Money Won't Solve the Basic Honduras Problems that "Mitch" Only Revealed

Guest Opinion --
Relief and Reform

                           BY:  ANDREW REDING

    ( Pacific News Service associate editor. Mr. Reding directs the North
                 America Project of the World Policy Institute.)

With as many as one in four of their inhabitants rendered homeless by
Hurricane Mitch, Honduras and Nicaragua are asking the global community to forgive billions of dollars in loans -- then lend again to rebuild their countries.

But no international relief package will offer any protection against
similar tragedies in the future unless it is accompanied by drastic changes in government policies. In particular, these should involve land reform, restricting construction in flood zones, and demilitarization.

The devastation wrought by Mitch was no mere act of God, but a far more
human tragedy. Misguided government policies and poor farming practices --
the two are interrelated -- had already pushed the region to the brink of
ecological collapse. The torrential rains only gave it a final push.

A basic tenet of sound land use is to cover steep slopes with vegetation to
prevent erosion.

In much of Honduras and Nicaragua, poor farmers without access to
cultivatable land in the lowlands and valleys have stripped pine forests off
hillsides and run their furrows practically to the summits. This has turned
the rivers brown with eroded topsoil and made the region exceptionally
vulnerable to flooding.

In the vast rain forests of eastern Honduras and Nicaragua, landless peasants have been extending the agricultural frontier by slashing the rain forest, then burning the fallen vegetation to release minerals into the thin soil. When the minerals are exhausted, cattle ranchers take over, and grazing livestock further degrades what is left of the soil.

The soil loses not only its fertility, but its ability to act as a sponge.  Rainwater runs off quickly, eroding the soil, silting hydroelectric dams, and causing calamitous flash floods that sweep away peasants' homes.

This is why it makes no sense for the international community to help Honduras and Nicaragua rebuild what was destroyed. For aid to be eaningful,
it must be linked to changes in government policies -- and that means addressing the now-dormant issue of land reform.

Peasants are moving onto mountain slopes and into the rain forest because
they lack access to the large arable tracts of land in the lowlands -- land
now held in ranches and estates by a small, privileged fraction of the population.

Much of that land is used for cattle farming, which requires 10 times as much acreage as grain farming to produce the same caloric output. Using international relief funds to expropriate idle or underused lands would relieve much of the pressure on uplands and rainforests.

Home construction should also be prohibited in flood plains, as it is in much of the developed world. It is senseless to rebuild a home on a site where it faces almost certain destruction.

Central American governments should have to bear their share of rebuilding
costs by cutting wasteful spending. Foremost on the hit list should be their
military establishments, which divert precious resources from social priorities.

No Central American country faces any meaningful external military threat or
any domestic guerrilla insurgency. Costa Rica and Panama, which have already abolished their militaries, enjoy the highest standard of living in the
region.

The international community should offer a generous reconstruction plan -- a
plan tied to land reform, wise land-use planning, and regional demilitarization.
                      _______________________________

About the author:  Andrew Reding is Pacific News Service associate editor.    He directs the North America Project of the World Policy Institute.

         (See also "How Honduras Built An Infrastructure Catastrophe")

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