Haiti community action

The Papaye Peasant Movement, Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) in Haitian Creole, is a grass-roots organization recognized as the largest peasant movement in Haiti. MPP has approximately 60,000 members, including 20,000 women and 10,000 youths. It is localized in the Central Plateau, home to about 13% of the Haitian population, the majority of whom are rural subsistence farmers or agricultural workers.

MPP focuses on re-establishing food sovereignty in Haiti through a number or programs and methods which include educating people on sustainable farming methods and organizing skills. While these are the primary foci of MPP, the organization has expanded to provide a plethora of other services to its members, including legal aid, health care services, and university scholarships. The movement seeks to empower peasants to control their own livelihood, thus decreasing dependency on multinational organizations which have flooded the Haitian agricultural market in recent decades.

The Papaye Peasant Movement, Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) in Haitian Creole, is a grass-roots organization recognized as the largest peasant movement in Haiti. MPP has approximately 60,000 members, including 20,000 women and 10,000 youths. It is localized in the Central Plateau, home to about 13% of the Haitian population, the majority of whom are rural subsistence farmers or agricultural workers.

MPP focuses on re-establishing food sovereignty in Haiti through a number or programs and methods which include educating people on sustainable farming methods and organizing skills. While these are the primary foci of MPP, the organization has expanded to provide a plethora of other services to its members, including legal aid, health care services, and university scholarships. The movement seeks to empower peasants to control their own livelihood, thus decreasing dependency on multinational organizations which have flooded the Haitian agricultural market in recent decades.

Workers in the same neighborhood join to form groups which meet weekly. At least seven groups in the same region form a local assembly, which meets monthly. The regional assembly, comprising at least four local assemblies, meets every three months, while the general assembly – which all local assemblies attend – meets once a year.

The Papaye Peasant Movement was established in 1973 by Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, a Catholic lay-worker turned agronomist, with the intent to collaborate with rural farmworkers in order to develop more efficient and more sustainable farming methods. Though Chavannes originally worked with two small groups (groupements) of workers, MPP now includes over 4,000 groups. The organizations' activities have diversified over time, in a slow but methodical manner, beginning with economic initiatives.

In 1976, MPP implemented a savings and credit union, SERE POU CHOFE (Haitian Creole for "Save to Warm") in part because the heads of the movement saw increasing personal income and tackling hunger is being inherently linked to one another. SERE POU CHOFE enabled members to where members deposit savings from which other members could borrow and then replenish.

In 1978, MPP created Konbit Sèvo Men Ak Kè Ansanm (Union of minds, hearts and hands), also known as KOSMIKA, a multi-sector union which focused on storing and producing agricultural products, finding and building warehouses to store farming tools, and establishing a farmer's bank. The following year, MPP founded a youth leadership program and the Young Peasant Workers association or Jeunes Travailleurs Paysan (JTP) which works to educate youths on a variety of subjects and prepares them to take on leadership roles later in life.

The Movement of Women of MPP, along with a separate association for and run by women, was established in 1981 in order to attack gender inequality within the movement. These two entities focus on tackling violence against women, defending social and cultural rights, as well as promoting economic independence.

During its early years, the MPP had to maintain a relatively low profile due to political and economic oppression imposed by the Duvalier regime in Haiti. When Duvalier was forced out in 1986, the movement began to gain political traction, and played a large role in supporting Operation Lavalas, Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party. Aristide became the first democratically elected president of Haiti in 1991, only to be overthrown a few months later. Many of the leaders of MPP went into hiding, while others were imprisoned or tortured. Chavannes Jean-Baptiste himself went into exile from 1993 to 1994. Nevertheless, the movement continued its activities and opened an office in Boston in order to spread information on a worldwide scale. Full operations resumed in 1994 when Haiti established a constitutional government.

MPP provides a number of training education programs and workshops for group members, while also providing university-level training for middle managers who often come back to the organization. Higher-level workshops are also provided to trained instructors.

