*****************
Reforestation is a major challenge for Haiti. Centuries of over-farming and poor agricultural methods have destroyed the region’s soil. … Planting trees here will help restore nutrients to the soil and teach local farmers how to use the land responsibly and profitably.
Plant Trees in Haiti
Background
Widespread deforestation is a critical concern in Haiti and poses a serious threat to the lives of Haitian citizens. This deforestation has led to flooding, dramatic rates of soil erosion, and subsequent declines in agricultural productivity. Haiti’s valuable coastal and marine resources have been degraded by sediment deposit and overfishing, resulting in considerable loss in biodiversity.
While the destruction of Haiti’s natural forests is a cause for serious concern, there are signs that tree cover is increasing. Recent analysis of satellite imagery suggests that, while pristine forests may only cover a small percentage of the country, a growing percentage is covered by new, less dense forest systems. This new growth is due largely to the increase in agroforestry systems across the country.
Key Challenges
– Wood-based fuels: The dependence on wood-based fuels, such as firewood, charcoal, and kindling, are the primary drivers of deforestation. Over 70 percent of Haiti’s annual energy consumption is supplied by approximately 4,000 kilotons of wood harvested annually in Haiti.
– Lack of alternative income sources: Rural communities in Haiti depend on wood from trees as a source of income. Farmers cut trees on their land, or common land, to earn money to pay for school fees or other unexpected expenses.
– Land use policies: Poor urban planning affects the availability of arable lands for viable agriculture. As a result, farmers move up the hillsides and practice unsustainable agricultural activities in areas that should otherwise be devoted to agroforestry and reforestation. This is due primarily to a lack of enforcement of best land use practices and policies.
– Limits to government capacity: The Ministry of Environment in Haiti is a relatively new agency, and similar to local, regional and other national institutions, has limited capacity to enforce environmental laws and regulations. Poorly defined or enforceable land-use strategies, complicated land-tenure issues, and poor water management systems leave Haitians at risk.
Reforestation initiatives by USAID collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment
Reforestation through agroforestry: The U.S. Feed the Future program in Haiti included a focus on a cacao agroforestry-based system, an approach that combines cacao trees with shade trees grown as part of the production system. Improved varieties and production techniques resulted in significant yield increase and improved quality, which makes farming more profitable and farmers more likely to plant tree crops. The total export value of cacao by beneficiary farmers was $6.8 million in 2019. In addition, Feed the Future has protected more than 23,000 hectares of degraded lands through the installation of productive and landscape restoration agroforestry systems. Together, these Feed the Future activities have permitted to plant more than six million fruit and forest seedlings since 2013.
In 2017, USAID launched its reforestation project focused in the North and North-East departments of Haiti aiming to plant five million trees and preserve 15,000 hectares of forest. The project will achieve also aims to
increase farmer investments in productive agroforestry systems, mangrove restoration and best land management practices.
Source: USAID/HAITI REFORESTATION FACT SHEET – JANUARY 2020
**************
SPECIAL FEATURE
Hugh Locke is president and co-founder of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA), a non- profit working to feed and reforest a renewed Haiti using a new agroforestry model in which smallholders plant trees to earn credits that they exchange for seed, tools, training and other agricultural and community services. Locke is also president of the Impact Farming Foundation, which is using a social business approach to transform smallholder farmers into a global force to combat climate change, improve food security and empower women.
He is the author of The Haiti Experiment, and writes and lectures extensively on smallholder farming. Hugh was mentored by the late environmentalist and forester Richard St. Barbe Baker, and currently serves as literary trustee for Baker’s estate. In that capacity Hugh was involved in supporting Paul Hanley’s recent biography, Man of the Trees: Richard St. Barbe Baker, the First Global Conservationist.
Smallholders Farmers Alliance (SFA)
http://www.haitifarmers.org/
The Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA) – co-founded by Hugh Locke and Timote George – applies a social enterprise model to help feed and reforest a renewed Haiti by establishing farmer cooperatives, building agricultural export markets, creating rural farm businesses and contributing to community development.
Our Organization
SFA is a Haitian non-profit foundation operating under the laws of Haiti and identified by NIF#: 000-049-555-8. We are currently in the process of applying for the final stage of registration with the Government of Haiti.
**************
Reforestation initiatives in Haiti:
Haiti Reforestation Partnership
For three decades Haiti Reforestation Partnership has helped our Haitian partners plant 15 million trees across 5,578 acres of mountains. Help us continue to plant for the future.
CODEP ‘COmprehensive DEvelopment Program’ is a loose community of rural neighborhoods, lakous. Begun in 1989 with support from Americans, CODEP has become a powerhouse of reforestation capability and performance. Over the years, the people of CODEP planted trees but their community has blossomed and now boasts a school, a micro-financing institution, various entrepreneurial enterprises, a store, and a church. Haiti Reforestation Partnership has been the US 501(c)3 entity that has provided legal cover, financial support, and expertise.
