Forest - Haiti Observer Blog

Haiti University Faculty of Law students are on a mission to save the Pine Forest of Haiti. A lush environment of stately trees and riotous wild flowers, it is in danger of becoming extinct through abandonment and misuse. The forest is a victim of deforestation, in which an ingrained habit, born of need, motivates rural residents to hew the wood to produce charcoal, so they may heat their homes and cook meals.

A non-government agency (NGA), USAID PAPH, has joined the students to produce a documentary film, which depicts them planting saplings as part of a rite to highlight their concerns about losing Pine Forest. During the program at the end of a three-day conference, attended by members of Parliament, they performed poetry readings and sang their country's national songs.

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The long and wizened history of Foret des Pins, an expanse of forest consisting of coniferous tropical and sub-tropical plants, involves widespread deforestation for varying reasons over different points in time. Once, in the first years of the twentieth century, the Pine Forest was about 32,000 hectares, today, only 6,000 hectares remain.

Foret des Pins, which straddles the border of Haiti and neighboring Dominican Republic, has been ravaged through the years by natural disasters such as floods, landslides and earthquakes. It's also suffered under the hands of the government and the population. Widespread illegal logging led to a decree in 1937 declaring the forest as a 'special' site, and a law in 1962 against the clearing of sloping land. These steps did little to stop the cutting down of trees during the Duvalier years as well as the damage caused by farmers who clear the land to create space for their produce.

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The island of Haiti was once blanketed by forests. Foreign countries, though, raped the land over many decades. During the era after America was founded, forests had decreased 5%, and during the French occupation, they declined another 45%. By 1956, only 20% remained. By the end of the 1980s, the percentage dropped to 2% left of forested terrain.

Zile Ayiti te yon fwa rekouvèr pa forè. Peyi etranje yo, fe kadejak sou peyi a pandan plizie deseni. Pandan epòk apre Amerik te fonde, forè te diminye 5%, ak pandan okipasyon Franse, yo te diminye yon lòt 45%. Le ou rive nan 1956, sèlman 20% rete. Rive nan fen 1980 yo, pousantaj la tonbe nan 2% kite nan tèren forè.

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The Clinton Foundation, Virgin Unite and Yunus Social Business have teamed up to re-forest Haiti. The three entity's, backed by three of the world's most influential men, former US President Bill Clinton, billionaire Richard Branson and microfinance creator and peace prize winner Mohammed Yunus, seek not just to replant what has been lost over the past 500 years, but to provide employment, timber, and food while creating a model for programs that can bring positive change to the country. The initiative, called Haiti Forest, has the promise of ten thousand hectares of land from the Agriculture and Environment Ministries in the Artibonite and northern regions of Haiti, and is said to be a Social Business, promoting social benefit over privatized profiteering.

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