The youth education program, JTP, is organized by a three-tier system: pre-nursery JTP (PPJTP) for children ages 5 to 10, nursery JTP (PJTP) for children ages 10 to 15, and JTP for people ages 15 to 30, though members of JTP can also become group members or leaders within MPP. JTP programs provide courses on sex education, sports, music, dance, theater, and cultural activities. Some participants receive university scholarships and are sent to study in Port-au-Prince or abroad.

MPP also has a legal aid department which informs members of their rights, basic legal training, as well as legal services.

MPP develops cooperatives within different assemblies and trains assembly members to manage the financial aspects of their projects. The organization also conducts feasibility and productivity studies, helps groups prepare reports, and provides economic counseling. In February, 2013, MPP celebrated the inauguration of a modern corn storage and processing mill which was built with the help of two Canadian organizations: Développement et Paix and ACDI.

MPP has a number of health projects relating to hygiene, sexual health, nutrition, and parenting skills. It also has a health center with a laboratory, and a pharmacy where community members can receive services and medical consultations. MPP also has a community health worker program.

About 75% of the Haitian population lives in rural areas, a large portion of whom practice subsistence agriculture. Until the 1980s, the country was in large part self-sustainable in terms of rice, manioc, and potato production. After the dismantlement of the Duvalier dictatorship, however, organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank urged the country to liberalize markets and undergo structural reform, leading to a rural exodus and greatly affecting the agricultural sector. The liberalization of markets caused government funding for agricultural and public-sector development to decrease, further depleting the agricultural sector. Many multinational corporations took advantage of the newly liberalized market to export goods, creating Haitian dependency on agricultural imports. Additionally, deforestation has caused mass erosion, thus decreasing soil arability and quality.

MPP's agro-ecology program seeks to address the issue of dependence and food sovereignty by focusing on forms of agriculture based on environmental health. The organization teaches innovative farming practices, including germinating seedlings inside discarded tires and using other methods so as not to exhaust the land. Farmers focus on growing organic, indigenous crops in order to maintain biodiversity, and thus reject hybrid and GMO seed donations from multinational corporations. The program also comprises a reforestation component in order to help improve soil quality and prevent further erosion. Since its inception, MPP members have planted over 20 million trees, and their efforts continue.

MPP conducts courses on water management and storage. Methods include draining water from kitchens and showers into ponds filled, gravel, and charcoal, thus producing clean water. This water is then used to for irrigation and fish breeding. MPP also uses cisterns to catch water on roofs, mountain-top catchment lakes, and water-drip irrigation systems in order to save and store water.

MPP has taken on multiple alternative energy initiatives. Leaders have conducted workshops on how to install solar panels and how to build solar-powered batteries; they have also established a facility to manufacture solar products. Additionally, MPP promotes the use of natural fertilizer such as manure and compost. They also produce alternative charcoal, bio-fuel from waste, and other alternative energy methods.

After the 2010 earthquake, there was an urban exodus to rural areas like Papaye, particularly from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. MMP set up a camp for internally displaced people, and in collaborations with partners such as Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), helped refugees build eco-villages. Earthquake survivors, MMP members, and volunteers built the houses, – survivors were paid a minimum salary for their work – taught urban dwellers sustainable farming methods, and set up personal and community gardens. Water management methods were also installed so that eco-village dwellers would have access to clean water. So far, the experiment has been a success and many other organizations are replicating this model in Haiti and elsewhere.

In June, 2012, 12,000 Haitian farmers marched in the streets of the town of Hinche in order to protest multinational corporations pushing hybrid seeds and biofuels on local farmers. They buried coffins inscribed with the names of a number of corporations as a part of the protest.

The Seeds for Haïti campaign was launched in 2012 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in collaboration with MPP's French partner, Frères des Hommes. The organizations were able to raise enough money to buy 20 tons of seeds in order to support Haitian farmers who lost their supply as a result of the hurricane.

• Haitian Heritage Museum
• List of island countries
• Sustainable development
• Sustainable food system
• Sustainable landscaping

The Papaye Peasant Movement, Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) in Haitian Creole, is a grass-roots organization recognized as the largest peasant movement in Haiti. MPP has approximately 60,000 members, including 20,000 women and 10,000 youths. It is localized in the Central Plateau, home to about 13% of the Haitian population, the majority of whom are rural subsistence farmers or agricultural workers.

