IPS: Haiti’s environmental degradation is a time bomb that needs urgent attention if the country is to preserve its already strained social and economic stability, says a new briefing from the International Crisis Group (ICG). The brief, "Haiti: Saving the Environment, Preventing Instability and Conflict," argues that the combination of environmental destruction, weak institutions, extreme poverty, and rapid population growth raise the risk of serious new trouble in the island republic."The catastrophic state of the environment is closely related to deep-seated institutional, political and governance problems," said Bernice Robertson, ICG’s Haiti analyst. "Coherent national socio-economic development policies have been mostly absent, due to management and political limitations and the narrow interests of those holding economic power."
Haiti is one of the world’s most natural disaster-prone countries, due to its location in the high latitude tropics, mountainous terrain rising to almost 2,700 metres above sea level and severely degraded environment. The devastating floods of 2004 killed approximately 3,000 people and a succession of hurricanes and tropical storms in 2008 killed close to 800 and left some 100,000 homeless.
According to the brief, the 2009 forecast predicts 14 storms in the Caribbean during the season that runs from Jun. 1 to Nov. 30, seven of which are likely to become hurricanes and three of which are expected to develop to category three (out of five) level or higher, with winds of at least 111 mph.
Deforestation and soil erosion affect over 50 percent of the country. The few forests which remain after the colonial period pillage of precious woods are today depleted for charcoal production. Trees are also cut for use in the local furniture and construction industries or by farmers to increase access to arable land….
Flood waters in Gonaïves, Haiti after Hurricane Jeanne in 2004
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