GEO Haiti 2010

State of the Environment Report 2010
1. Policy Responses
Generally, environmental management is
commonly perceived as a distinct issue,
unaffected by decisions made in other sectors,
and operating according to its own, particular
codes and rules. However, it is clear that some
policies, adopted apparently without any referral
to the environment, can nevertheless significantly
contribute to its modification, just as much as
specific environmental policies.
1.1 Public Environmental Policy
Haiti was actively involved in the renewed interest
on sustainable environmental management
which emerged throughout the world during the
turbulent decade of the 1970’s. The numerous
conferences and warning admonitions, during
that decade and the first half of the following
one, attest to this. However, the environment only
started to become an everyday concern in the
second half of the 1980’s.
The 1990’s played a crucial role in bringing
about awareness and general involvement on
environmental management. In fact, more and
more people are becoming active in environmental
management in Haiti, due to the dual effect of
the country’s worsening environmental crisis
and the media coverage of the international
efforts to protect the environment following the
“United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development”(UNCED) (also known as the Rio
Summit) in 1992.
It became apparent that there was a need for
organised action. Thus, an «Environmental Action
Plan» (PAE) was developed by the Ministry of
Environment, created in 1994. Today, the PAE is still
the only document where the Haitian government
has specifically identified programmes and
provided guidelines towards the management of
the environment.
However, more than 10 years later, none of these
programmes has been systematically implemented,
thus making it impossible to evaluate the actions
outlined in the PAE.
An environmental management plan should be
structured around the development objectives of
a country. In fact, the definition of its major pillars
should, at the very least, be aligned with its choice
of development paradigm. However, there were
none at the time the PAE was first drafted and it
was not until 2008 that a “National Development
and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (DSNCRP)”,
valid until 2010, was produced. The document set
out the following environmental policies:
• Promotion of alimentary and economic
security of Haitian communities, security of
the ecosystem as well as the implementation
of sound and effective inter-institutional
coordination mechanisms to ensure a
harmonious management and cohabitation
between the population and environmental
resources;
• Management of the environment on a
partnership basis, forging alliances with the civil
society to achieve responsible and sustainable
resource management, yet without neglecting
the issues of regulation, oversight, follow-up
and monitoring.
Since 1996, the Haitian government has signed
several international protocols and conventions as
listed in the table below.
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