MPP focuses on re-establishing food sovereignty in Haiti through a number or programs and methods which include educating people on sustainable farming methods and organizing skills. While these are the primary foci of MPP, the organization has expanded to provide a plethora of other services to its members, including legal aid, health care services, and university scholarships. The movement seeks to empower peasants to control their own livelihood, thus decreasing dependency on multinational organizations which have flooded the Haitian agricultural market in recent decades.

Workers in the same neighborhood join to form groups which meet weekly. At least seven groups in the same region form a local assembly, which meets monthly. The regional assembly, comprising at least four local assemblies, meets every three months, while the general assembly – which all local assemblies attend – meets once a year.

The Papaye Peasant Movement was established in 1973 by Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, a Catholic lay-worker turned agronomist, with the intent to collaborate with rural farmworkers in order to develop more efficient and more sustainable farming methods. Though Chavannes originally worked with two small groups (groupements) of workers, MPP now includes over 4,000 groups. The organizations' activities have diversified over time, in a slow but methodical manner, beginning with economic initiatives.

In 1976, MPP implemented a savings and credit union, SERE POU CHOFE (Haitian Creole for "Save to Warm") in part because the heads of the movement saw increasing personal income and tackling hunger is being inherently linked to one another. SERE POU CHOFE enabled members to where members deposit savings from which other members could borrow and then replenish.

In 1978, MPP created Konbit Sèvo Men Ak Kè Ansanm (Union of minds, hearts and hands), also known as KOSMIKA, a multi-sector union which focused on storing and producing agricultural products, finding and building warehouses to store farming tools, and establishing a farmer's bank. The following year, MPP founded a youth leadership program and the Young Peasant Workers association or Jeunes Travailleurs Paysan (JTP) which works to educate youths on a variety of subjects and prepares them to take on leadership roles later in life.

The Movement of Women of MPP, along with a separate association for and run by women, was established in 1981 in order to attack gender inequality within the movement. These two entities focus on tackling violence against women, defending social and cultural rights, as well as promoting economic independence.

During its early years, the MPP had to maintain a relatively low profile due to political and economic oppression imposed by the Duvalier regime in Haiti. When Duvalier was forced out in 1986, the movement began to gain political traction, and played a large role in supporting Operation Lavalas, Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party. Aristide became the first democratically elected president of Haiti in 1991, only to be overthrown a few months later. Many of the leaders of MPP went into hiding, while others were imprisoned or tortured. Chavannes Jean-Baptiste himself went into exile from 1993 to 1994. Nevertheless, the movement continued its activities and opened an office in Boston in order to spread information on a worldwide scale. Full operations resumed in 1994 when Haiti established a constitutional government.

MPP provides a number of training education programs and workshops for group members, while also providing university-level training for middle managers who often come back to the organization. Higher-level workshops are also provided to trained instructors.

The youth education program, JTP, is organized by a three-tier system: pre-nursery JTP (PPJTP) for children ages 5 to 10, nursery JTP (PJTP) for children ages 10 to 15, and JTP for people ages 15 to 30, though members of JTP can also become group members or leaders within MPP. JTP programs provide courses on sex education, sports, music, dance, theater, and cultural activities. Some participants receive university scholarships and are sent to study in Port-au-Prince or abroad.

MPP also has a legal aid department which informs members of their rights, basic legal training, as well as legal services.

MPP develops cooperatives within different assemblies and trains assembly members to manage the financial aspects of their projects. The organization also conducts feasibility and productivity studies, helps groups prepare reports, and provides economic counseling. In February, 2013, MPP celebrated the inauguration of a modern corn storage and processing mill which was built with the help of two Canadian organizations: Développement et Paix and ACDI.

MPP has a number of health projects relating to hygiene, sexual health, nutrition, and parenting skills. It also has a health center with a laboratory, and a pharmacy where community members can receive services and medical consultations. MPP also has a community health worker program.

