In 20 years Nicaragua could be left without forests, or at least that is the projection made by academics, researchers and environmentalists consulted by the Voice of America, based on studies on the logging that occurs in this Central American country.
Experts argue that “there has always been a lack of attention to the rational management of forests” and that this has been compounded by “corrupt” policies that grant concessions to logging companies that are responsible for logging even in protected areas in Nicaragua.
“The corruption process that exists in Nicaragua in the forestry sector generates a deterioration of the conditions and forest coverage at the country level,” he stressed. VOA environmentalist Amaru Ruiz.
Ruiz indicates that Nicaragua currently has 24% of its territorial surface covered by forest, but there has been an increase in the deforestation process that ranges between 140,000 and 170,000 hectares of deforestation per year in the country.
“In 20 years, Nicaragua will be left without the forests currently in considerably reduced areas and in protected areas,” warned Ruiz. Nicaragua is “one of the countries with the fastest deforestation rate at a regional level,” he said.
Nicaraguan scientist and former environmental advisor to Daniel Ortega’s government, Jaime Incer Barquero, mentions that “there has always been a lack of attention to the rational management of forests” in the country.
“People cut what they want, when they want, and because they want. Sometimes they obtain or buy permits from mayors who do not really recognize the importance of the environment. Other owners are actually cutting down those forests on their properties and making money from the wood. There is no control in this regard,” Barquero lamented.
The scientist said that to date there is no educational program “from any governor, mayor or provincial leader who is really doing something to promote the conservation of the last pines that we still have.”
“It is a progressive process that has been going on for a long time. The pine’s capacity to regenerate has fallen far short of the number of pines that are artificially cut down for commercial use. I would think that in 20 or 30 years, we will no longer have pine forests,” added Barquero.
The Ortega government has stated to international organizations that Nicaragua and its institutions “have been exemplary in their mission to care for Mother Earth.”
In fact, in March 2024, the Nicaraguan government claimed to the Secretariat of the Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, for the withdrawal of millions of funds intended to contribute to the protection and defense of protected reserves in Nicaragua.
The Ortega government claimed that it was the first country to sign the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth and Humanity, “also being consistent with the recognition of the property rights of Indigenous and Afro-descendant Communities.”
However, experts believe that Nicaragua’s policies are actually a “make-up” and indicate that the outlook could be “desolate” if the situation in Haiti, where most of the forests have disappeared, happens again.
“Something that has happened, especially in countries that have lost their forests, like Haiti, is that it generates greater poverty and worse social conditions. Forests in many countries represent tourist sites and by not having those conditions, those services are lost,” lamented environmentalist Amaru Ruiz.
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