Honduran families working to conserve water and their environment

Church World Service and Comisión de Acción Social Menonita, Mennonite Social Action Commission (CASM)

In the Santa Barbara department of Honduras, 1,410 families are improving their lives and the environment through a Church World Service-supported project of the Mennonite Social Action Commission.

The families--half living in 10 rural communities of the Chiquila River basin and the other half in the municipality of Nueva Frontera--are learning about soil and water conservation and problems associated with deforestation in the region.

Cutting down forests to make way for crops or cattle raising is a detriment to the local environment. Rains carry soil from barren hills into streams and the Rio Chiquila itself, filling them with silt. The quality and quantity of water available to the families decreases as a result.

The community is working together to stop illegal wood cutting and exploitation of the forest. The families are learning conservation strategies to conserve the forest and soil--and their water supply. They are also learning better growing methods so they can produce basic grains, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and coffee, both for their own use and for sale in the market.

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Updated 4/9/2008

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