With his usual flair for the symbolic, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez last June unveiled his country’s reforestation program atop Mount Ávila, a peak that overlooks Caracas from El Ávila National Park. “If you are going to use a tree, you must do so with consciousness and respect for the environment,” he said during the ceremony. “If you cut down a tree you should plant 10 more.” The launch of the five-year program, intended to forest 370,000 acres (150,000 has), came seven years after torrential rains unleashed floods and landslides on Mount Ávila, killing 15,000 people and leaving 100,000 homeless in the Caracas area. Deforestation caused by illegal squatters and loggers played a major role in the disaster, experts say. Now, 11 months after it... [Log in to read more]