About 75% of the Haitian population lives in rural areas, a large portion of whom practice subsistence agriculture. Until the 1980s, the country was in large part self-sustainable in terms of rice, manioc, and potato production. After the dismantlement of the Duvalier dictatorship, however, organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank urged the country to liberalize markets and undergo structural reform, leading to a rural exodus and greatly affecting the agricultural sector. The liberalization of markets caused government funding for agricultural and public-sector development to decrease, further depleting the agricultural sector. Many multinational corporations took advantage of the newly liberalized market to export goods, creating Haitian dependency on agricultural imports. Additionally, deforestation has caused mass erosion, thus decreasing soil arability and quality.

MPP's agro-ecology program seeks to address the issue of dependence and food sovereignty by focusing on forms of agriculture based on environmental health. The organization teaches innovative farming practices, including germinating seedlings inside discarded tires and using other methods so as not to exhaust the land. Farmers focus on growing organic, indigenous crops in order to maintain biodiversity, and thus reject hybrid and GMO seed donations from multinational corporations. The program also comprises a reforestation component in order to help improve soil quality and prevent further erosion. Since its inception, MPP members have planted over 20 million trees, and their efforts continue.

MPP conducts courses on water management and storage. Methods include draining water from kitchens and showers into ponds filled, gravel, and charcoal, thus producing clean water. This water is then used to for irrigation and fish breeding. MPP also uses cisterns to catch water on roofs, mountain-top catchment lakes, and water-drip irrigation systems in order to save and store water.

MPP has taken on multiple alternative energy initiatives. Leaders have conducted workshops on how to install solar panels and how to build solar-powered batteries; they have also established a facility to manufacture solar products. Additionally, MPP promotes the use of natural fertilizer such as manure and compost. They also produce alternative charcoal, bio-fuel from waste, and other alternative energy methods.

After the 2010 earthquake, there was an urban exodus to rural areas like Papaye, particularly from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. MMP set up a camp for internally displaced people, and in collaborations with partners such as Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), helped refugees build eco-villages. Earthquake survivors, MMP members, and volunteers built the houses, – survivors were paid a minimum salary for their work – taught urban dwellers sustainable farming methods, and set up personal and community gardens. Water management methods were also installed so that eco-village dwellers would have access to clean water. So far, the experiment has been a success and many other organizations are replicating this model in Haiti and elsewhere.

In June, 2012, 12,000 Haitian farmers marched in the streets of the town of Hinche in order to protest multinational corporations pushing hybrid seeds and biofuels on local farmers. They buried coffins inscribed with the names of a number of corporations as a part of the protest.

The Seeds for Haïti campaign was launched in 2012 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in collaboration with MPP's French partner, Frères des Hommes. The organizations were able to raise enough money to buy 20 tons of seeds in order to support Haitian farmers who lost their supply as a result of the hurricane.

• Haitian Heritage Museum
• List of island countries
• Sustainable development
• Sustainable food system
• Sustainable landscaping

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

Pwojè Pyebwa (Tree Project) is a tree-planting project in Haiti. It was designed, implemented, and initially run by cultural anthropologists. Different from reforestation projects, Pwojè Pyebwa promoted agroforestry—the strategic mixing of crops, trees, and animals. The agroforestry project in Haiti project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development USAID, but implemented through the Pan American Development Organization (PADF) and CARE. It was originally called the Agroforestry Outreach Project (AOP). The original project spanned a decade (1981–1991), but policies from Pwojè Pyebwa continued to direct PADF tree-planting through a second decade (1992–2000).

Deforestation in Haiti is a complex and intertwined environmental and social problem. 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 the second-largest agricultural value chain in the country and representing approximately 5% of GDP.

The Papaye Peasant Movement, Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) in Haitian Creole, is a grass-roots organization recognized as the largest peasant movement in Haiti. MPP has approximately 60,000 members, including 20,000 women and 10,000 youths. It is localized in the Central Plateau, home to about 13% of the Haitian population, the majority of whom are rural subsistence farmers or agricultural workers.

MPP focuses on re-establishing food sovereignty in Haiti through a number or programs and methods which include educating people on sustainable farming methods and organizing skills. While these are the primary foci of MPP, the organization has expanded to provide a plethora of other services to its members, including legal aid, health care services, and university scholarships. The movement seeks to empower peasants to control their own livelihood, thus decreasing dependency on multinational organizations which have flooded the Haitian agricultural market in recent decades.

