John Leary, who has been heading TREES' programs in West Africa and Haiti, was given a thorough overview of problems and opportunities of humid tropical agriculture in Belize and Honduras. He was familiarized with agroforestry tree species popular in Central America, as well as the common agricultural practices of both subsistence farmers and the large corporations active in the region. John met with most of TREES' technicians in the two countries, as well as many individual farmers and local leaders. John was able to trade technical knowledge concerning agroforestry design, erosion control, improving water turbidity, grafting and propagation of a wide variety of fruit trees to local technicians, volunteers, and farmers.

John was amazed to find that, unlike in Africa and Haiti, the collection of fuelwood did not seem to be a major problem. The use of gas for cooking was actually quite common throughout cities, and even when we did interview women collecting firewood, they had solely selected dead wood found lying on the ground. Though wood remains a primary source of fuel in rural areas, logging, cattle, and brush fires were reported to be the leading causes of the degraded state of forest resources.

Another large problem/opportunity was the sheer lack of diversity in fields. We observed individual monocultures of orange trees, palm trees, pineapples, bananas, pines, and despite the sheer scarcity of vegetable production, we saw one entire valley covered with nothing but cabbage. For pest control, soil conservation, and several other reasons, all of these fields necessitate the inclusion of a variety of plants, including tree-based food crops and multipurpose fast growing trees (MPFG), to have a chance of sustaining production over the next ten years. This diversification would not only increase production per acre, but it would consistently employ a small workforce throughout the year. Much of this will be explained in the Forest Garden video.

John also picked up plenty of technical knowledge that will be useful for other TREES' projects in Haiti and Africa, including simple biogas systems and construction with compacted mud walls.

We met with John Coleman and Mateo Palma who will continue clearing the land and starting seedbeds. We were able to purchase 800 seed bags (9x7) and get rice hull compost, soil, and ash with which to fill them. Much of the seed of the MPFG trees is already on hand and three other species are at Customs office in Punta Gorda.

The area to be planted will be approximately 3.7 acres, of which more than 2 acres will be planted in this first year. After meeting with several local farmers and soliciting ideas, we believe the following species should be integrated into the program:

We are closely coordinating this program with "Green and Black", the Toledo Cacao Growers' Association, which now has more than 1,000 family members and is annually marketing over 200,000 pounds of dry cacao beans. The Association has 32 extension technicians in the field. We met twice with Gregor Hargrove, the Project Manager, to familiarize him with our program and to begin the integration of TREES' program utilizing fast growing, multipurpose trees to sustain the quality and production of traditional cacao varieties.

There are several schools, other organizations, and some private businesses who also see the need to save the rapidly diminishing tree cover of the Maya Mountains and have offered the use of their infrastructure to help build the program. We have several schools involved in starting seedbed nurseries and Mr. Mateo Palma, who teaches at Little Flower School, is offering to bring the "Tree Pals" program to other schools in the Toledo District.

We also met with Alfredo and Yvonne Villoria at their Dem Dats Doin farm near Punta Gorda to get their ideas on the forest garden concept and integrating species together – they have successfully integrated almost 100 tree species on their farm. Besides getting their contributions to the Forest Garden video, we found a great source of logwood seeds, Haematoxylum campechianum, of which we could plant over 50,000 through a network of beekeepers in northern Haiti for both its flowers and the dye extracted from the wood.

As the program develops we intend to ask Peace Corps in both Belize and Honduras to provide one or more Volunteers to assist the extension program, to bring this technology to as many upland communities as possible.

Ideally, to provide training to new volunteers, to provide the greatest possible benefit to concerned communities, local organizations and individuals, the program in Honduras would include direct participation by three Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs). Two of these would be third year PCVs with training and experience in sustainable land management, agro-forestry and other related issues. They would be assigned to local municipalities, environmentally-concerned organizations and agencies, while also assisting in pre-service and in-service training of new Volunteers. These would be supported for a period of one year through grants by TREES FOR THE FUTURE .

A third Volunteer would be assigned by Peace Corps/Honduras, to assist the efforts of AMUPROLAGO to save the lake and the three supporting watersheds. This volunteer would ideally have training and experience in small business management as well as environmental issues in order to provide the necessary assistance to the five (5) involved municipalities and to commercial businesses who have joined to help save the lake.

Each of these Volunteers would have one or more local counterparts and would additionally assist other PCVs working in related programs. Because Peace Corps/ Honduras has cut back its agro-forestry program, we find more interest among PCVs working in the water/sanitation and upland crop programs.

