GEO Haiti 2010

State of the Environment Report 2010
6.2.4 Vegetation
The extraction of building materials from the
mountains requires direct contact with the
bedrock, that is to say the subsoil area. In order to
achieve this, vegetation is inevitably destroyed.
But enterprises do not always comply with
these rules, as already mentioned, despite the
existence of legislation with explicit prohibitions,
also meaning that mining activities are under no
protection or rehabilitation programme.
The obvious result of this lack of management
within the quarrying sector is, among other
things, the total disappearance of vegetation. It
is no exaggeration to speak of “a lunar landscape”
when speaking of quarry sites.
6.3 Serious Consequences
6.3.1 Destabilization of the
Coastal Ecosystem
Quarries provide raw materials which, depending
on their use, will undergo transformations and
waste will be produced from the process. This
waste, discarded indiscriminately, will be washed
down to the sea during rainfall, via drains. Some
say that this process contributes to the silting and
sedimentation of coastal and marine areas 51 .
This results in the migration of marine animals
and the destruction of their spawning grounds.
Researchers say that, for example, conches have
migrated to less turbid water (SAFFACHE, 2006).
There is concern that fishing in Haiti has suffered
severely from this problem and that coral reefs
are also affected. There is not much quantitative
information on the subject, however, it has been
confirmed that sedimentation in Haitian waters
is causing the necrosis of coral reefs. (Ibid and
DESS, 2002).
PELOSATO (2005) highlights the decline of coral
reefs, together with a reduction of level of light
penetration, and a decrease of photosynthesis as
well as in the level of oxygenation in the water.
With specific reference to Port-au-Prince, this
turbidity and extreme pollution could have caused
the death of the coral reefs. Figure 65 shows the
endangered ecosystems in the Gulf of Gonâve.
6.3.2 Falling Rocks and Landslides
Geological instability, resulting from the
disorganized mining activities in quarries,
sometimes leads to telluric movements. In fact,
rockslides and landslides are very frequent,
causing situations often bordering on disaster.
Quarries can easily be transformed into dangerous
places to work. GEORGES 52 say that landslides
occur every day in the quarries, while SAFFACHE
and al. (2002) state “that often, dwellings as well
as workers are all swept away”.
Figure 65: Endangered ecosystems of the Gulf of
Gonâve
Source: DESSE, 2003
6.3.3 Erosion
Mountainsides and riverbeds are ideal places
for the extraction of construction materials
however their geological and natural recovery
process takes a long time. Moreover, there is no
mechanism nation-wide for the rehabilitation of
these environments.
Therefore, the degradation caused by the
extraction itself is compounded by erosion from
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51
RÉPUBLIQUE D’HAÏTI/SNU, 2002
52
Facts relating to the development of the mining sector in Haiti in UNDP/ECMU 1999.