There have been great challenges to the environment and biodiversity of Haiti.

Deforestation in Haiti Deforestation is a complex and intertwined environmental and social problem in Haiti. The most-recent national research on charcoal estimates that approximately 946,500 metric tons of charcoal are produced and consumed annually in Haiti, making it ...

has left approximately 30% percent of

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of trees that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/ square miles). Nearly a third of the world's land surface is covered with forest, with clos ...

at present.

Flora and fauna

The island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

is home to more than 6,000 plants, of which 35% are endemic; and 220 species of birds. None of the birds are endemic to Haiti, but

La Selle thrush The La Selle thrush (''Turdus swalesi'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti). A skulker of broadleaf and pine forests around 1300m, it is limi ...

is nearly so. The country's originally high biodiversity is due to its mountainous topography and fluctuating elevations in which each elevation harbors different microclimates. The country's varied scenery include lush green

cloud forest A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...

s (in some of the mountain ranges and the protected areas), high mountain peaks, arid desert, mangrove forest, and

palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

-lined beaches. Since arrival of aboriginal man, the biodiversity of Haiti has been significantly diminished due to human exploitation. For example, the

Caribbean monk seal The Caribbean monk seal (''Neomonachus tropicalis''), also known as the West Indian seal or sea wolf, is an extinct species of seal native to the Caribbean. The main natural predators of Caribbean monk seals were large sharks, such as great whi ...

, the only pinniped ever to occur in the Caribbean, is now extinct.

Environmental hazards

In addition to

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the Topsoil, upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, Atmosphere of Ea ...

deforestation in Haiti Deforestation is a complex and intertwined environmental and social problem in Haiti. The most-recent national research on charcoal estimates that approximately 946,500 metric tons of charcoal are produced and consumed annually in Haiti, making it ...

has caused periodic flooding, as seen on 17 September 2004. Tropical storm Jeanne skimmed the north coast of Haiti, leaving 3,006 people dead in flooding and mudslides, mostly in the city of

Gonaïves Gonaïves (; also Les Gonaïves; , ) is a commune in northern Haiti, and the capital of the Artibonite department of Haiti. The population was 356,324 at the 2015 census. History The city of Gonaïves was founded around 1422 by a group of T ...

. Earlier that year in May, floods killed over 3,000 people on Haiti's southern border with the Dominican Republic. Haiti was again pummeled by tropical storms in late August and early September 2008. The storms— Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and

Ike Ike or IKE may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ike (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Ike (surname), a list of people * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), Supreme Commander of th ...

—all produced heavy winds and rain in Haiti. Due to weak soil conditions throughout Haiti, the country's mountainous terrain, and the devastating coincidence of four storms within less than four weeks, valley and lowland areas throughout the country experienced massive flooding. Casualties proved difficult to count because the storm diminished human capacity and physical resources for such record keeping. Bodies continued to surface as the flood waters receded. A 10 September 2008 source listed 331 dead and 800,000 in need of humanitarian aid. The grim state of affairs produced by these storms was all the more life-threatening due to already high food and fuel prices that had caused a food crisis and political unrest in April 2008. As was the case in 2004, the coastal city of

was hit especially hard by the 2008 storms. There were also major problems in 1999 with hurricanes, leaving 9,398 dead, 10,000 injured and at least 5,000 missing.

Environmental issues

In 1925, Haiti was lush, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, recent in-depth study of satellite imagery has erroneously concluded an estimate of <1% primary forest cover. Erosion has been severe in the mountainous areas. Most Haitian logging is done for agriculture and to produce

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

, the country's chief source of fuel. In the 19th century, arable land in the size of 15 hectares was distributed to farmers. It was inherited and divided by their children. In 1971, the average farm size was less than 1.5 hectares. To survive, the landowners had to overuse the land. It became infertile within a few years. The farmers moved to clear steeper hillsides and finally become unemployed. Eventually the shortage of arable land and rising

rural poverty Rural poverty refers to situations where people living in rural area, non-urban regions are in a poverty, state or condition of lacking the financial resources and essentials for living. It takes account of factors of Rural sociology, rural so ...

pushed peasants from hillside subsistence farms to search for work in Port-au-Prince, where the concentration of desperate people in slums contributed to the country's tragic history of civil strife.David R. Montgomery, ''Dirt. The Erosion of Civilizations'', Berkeley: University of California Press 2007. Pages 227-230. Despite the large environmental crises, Haiti retains a very high amount of

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

in proportion to its small size.

Water supply and sanitation

Haiti faces key challenges in the water supply and sanitation sector. Notably, access to public services is very low, their quality is inadequate and public institutions remain very weak despite foreign aid and the government's declared intent to strengthen the sector's institutions. Foreign and Haitian

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

s play an important role in the sector, especially in rural and urban slum areas.

References

External links

EIN News
- Haiti Environment News {{DEFAULTSORT:Environment Of Haiti