Mosquito Coast, Nicaragua

  

The Ecological Battalion is part of efforts to protect Nicaragua's natural resources

Deep inside the verdant and sweltering vegetation of Nicaragua's Mosquito

Coast, a specially trained army unit is waging a new kind of war against a new type of enemy.

Operation Green Gold is the inaugural mission of Nicaragua's newly formed Ecological Battalion.

It is Central America's first concerted effort to seek a military-backed solution to the threats of climate change.

The green guard, a unit of 580 environmental soldiers,

recently won its first "battlefield victory" by netting 111,800 cubic

feet (3,165 cubic metres) of illegal lumber felled by loggers.

The trees were chopped down in Cerro Wawashang, a nature

reserve that is being plundered to supply the black market for

construction materials.

The eco-battalion, working in conjunction with state

prosecutors and forestry officials, discovered the lumber contraband

hidden under netting and brush to avoid detection from the air.

The troops are now reportedly on the trail of the criminal