Workers in the same neighborhood join to form groups which meet weekly. At least seven groups in the same region form a local assembly, which meets monthly. The regional assembly, comprising at least four local assemblies, meets every three months, while the general assembly – which all local assemblies attend – meets once a year.

The Papaye Peasant Movement was established in 1973 by Jean-Baptiste Chavannes, a Catholic lay-worker turned agronomist, with the intent to collaborate with rural farmworkers in order to develop more efficient and more sustainable farming methods. Though Chavannes originally worked with two small groups (groupements) of workers, MPP now includes over 4,000 groups. The organizations' activities have diversified over time, in a slow but methodical manner, beginning with economic initiatives.

In 1976, MPP implemented a savings and credit union, SERE POU CHOFE (Haitian Creole for "Save to Warm") in part because the heads of the movement saw increasing personal income and tackling hunger is being inherently linked to one another. SERE POU CHOFE enabled members to where members deposit savings from which other members could borrow and then replenish.

In 1978, MPP created Konbit Sèvo Men Ak Kè Ansanm (Union of minds, hearts and hands), also known as KOSMIKA, a multi-sector union which focused on storing and producing agricultural products, finding and building warehouses to store farming tools, and establishing a farmer's bank. The following year, MPP founded a youth leadership program and the Young Peasant Workers association or Jeunes Travailleurs Paysan (JTP) which works to educate youths on a variety of subjects and prepares them to take on leadership roles later in life.

The Movement of Women of MPP, along with a separate association for and run by women, was established in 1981 in order to attack gender inequality within the movement. These two entities focus on tackling violence against women, defending social and cultural rights, as well as promoting economic independence.

During its early years, the MPP had to maintain a relatively low profile due to political and economic oppression imposed by the Duvalier regime in Haiti. When Duvalier was forced out in 1986, the movement began to gain political traction, and played a large role in supporting Operation Lavalas, Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party. Aristide became the first democratically elected president of Haiti in 1991, only to be overthrown a few months later. Many of the leaders of MPP went into hiding, while others were imprisoned or tortured. Chavannes Jean-Baptiste himself went into exile from 1993 to 1994. Nevertheless, the movement continued its activities and opened an office in Boston in order to spread information on a worldwide scale. Full operations resumed in 1994 when Haiti established a constitutional government.

MPP provides a number of training education programs and workshops for group members, while also providing university-level training for middle managers who often come back to the organization. Higher-level workshops are also provided to trained instructors.

The youth education program, JTP, is organized by a three-tier system: pre-nursery JTP (PPJTP) for children ages 5 to 10, nursery JTP (PJTP) for children ages 10 to 15, and JTP for people ages 15 to 30, though members of JTP can also become group members or leaders within MPP. JTP programs provide courses on sex education, sports, music, dance, theater, and cultural activities. Some participants receive university scholarships and are sent to study in Port-au-Prince or abroad.

MPP also has a legal aid department which informs members of their rights, basic legal training, as well as legal services.

MPP develops cooperatives within different assemblies and trains assembly members to manage the financial aspects of their projects. The organization also conducts feasibility and productivity studies, helps groups prepare reports, and provides economic counseling. In February, 2013, MPP celebrated the inauguration of a modern corn storage and processing mill which was built with the help of two Canadian organizations: Développement et Paix and ACDI.

MPP has a number of health projects relating to hygiene, sexual health, nutrition, and parenting skills. It also has a health center with a laboratory, and a pharmacy where community members can receive services and medical consultations. MPP also has a community health worker program.

About 75% of the Haitian population lives in rural areas, a large portion of whom practice subsistence agriculture. Until the 1980s, the country was in large part self-sustainable in terms of rice, manioc, and potato production. After the dismantlement of the Duvalier dictatorship, however, organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank urged the country to liberalize markets and undergo structural reform, leading to a rural exodus and greatly affecting the agricultural sector. The liberalization of markets caused government funding for agricultural and public-sector development to decrease, further depleting the agricultural sector. Many multinational corporations took advantage of the newly liberalized market to export goods, creating Haitian dependency on agricultural imports. Additionally, deforestation has caused mass erosion, thus decreasing soil arability and quality.

