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 Timothy
E. Wirth describes the environmental devastation that
has led to political turmoil in Haiti, and suggests how it
can again become ‘the pearl of the Caribbean’.
Much has been written
about the sad and recurring spectre of political turmoil in
Haiti. The tug and pull between democracy and dictatorship
has been on display for the past few decades, personified by
the desperate boat people risking everything to try to find
hope and opportunity for the future. Far too little
attention, however, has been given to the environmental
underpinnings of the Haitian crisis and to the environmental
destruction accelerated by the crush of poverty and rapid
population growth.
Arriving at Haiti in the late 15th century, Columbus wrote
in his journal of the island’s wonders: ‘The mountains and
hills, the plains and meadow lands are both fertile and
beautiful. They are most suitable for planting crops and for
raising cattle of all kinds... the trees, fruits and plants
are very different from those of Cuba.’
Environmental exhaustion
Five hundred years later – and 20 years after my first visit
– I went to Haiti in the mid-1990s on behalf of the US
Government. Just flying into the country, the extent of the
environmental exhaustion of the land was striking. The lush
hillsides and meadows Columbus described have been denuded,
stripped virtually clean. The stark contrast between
forested and bare lands acts as an unofficial but
unmistakable border between Haiti and the Dominican
Republic.
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Too many people scraping too few natural
resources from the land...
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The daily grind
of meeting basic needs for an impoverished people is a major
force in eroding Haiti’s essential natural resources and
core economic assets. Too many people scraping too few
natural resources from the land has led to one of the
world’s highest rates of deforestation. Topsoil is lost to
erosion. Rivers are filled with the resulting sediment and
the freshwater resources are diminished. These trends – and
associated pollution – lead to waterborne diseases and
damage to human health. And all these developments push
rural residents toward the island’s urban centres, where
there are too few jobs. In this despair, the seeds of
discontent and political chaos germinate and grow.
Comprehensive strategy
The other driving force is rapid population growth. Haiti’s
population of 7 million is growing at almost 1.5 per cent
annually and will increase by 30 per cent in the next 20
years. The average Haitian woman has 4 or 5 children, each
entering a nation whose economic, environmental and
political prospects are headed in the wrong direction.
Any serious effort to stabilize Haiti and
help its residents pursue sustainable development must
fundamentally address both its people’s need for family
planning and other basic reproductive health services and
the issue of rural agriculture, the primary endeavour of two
thirds of the population. A comprehensive population
strategy would provide services, promote human rights and
education for all, and engage women in the economy. A rural
agriculture programme must provide credit, promote land
reform – giving farmers a stake in the land – and include an
inventory of the country’s biological diversity and
opportunities.
Haiti’s misfortune is likely to be a
recurring nightmare for its people, for the cause of
democracy and for world concerns unless the core factors
underlying its political and economic collapse are
addressed. Yet a creative, effective programme of
environmental restoration might just transform Haiti once
again into the ‘pearl of the Caribbean', and help
demonstrate the powerful relationship between the world’s
future economic and environmental fortunes
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