"You don't see any butterflies, you don't hear any birds. There is just a horrible silence and unbearable heat where ancestral forests once stood. It's an apocalyptic scene."

-Rosalia Gutierrez, Nicaragua's environment ministry, aftermath of Hurricane Felix, September 2007

Ecological Impact of Hurricane Felix

• Felix devastated a tropical eco-system that had been brought to the brink by exploitive forestry and the impact of agrarian reform.
• The response to Felix will determine the future of the RAAN forest.
• Harvesting the hurricane wood will achieve carbon sequestration for the life of the product. Leaving the trees to decompose on the ground will cause the emission of greenhouse gases, such as methane and CO2.
• Reforestation by both plantations and natural forest re-growth will restore the RAAN forest at a time that Nicaragua appears committed to prevent future exploitation.
• The tropical forest is the best land use for the RAAN, providing more jobs, more local industry, and more taxes than agriculture.