GEO Haiti 2010

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GEO HAITI • 2010 170 Conclusion and Recommendations The environment in Haiti, with its huge potential, has unfortunately suffered the degradation of its natural resources, a largely man-made degradation. The regressive decline of vegetative cover has a series of impacts on environmental components such as soil erosion, the silting-up of its coasts and the sedimentation of water-bodies. Soils must be replenished in order to mitigate the impact of rain and the phenomena of erosion. Government interventions still remain inadequate and with mixed results. The population’s demand for wood energy puts pressure on the vegetative cover. Some efforts to decrease the consumption of charcoal include the utilization of propane gas and the manufacturing of briquettes made from solid waste (such as the Carrefour-Feuille Project). However these initiatives are minimal. Soil degradation, due to excessive land-clearing, is one of the most visible environmental degradation phenomena, particularly in steep watershed areas. Mitigation measures are needed in order to address the extensive deterioration of the majority of the main watersheds. The enforcement of the legislation, such as the Convention to Combat Desertification, is crucial to the deployment of measures against soil degradation. The State will have to adopt soil and water conservation measures including on farming and grazing areas, and impose a seasonal ban on erosive crop cultivation. Other zones will need long fallow periods due to their significant degradation. Given that Haiti will experience a severe shortage of fresh water in 2025, decision-makers will have to pay greater attention to the state of water resources. The problem is not in term of quantity but of management. This poor management is in correlation with an uneven geographical distribution of rainfall which has exacerbated the demand for water in most regions. Qualitatively speaking, the situation is not much better, marked by polluted drinking water and increased salt water intrusion. As a result, it is vital that both preventive (to combat and control sources of pollution) as well as rehabilitation measures (disaster areas) be adopted. Initiatives are taken, but still too weak to effectively resolve the current situation. The main challenges remain the monitoring of potable water and the effective management of this resource. It is important that this supervision be applied to production and sale of treated water as well.
State of the Environment Report 2010 Additionally, the monitoring of the sand and sediment levels of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams, as well as enforcement and also up-dating of laws are essential. Public awareness-campaigns on the importance of superficial water bodies should also be prevalent. So far, responses to these issues have been weak. 171 The Haitian coastal environment, in particular on the periphery of major urban centres, is a dumping-ground for sewage as well as for the sediments coming from the mountain watersheds. It also suffers from the effects of uncontrolled construction and land occupation, including the overexploitation of its marine resources and mangrove forests, particularly on the continental shelf. This pollution also destroys the beaches’ attractiveness. Some of the measures to counteract such problems should include: protected marine and urban areas, the control of coastal erosion by upstream watersheds, and improved knowledge and technological skills of those exploiting such resources. Until now marine conservation activities are barely visible and thus consequently difficult to assess. The country’s energy resources rest chiefly on wood and its by-products. Wood is used on a national scale and everywhere (coasts, plains, mountains), as much in homes (rural and urban), as in micro-enterprises (bakeries, dry cleaners, lime-kilns, mills, brandy distillers, essential oils etc.). Nonetheless, the over-exploitation of forests to satisfy the demand for energy create numerous environmental problems, namely soil degradation due to loss of vegetative cover, water erosion, silt-up of lakes and ponds, and decreased hydroelectric capacity. Many initiatives have been developed in this sector, for example new power-plants in several cities, and feasibility studies have been conducted on wind energy particularly in the north. Nevertheless, Haiti will have to improve its use of renewable energy (hydroelectricity, wind, solar), and increase, throughout the country, other possible alternative options, such as propane gas and the use of briquettes made from solid waste (based on its experience, the Carrefour-Feuilles Project is an experiment which should be repeated in other cities). The air in Haiti is not heavily polluted from industrial activities as the country is hardly industrialised. Actually, the main source of air pollution is largely linked to vehicle emissions, seemingly without widespread health implications. However, stricter control measures of the main sources of air pollution, namely vehicles unequipped with catalytic converters should be enforced. Quarrying activities and their consequential waste are generally responsible for the degradation found in most regions, especially in coastal areas. The legislation covering these activities is ignored by most users, who take advantage of the State’s weak enforcement, regardless of the topography or of the intended use of the soil. As a result of the level of degradation, the State will have to use strict measures in regard to exploitation methods and areas suitable or unsuitable for exploitation, including binding measures on the restoration of exploited sites. In regard to housing in Haiti, one could say that anarchy reigns. No space is specifically reserved for construction and dwellings are found everywhere – on river banks, on floodplains, on geologically unstable lands. The associated problems, namely of sanitation and basic services, are more critical in some areas than in others. Challenges are enormous and a viable solution could be an ample territorial management-programme. It would be necessary to decide which governmental agency would be in charge: could it be the Prime Minister’s Office through CIAT?
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GEO Haiti 2010

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