Haiti is now one of the most deforested countries in the world. In 1920, 60% of Haitian territory was covered with forests, compared to only 2% today. The massive loss of forest cover is mainly due to the production of charcoal, which is the main source of energy for the population. Deforestation leads to soil erosion, reduced productivity of arable land, increased droughts and desertification of territories. The dramatic passage of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 also destroyed a huge part of the remaining standing trees.
The Lamontagne de Jacmel section, located in the southeast department of Haiti, is facing serious erosion and advanced soil degradation due to deforestation by local populations to meet their energy needs, to generate some resources from the sale of coal and to open up new agricultural areas.
Reforest’Action, in partnership with the OJUCAH association, is developing a family agroforestry activity that consists of planting cashew trees for subsistence consumption and sale on local markets. The planted cashew trees will enrich a multitude of species already planted on the spot (mango trees, acerolas, avocados…) The Lavial project thus makes it possible to contribute both to household food security and to improving their incomes.
Years of ecological devastation in Haiti has led to some serious consequences including, but not limited to, varying levels of crop failure, flooding, soil erosion and water table depletion. In Haiti, the destructive impact that environmental systems can have is exacerbated due to the lack of protection that native forests and mangrove systems provide. To combat this, Eden Reforestation Projects has been working directly with local community leaders through partnerships, to plant, protect and guard trees to maturity. In doing so, Eden Reforestation Projects hopes to help restore the natural environment as well as provide agroforestry trees for food security.
**************
Videos
*****************
Series giving an in-depth overview of Haiti
**************
Statistics
https://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/archive/Haiti.htm
**************
Article
One of the most repeated facts about Haiti is a lie [13.10.2016]
**************
Report
Haiti has more forest than previously reported: land change 2000–2015 [26.10.2020]
Ose Pauleus1 and T. Mitchell Aide2
1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Rio Pidras, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
2 Department of Biology, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Rio Pidras, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
Estimates of forest cover have important political, conservation, and funding implications, but methods vary greatly. Haiti has often been cited as one of the most deforested countries in the world, yet estimates of forest cover range from <1% to 33%. Here, we analyze land change for seven land cover classes (forest, shrub land, agriculture/pasture, plantation, urban/infrastructure, barren land, and water) between 2000 and 2015 using Landsat imagery (30 m resolution) in the Google Earth Engine platform. Forest cover was estimated at 26% in 2000 and 21% in 2015. Although forest cover is declining in Haiti, our quantitative analysis resulted in considerably higher forest cover than what is usually reported by local and international institutions. Our results determined that areas of forest decline were mainly converted to shrubs and mixed agriculture/pasture. An important driver of forest loss and degradation could be the high demand for charcoal, which is the principal source of cooking fuel. Our results differ from other forest cover estimates and forest reports from national and international institutions, most likely due to differences in forest definition, data sources, spatial resolution, and methods. In the case of Haiti, this work demonstrates the need for clear and functional definitions and classification methods to accurately represent land use/cover change. Regardless of how forests are defined, forest cover in Haiti will continue to decline unless corrective actions are taken to protect remaining forest patches. This can serve as a warning of the destructive land use patterns and can help us target efforts for better planning, management, and conservation.
*************
The history of deforestation in Haiti
The rapid deforestation of Haiti began during the colonial period facilitated by slavery of captive Africans, and was intensified when coffee was introduced in 1730. Upland forests were cleared and fifty years later, a quarter of the colony’s land was under coffee. The system of plantation monoculture and clean -cultivation between rows of coffee, indigo, tobacco, and sugarcane exhausted soil nutrients and led to rapid erosion.
Following the Haitian revolution, the government was forced to export timber throughout the 19th century to pay off a 90 million franc indemnity to France for the “loss” equivalent to the ‘value’ of the formerly enslaved population. The timber installments had to be made for over a century to cover the original amount plus interest. Though no longer under colonial rule, land remained unequally distributed, and most people were granted access only to marginal slopes between 200 and 600m above the fertile plains and below the zones of coffee production. These hillside soils were particularly susceptible to erosion when cleared for farming.
Deforestation sped up after Hurricane Hazel drowned trees throughout the island in 1954. Beginning in about 1954, concessionaires stepped up their logging operations in response to Port-au-Prince’s intensified demand for charcoal. Deforestation accelerated, which had already become a problem because of environmentally unsound agricultural practices, rapid population growth, and increased competition over land.[3] Techniques that could make forestry more productive for fuel like coppicing and pollarding were not used.
Soil erosion
The most direct effect of deforestation is soil erosion. An estimated 15,000 acres (61 km2) of topsoil are washed away each year, with erosion also damaging other productive infrastructure such as dams, irrigation systems, roads, and coastal marine ecosystems.
****************
General video on travelling in Haiti
