GEO Haiti 2010

State of the Environment Report 2010
Mining has essentially been reduced to the
extraction of construction materials in the quarrying
of limestone, without being subject to any form of
fiscal control by the Haitian government 21 .
An upward trend in the economic activities of
the industrial sector was recorded in 2007. The
manufacturing sector showed an increase of 1.3%,
with textiles accounting for 98% of the assembly
segment, which rose by 2.3%. This segment is
considered to be the leading element of the
Haitian assembly industry and has demonstrated
rapid growth. The HOPE Act (Haiti Hemispheric
Opportunity Through Partnership Encouragement
Act), passed in 2007 by the Congress of the
United States of America, has allowed Haiti to
assemble and export to the U.S. textile products
manufactured elsewhere. This Law, initially for
one year, was renewed in 2008 for a period of 10
years. This will enable Haiti to process and export
to the United States, duty-free, the equivalent of
70 million square of woven fabrics for all types
of clothing, and 70 million square meters of
fabrics from third countries. In addition, items of
clothing (women’s underwear, pajamas, luggage,
handbags and backpacks, caps and hats in fabric)
can be produced in unlimited quantities in Haiti
and exported to the United States duty-free 22 .
It is therefore possible to believe in a significant
development of the textile sector, which at the
moment is the mainstay of the Haitian industrial
sector.
4.1.4 Energy
In Haiti, the energy sector is made up of local energy
which satisfies 80% of national demand. Energy
from biomass (wood energy) remains the country’s
most-used form of energy (71%). Thus, wood,
charcoal and bagasse, respectively contribute
55%, 11% and 4% to energy consumption by
households and traditional industries (ESMAP,
2007). Hydro-energy, however, (see Chapter II)
provides only 5%. The rest comes from oil and its
derivatives and from imported traditional energy
resources such as liquid petroleum products, gas
and sometimes coal. The table below highlights
the evolution of the production and importation
of primary energy in Haiti.
71
Table 8: Evolution of production and importation of primary sources of energy in Haiti
National Year
1973 (ktoe) % 1979 (ktoe) % 1985 (ktoe) % 1990 (ktoe) %
857,087.0 1,133,083.0 1,304,082.5 1,407,680.3
- Hydroelectricity 28.0 48.0 54.2 47.6
- Fire wood 731.0 98.0 980.0 105.0
- Bagasse 1164.0 86.0 1305.0 55.0
IMPORTED 127,013.0 231,017.0 275,067.5 343,819.7
- (Mogas, Kerosene, Jet fuel) 31.0 54.0 90.35 106.4
- Diesel 60.0 112.0 97.00 133.2
- Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) 2.0 3.89 8.4
- Fuel oil 1.0 62.0 47.40 95.8
- Charcoal 35.0 36.51
- Non energy
TOTAL 984,100.0 1,364,100.0 1,579,150.0 1,751,500.0
Source: BME, 2009
21
www.bme.gouv.ht/carrière
22
www.adih.ht
Note * ktoe = Thousand Ton Oil Equivalent
Utilized in a significant manner nationally, the
amount of wood used annually amounts to
energy levels ranging from 3.4 to 4.1 million metric
tons, equivalent to about 12 to 30 million trees.
Expressed in tons of petrol (TOP), this amount
corresponds to more than four times the amount
of petrol consumed annually in Haiti. The current
demand for wood energy is under two forms, both
in urban and rural areas, and is summarized in the
table below.