GEO Haiti 2010
GEO Haiti 2010
GEO Haiti 2010
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State of the Environment Report <strong>2010</strong><br />
Territoriales), once in charge of national security,<br />
was responsible for enforcing the law against<br />
environmental infractions, carried out through<br />
the Army. Today, this ministry still participates in<br />
environmental management. There are also agents<br />
known as health officers and under the authority<br />
of the Ministry of Health, who are involved in this<br />
task. In 1979, the Institute for the Preservation of<br />
National Heritage (ISPAN), an autonomous agency,<br />
was created under the aegis of the Ministry of<br />
Tourism, and in 1988, the National Heritage<br />
Commission was founded with the Director of<br />
ISPAN as its President.<br />
Additionally, agencies, such as OPPJ and DRIPP,<br />
were allowed to administer particular development<br />
projects, under the supervision of the MARNDR.<br />
The establishment of the Ministry of Environment<br />
in 1994 added another stakeholder to the sector of<br />
environmental management in <strong>Haiti</strong>. It should be<br />
noted that more than 15 years later, this ministry still<br />
has no organic law which becomes an obstacle in<br />
the performing of its duties. The 2006 Framework<br />
Decree on Environmental Management of 2006,<br />
far from being an organic law, however establishes<br />
the responsibilities of this Ministry in relation to<br />
the other stakeholders in the sector.<br />
In addition to the MDE, there are other public<br />
participating institutions, such as the National<br />
Institute for Land Reform (INARA), the National<br />
Centre of Geo-Spatial Information (CNIGS),<br />
(formerly the Remote Detection and Geo-Spatial<br />
Information System Unit-UTSIG), as well as the<br />
Economic and Social Assistance Fund (FAES),<br />
which are the most long standing. Quite recently,<br />
the MDE set up a structure which should evolve<br />
into the National Environment and Vulnerability<br />
Observatory (ONEV). The environment<br />
management sector has also benefitted from the<br />
assistance of international cooperation agencies,<br />
NGO’s and citizen organizations, for example:<br />
• International Cooperation<br />
International cooperation is either bilateral or<br />
multilateral. In the first case, the cooperation<br />
agencies are under the authority of their<br />
respective embassies. The United States Agency<br />
for International Development (USAID) and the<br />
Canadian International Development Agency<br />
(CIDA) are the primary aid agencies funding<br />
development initiatives in <strong>Haiti</strong>. International<br />
support is also provided by the many United<br />
Nations agencies operating in <strong>Haiti</strong>. The current<br />
United Nations Development Assistance<br />
Framework focuses on three priority areas<br />
namely: (i) Governance, with 26.52% of the<br />
funding; (ii) Sustainable Human Development<br />
with 65.05% and (iii) Environmental and Natural<br />
Hazard Management with 8.43%. The European<br />
Union, the Organisation of American States (OAS),<br />
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the<br />
World Bank are some of <strong>Haiti</strong>’s other multilateral<br />
partners.<br />
• Local and International NGO’s<br />
<strong>Haiti</strong>, just as other «Southern» countries, has been<br />
overtaken by many international NGO’s. Despite<br />
the existing legal framework designed to monitor<br />
these activities, it is impossible today to ascertain<br />
the number of NGO’s operating in <strong>Haiti</strong>. Also, many<br />
institutions function as NGO’s but are registered as<br />
associations or foundations in order to avoid legal<br />
complications. This has created a situation where<br />
it is difficult to know the purpose of many of these<br />
organisations, what they do or how they operate.<br />
• Citizen Organisations for the<br />
Protection of the Environment<br />
and Development<br />
The <strong>Haiti</strong>an civil society’s participation in<br />
environmental governance began after the fall<br />
of the Duvalier dictatorship. A number of citizens<br />
had then formed various types of associations<br />
between 1985 and 1986, but almost all of these,<br />
created during a period of patriotic fervour,<br />
ceased to exist shortly after. On the environmental<br />
issue, only the Friends of Nature Federation is still<br />
in operation but it has been reduced to a few<br />
individual members. Nowadays, other associations<br />
have emerged and play an important role in the<br />
environmental governance of the country. They<br />
are active mainly in environmental education and<br />
community development, and on the protection<br />
of natural environments.<br />
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