo in Tela, allegedly from an agribusiness facility run by Grupo Jaremar, along with barrels of the same material and structures apparently built to contain the spill.

The Forest Conservation Institute (ICF) discovered environmental damage in the buffer zone of Sierra de Agalta National Park in Olancho, including about 1.5 hectares of illegal land clearing, agricultural plots, and evidence of fires set to prepare land for planting.

Edwin Vega, a forestry official investigating an oil spill from an agroindustrial plant owned by the Jaremar Group in the Blanca Jeannette Kawas National Park, says he was fired before completing his technical report, preventing notification of authorities as required by law.

Civil-society organizations and lawmakers in Cortés are challenging the Forestry Conservation Institute's plan to redefine the boundaries of the El Merendón protected forest reserve, arguing it would benefit private real-estate projects while the reserve supplies 80% of San Pedro Sula's water and is vital to regional biodiversity.

Police rescued an endangered howler monkey abandoned in a backpack by two suspects who fled during a patrol in San Pedro Sula; the animal was transferred to the National Forestry Institute for care.

Honduras recorded 1,007 forest fires during the extended dry season, scorching 93,634 hectares nationwide, with Olancho suffering the worst damage and officials warning of serious risks to water supplies.

A decree transferring authority over the El Merendón mountain range to the national forestry agency ICF has alarmed the local conservation group Guardianes del Merendón, which warns of deforestation and threats to San Pedro Sula's water supply.

Honduran Armed Forces, coordinating with the Forestry Conservation Institute and local schools, planted 5,000 pine seedlings across reforestation sites in Olancho, Lempira, and the Distrito Central ahead of Arbor Day.

Honduras's Forest Conservation Institute (ICF) confirmed that the El Merendón protected reserve near San Pedro Sula will remain under municipal management following public opposition to a proposal that would have changed its legal status.