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USAID to Stem Haitian Environmental Crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2008
Press Office: 202-712-4320
Public Information: 202-712-4810
www.usaid.gov
Washington, D.C. - Haiti's most vulnerable watersheds are the front lines of a U.S. Agency for International Development-led battle to protect communities from killer floods and to buy time to introduce long-term changes needed to boost economic development and the standard of living in one of the world's most impoverished nations.
With an $18.2 million investment over three years, the agency will establish hardwood and fruit tree nurseries to regrow hillside forests, introduce new crops and efficient farming methods and eventually encourage lifestyle changes that range from using more efficient charcoal stoves to voluntary family planning aimed at curbing a population growing beyond Haiti's farmers' ability to feed it.
Years of haphazard agricultural practices and poor land conservation have stripped forests and hillsides of the vegetation that blocks erosion and preserves aquifers making Haiti's population more vulnerable to flash floods.
"This project looks to the future as well as to Haiti's most immediate environmental issues, so Haitians will have plenty of life-sustaining water when they need it and protection from water when they don't," explained Julie Kunen, forestry advisor in USAID's Bureau of Latin America and the Caribbean.
More than 2,000 people died in May 2004 when tropical rains and mudslides destroyed many mountain towns. In September of 2007, Tropical Storm Jeanne killed another 3,000 in two of Haiti's most populated urban areas, according to studies carried out by USAID.
Working through farmers, local officials and other stakeholders, USAID plans to protect targeted watersheds in both rural and urban areas. Protections will range from restoring lowland mangrove and coastal buffers that decrease storm surges to growing perennial rather than erosion-causing annual crops.
For more information about USAID and its programs in Haiti, visit www.usaid.gov.
The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide for nearly 50 years.
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