MPP's agro-ecology program seeks to address the issue of dependence and food sovereignty by focusing on forms of agriculture based on environmental health. The organization teaches innovative farming practices, including germinating seedlings inside discarded tires and using other methods so as not to exhaust the land. Farmers focus on growing organic, indigenous crops in order to maintain biodiversity, and thus reject hybrid and GMO seed donations from multinational corporations. The program also comprises a reforestation component in order to help improve soil quality and prevent further erosion. Since its inception, MPP members have planted over 20 million trees, and their efforts continue.

MPP conducts courses on water management and storage. Methods include draining water from kitchens and showers into ponds filled, gravel, and charcoal, thus producing clean water. This water is then used to for irrigation and fish breeding. MPP also uses cisterns to catch water on roofs, mountain-top catchment lakes, and water-drip irrigation systems in order to save and store water.

MPP has taken on multiple alternative energy initiatives. Leaders have conducted workshops on how to install solar panels and how to build solar-powered batteries; they have also established a facility to manufacture solar products. Additionally, MPP promotes the use of natural fertilizer such as manure and compost. They also produce alternative charcoal, bio-fuel from waste, and other alternative energy methods.

After the 2010 earthquake, there was an urban exodus to rural areas like Papaye, particularly from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. MMP set up a camp for internally displaced people, and in collaborations with partners such as Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), helped refugees build eco-villages. Earthquake survivors, MMP members, and volunteers built the houses, – survivors were paid a minimum salary for their work – taught urban dwellers sustainable farming methods, and set up personal and community gardens. Water management methods were also installed so that eco-village dwellers would have access to clean water. So far, the experiment has been a success and many other organizations are replicating this model in Haiti and elsewhere.

In June, 2012, 12,000 Haitian farmers marched in the streets of the town of Hinche in order to protest multinational corporations pushing hybrid seeds and biofuels on local farmers. They buried coffins inscribed with the names of a number of corporations as a part of the protest.

The Seeds for Haïti campaign was launched in 2012 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in collaboration with MPP's French partner, Frères des Hommes. The organizations were able to raise enough money to buy 20 tons of seeds in order to support Haitian farmers who lost their supply as a result of the hurricane.

• Haitian Heritage Museum
• List of island countries
• Sustainable development
• Sustainable food system
• Sustainable landscaping

Environmental issues in Haiti include a historical deforestation problem, overpopulation, a lack of sanitation, natural disasters, and food insecurity. The major reasons for these environmental issues are corruption, human exploitation, and the embezzlement of taxpayers' funds for personal gains. In addition, there is not sufficient protection or management of the country's natural resources. Other environmental issues, such as decreases in precipitation and more severe natural disasters, will likely arise in Haiti as a result of climate change. Experts agree that Haiti needs to adopt new policies to address both the issues that already exist and to prepare for the effects of climate change.

Deforestation in Haiti occurred primarily during the colonial period, and later after the Haitian Revolution to pay a post-independence war indemnity to France. Deforestation has led to soil erosion by decreasing tree cover and leaving soil exposed. In the present era, arboreal fallow, or trees cleared for agricultural production, are then transformed into charcoal as a secondary agricultural by-product.

Today, 'primary' forest cover in Haiti is estimated at less than 1% of all land area. In an earlier study using the Food and Agricultural Organization (United Nations) global standard definition for 'forest', which includes areas that have been degraded by as much as 90% (10% canopy), approximately 30% of Haiti was estimated to be covered with trees and/or forests. However, because the United Nations definition does not distinguish between areas that have been previously deforested and those never deforested (primary forest), and the use of different canopy cover values can yield different per cent forest cover values, and because primary forest is the most important forest for the preservation of biodiversity, it is argued that only the value of <1% primary forest is relevant for environmental issues in Haiti because it addresses both deforestation and biodiversity.

Haiti had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.01/10, ranking it 137th globally out of 172 countries.