The two volunteers working with the Partnership grants would ideally be assigned in Siguatepeche and around Sta. Barbara. With a third PCV working on the east side of the Lake Yojoa at AMUPROLAGO, the combined effort would be able to assist the greatest number of local families to restore degraded land to sustainable use. We would also be able to provide more assistance the COMIXMUL efforts in Taulabe and Nacaome, and to other organizations starting programs in the Choluteca area.

We acquired over 4 hours of footage, more than enough to produce two videos. The first video will explain the many players in watershed maintenance, emphasizing that not only must many sectors and groups work together, but with sound training, an effective and economically viable watershed management scheme is possible. While we spent more time analyzing the issues of watershed maintenance affecting the communities sharing Lake Yojoa in central Honduras, the scope of the video will also delve into upland and lowland communities in Belize. Local farmers, ranchers, hotels, restaurants, fishermen, and other groups in both countries are all very concerned about the problem and are showing interest in joining together in a land/watershed management scheme that will be economically and environmentally beneficial. By visiting sites between the tops of mountains and the coastline, we were able to get a good analysis of the environmental concerns, and by interviewing businessmen, project managers, and local communities, we were able to get a solid understanding of both the social ramifications of poor watershed management and plans for the future.

Traveling along the highways of both Belize and Honduras, the need for diversifying agricultural production with a forest garden concept could not have been more evident. Throughout southern Belize and in much of Honduras, the A horizon, the top layer of soil, was very thin and sometimes nearly completely eroded. This layer is continually burnt and very little organic matter is given back to these soils. Beneath pine forests, on cattle ranches, and crop fields, the fields, brush fires and cattle grazing are ruining the soil. The plantations of oranges, palms, bananas, and pineapples are grown on soils that simply cannot sustain production without returning organic matter to the soil. Combining the needs of soil conservation with a system of agriculture that provides marketable products throughout the year and protects lands from hurricanes, the idea of the Forest garden has evolved. Peace Corps trainers call the idea stacked polyculture and the cacao growers refer to it as the perfect acre , but all groups have identified the same type of land use that involves the vertical integration of crops so that they may be harvested on several levels. This video with explain how many farmers have integrated a wide array of field crops, trees, vegetables, flowers, animals, and fruit trees in pieces of land that not only produce more marketable products but also recycle nutrients back into the soil.

A number of potential investors, concerned both about the environmental conditions in the Developing World and about the issue of global climate change, have approached us asking if we see possibilities for investing in projects in these countries. We respond that there are many such opportunities, often recognized locally but unfulfilled for lack of capital, technology, markets or other limitations.

Our response has always been that TREES FOR THE FUTURE , as a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization, has a charter, and a mission, that limit our activities, even those that would bring about important social and environmental benefit to the communities involved. These opportunities could well be opportunities for outside investors that would bring attractive earnings to investors and great economic improvement to the local communities.

On this trip, we identified and explored several such investments. We recommended against actual purchase of land, except in a few specific instances, and recommended other alternatives that offer long-term tenure of wide land areas. The opportunities we saw with important investment, as well as social and economic benefit to the communities, were in the following categories:

a) Restoration of a highly degraded forest reserve of 2,000 acres+ through grants from international donor agencies, with potential benefit as a carbon-offsetting "sink."

b) Assistance in developing marketing and production credit systems for agro-forestry products including sustainable timber for export as well as local use.

c) Development of a municipal program to greatly reduce pollution from organic materials of a large clear water lake.

d) Development of an environmentally sustainable system of livestock production that would greatly increase productivity and profits for local producers while converting most (75%) of their lands into sustainable timber production.

e) Purchase of a large track of land (1,800+ acres) that is highly degraded and restoring it to sustainable timber production.

f) Establishing one or more centers that would market technical and planning assistance to local growers to assist converting unprofitable land usages to environmentally sustainable productivity.

g) Assisting in the development of production and marketing of organically-produced fruits and vegetables, primarily for export to Europe and North America.

h) An international donor agency currently seeking proposals for a large grant to support environmentally sustainable development throughout Central America

In all of the possibilities described above, there are important incentives from local government, and potential financial assistance from major international donor agencies. US laws also offer ways in which funding can be leveraged and degraded/abandoned public lands can be accessed without direct purchase.

While the US is not a signatory of the Kyoto Agreement, most European countries are and their major energy users (together with many in the USA) are seeking organizations with technical expertise in developing carbon offsetting projects in the world's developing communities.