Socialists may have waved red flags as far back as the 19th century, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's plans for 21st century socialism in Nicaragua look a bit more green.

Chávez's alternative trade and financing pact with leftist Latin leaders, known as ALBA, is releasing $2 million to fund research to protect Central America's largest body of water, Lake Nicaragua, according to Nicaragua's environment minister, Juana Argenal.

The feasibility study is part of a larger $66 million plan to clean up the lake and reforest large swaths of woods that have been cut in the lake's basin in the past two decades, according to the minister.

“We have to set limits,” said Argenal, adding that the funds will be used to order the lands around Lake Nicaragua, which will in turn help the ministry enforce Nicaragua's environmental laws surrounding the lake. Argenal said the ministry and Nicaragua's municipalities will administer the funds.

Argenal is meeting with environmental officials from Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and the tiny Caribbean Island of Dominica this week as part of efforts to unite environmental policy between ALBA countries. The meeting, which began yesterday in the Las Mercedes hotel in Managua and lasts until May 14, will also include a tour of Managua, San Juan River and a trip to Ometepe Island, a unique volcanic island in Lake Nicaragua.