CABEI finances feasibility studies for the creation of the Honduran Forestry Development Fund
CABEI allocates US$337,500.00 to promote investment and mitigate climate change in the country’s rural forest regions.
Tegucigalpa, July 26, 2016. - In order to finance and strengthen investment for sustainable and productive forestry development in Honduras, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) approved US$337,500.00 in technical cooperation to conduct feasibility studies that will lead to the creation of the Honduran Forestry Development Fund (FFF).
The preliminary studies will be used to design a development fund that will boost investment in forestry production. The fund seeks to create suitable investment conditions in rural forest regions to energize the country’s local and regional development.
The Fund also seeks to promote the recovery of degraded land and the generation of environmental externalities, such as CO2 reduction, climate change adaptation and mitigation and hydrological regulation. In addition, the Fund will promote the country’s integral participation in initiatives to Reduce Emissions caused by Forest Deforestation and Degradation (REDD +) and in the COP 21 Initiative 20x20, which is a country-led effort that seeks the restoration of 20 million hectares of degraded land by 2020.
CABEI Executive Vice President Attorney Alejandro Rodríguez Zamora emphasized that the Bank’s 2015-2019 Institutional Strategy "Integrating Sustainable Development and Competitiveness" includes environmental sustainability and reducing vulnerability to natural disasters caused by climate change as one of its strategic social development objectives.
He also added that during the 2010-2014 period, CABEI approved a total of US$5.11 billion, equivalent to 67% of total approvals for the period, to projects that promote climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in the region’s countries.
