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Haiti's environment needs long-term help

Experts say deforestation in Haiti -- leaving the nation with less than 2 percent forest cover -- contributes to erosion that undermines food output.
By Alister Doyle, Reuters
Tue, Jan 19 2010 at 10:18 AM EST
Read more: DEFORESTATION, NATURAL DISASTERS

TREE COVER: Steep slopes and deforestation increase the chance of flash floods and mudslides in Haiti. (Photo: Benjamin Rusnak/ZUMA Press)
OSLO — Long-term efforts to help Haiti recover from the earthquake will have to reverse environmental damage such as near-total deforestation that threatens food and water supplies for the Caribbean nation, experts say.
 
The focus is now on emergency aid — Haitian officials estimate that between 100,000 and 200,000 people died in the Jan. 12 quake. But President Rene Preval urged donors on Monday also to remember the country's long-term needs.
 
Experts say deforestation in Haiti stretching back to the Duvalier dictatorships — leaving the nation with less than 2 percent forest cover — contributes to erosion that undermines food output by the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
 
"We need to work ... to create mechanisms that reinforce better use of natural resources," said Asif Zaidi, operations manager of the post-conflict and disaster management branch of the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP).
 
Before the quake, UNEP had decided on a two-year project from 2010 to bolster Haiti's environment, from forests to coral reefs, spokesman Nick Nuttall said.
 
Among quick measures for donors could be to provide propane to encourage a shift from charcoal-burning stoves. That could be backed in the longer-term by reforestation and investments in renewable energies such as solar or wind power, Zaidi said.
 
"If you have forest cover, when heavy rain takes place it doesn't erode the land. It doesn't result in flash floods," he said. Hurricanes are more damaging in Haiti than in neighboring Dominican Republic, largely because of Haiti's lack of forests.
 
Land rights
Another big problem is that Haiti has failed to develop strong governance, such as clear laws on land rights, after misrule under dictatorship from 1957 to 1986 by Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc."
 
"It is crucial that the priority of boosting agricultural production in the country is not forgotten in the rubble and chaos," the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization said in a statement. Most Haitians live in rural areas.
 
British-based risk consultancy Maplecroft lists Haiti as number two of 166 nations by their vulnerability to climate change, behind only Somalia and ahead of Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.
 
"What stands out most for Haiti is resource security — food security and water security," said Fiona Place, risk analyst at Maplecroft of the ranking that rates countries according to their vulnerability to natural hazards, from droughts to floods.
 
Years of weak government were also a shortcoming.
 
Donors have long sought to help Haiti. But a project to plant trees worldwide, for instance, has largely bypassed Haiti.
 
A U.N.-backed campaign registers 7.8 billion planted trees — more than one for every person on the planet. But it lists just 140,000 in Haiti which has a population of 10 million.
 
And Haiti, like many poor nations, has missed out on projects for promoting carbon-cutting technologies in developing nations that have channeled big investments to China and India as part of the fight against global warming.
 
 
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Posted By Chiropractic Marketing - Sun, Feb 07 2010 at 9:39 AM EST

Environment

The environment refers to the air, water and land in which people, animals, and plants live. So human beings, animals, plants, air, water and soil are the main elements of the environment.

Posted By jackie28 - Sun, Jan 24 2010 at 3:37 AM EST

Send Haitians condoms first

It is sad what happened.

But, first thing that needs to be sent Haitians are condoms.
In spite of their lack of money and resources, they keep on bringing kids they can not sustain. Why? Average women have five kids whuich then she sell or send to beg in the streets of the Dominican Republic, another poor country as well.
THey need to stop being a borden to other poor nations.

Posted By MotherLodeBeth - Sun, Jan 24 2010 at 1:52 AM EST

Follow the money and the future

How about making sure every penny given to aid Haiti actually gets to Haiti and for long term solutions!!! Literally billions have been given to Haiti over the last dozen years and yet you cannot see where its been used. Do not give it to the government, but only to specific programs that will replant the barren land, build off the grid hospitals, schools. Unless you have an educated population they cannot survive for the future.

Posted By Frank Zaski - Fri, Jan 22 2010 at 9:48 PM EST

Environmental Solutions for Haiti

Some solutions for Haiti could be:
1. Reforest the hills with something that people won’t cut down for charcoal and also provide a living - perhaps coffee, bananas, other food crops. Ones that can be exported and provide more local employment. Or merely plant brush which would be stabilizing and visually appealing.
2. Provide solar ovens for cooking. They would also cut demand for charcoal.
3. Build solar or wind power facilities in Haiti. Renewable energy would provide.... More

Posted By Lino Guedes Pires - Wed, Jan 20 2010 at 1:20 PM EST

Bamboo for earth quakes

I think it is time to start to think about bamboo as means to build houses at instable areas alike Haiti.

How about?

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