For decades, inequitable land distribution, slash-and-burn farming, and uncontrolled erosion have turned entire regions in Latin America into desert, and forced hundreds of thousands of farmers into towns and cities.

This has created a new kind of migrant: the environmental refugee.

But two programs in southern Honduras are looking at ways to help restore the damaged soils, and keep farmers on their lands.

One is a grassroots effort that could serve as a model for small-scale development projects. The other is a U.S.-funded plan that is trying to change the way people farm across the entire country.

Narration is by Edward James Olmos, who hosted a series of 13 half-hour Vanishing Homelands specials.