Charcoal production and consumption in Haiti is a widely misunderstood phenomenon. Charcoal is the primary source of energy for Haitian residents. The UN reported that 92% of Haitian households rely on charcoal for cooking, and approximately 10,000 bags of charcoal are burned daily in Haiti.

Media has popularly portrayed Haitians as engaged in a widespread and lucrative illegal market for charcoal in the neighbouring Dominican Republic. Conservative estimates calculate the illegal movement of 115 tons of charcoal per week from the Dominican Republic to Haiti in 2014. Dominican officials estimate that at least 10 trucks per week are crossing the border loaded with charcoal. However new research and charcoal export data from the Dominican Republic indicate the flow of charcoal into Haiti has declined as Dominicans have found more lucrative charcoal markets in the United States and the Middle East.

It was once believed that Haiti's reliance on agriculture to support its economy is another primary reason for deforestation. 66.4% of the land in Haiti is used for agricultural purposes. Reallocating land for forest means a reduction in land available for cultivation of crops, and currently the land available is insufficient to keep pace with the growing population of Haiti. Additionally, insecure property rights discourage forest management; the possibility that tenants will reap the benefits of land conservation is reduced because it is possible that they may lose that property in the future. The Haitian government could encourage citizens to preserve forested land through the strengthening of property rights, as this would create greater responsibility of land use. Currently, there is a lack of off-farm opportunities; many rural residents depend on agriculture for their livelihood. An increase in off-farm employment could minimize deforestation, as this would potentially reduce the need for households to clear forest for crop.

Early researchers claimed that an increasing Haitian population contributed to the degradation of the environment. However, recent research places Haiti as the country with the lowest per capita ecological footprint in the world.

Haiti can be characterized as a low-income, high-density nation. As of 2012, Haiti's population count was at 10.6 million. The UN estimates that 52% of the population lived in urban areas in 2011, with an annual 3.9% annual increase in population in urban areas. Low-income individuals are largely concentrated in urban areas, especially Port-au-Prince, and are subject to poor environmental quality, human health, and quality of life. Port-au-Prince's urban environmental quality is further reduced by its poor infrastructure, lack of government management, and its subjectivity to natural disasters, as a result of being located on the coast. As the population of urban areas in Haiti grows it is hard to update the already poor infrastructure to meet the needs of so many people. When an abundance of people don't have an adequate waste management system, it can have devastating effects on the environment through air and water pollution. Studies show that more than 60% of Haitians live in low environmental quality urban areas near the coast, such as Port-au-Prince. Environmental quality can be measured by assessing the domestic environment, public environment, physical environment and atmosphere. The areas with the lowest environmental quality have the highest population density and are subject to pollution and an array of natural hazards, which can destroy natural resources and cause environmental degradation. These individuals face a situation of environmental injustice. In rural areas, overpopulation causes over-cultivation of land and therefore soil erosion, as nutrients are quickly depleted from the soil. Although many Haitian farmers are aware of the effects of their practices on the soil, they are often reluctant to change their practices because political and economic factors, such as insecure property rights and high prices of capital, prohibit them from adopting proper technologies.

The lack of sanitation and sewerage treatment in Haiti has led to an inadequate supply of safe drinking water. City sewerage systems are insufficient, and many citizens have to use septic tanks. Local drainage systems primarily consist of open channels dug along the side of the road. The densely populated capital of Port-au-Prince is especially at risk for water-borne diseases, with many of its citizens residing on flood plains in poorly constructed housing and a generally under-developed waste management system. Only 46% of the urban population has access to safe water, and in 2012 only 55% of people in urban areas had "improved sanitation", which consisted of using a latrine. Natural disasters make water sanitation even worse, as latrines and channels on the side of the road often overflow with large amounts of rain. A 2012 study after hurricane season found that less than 10% of households were drinking treated water a week after a storm.

Cholera has become one of the leading issues facing Haiti, and its recurrence is largely due to Haiti's poor sanitation system. A Cholera epidemic was reported in Haiti in October 2010 after the infection was brought to the country by peacekeeping troops providing aid after a devastating earthquake struck the region. Infections have continued to occur since the initial epidemic, which raises questions as to whether there is an established environmental reservoir of Cholera in Haiti. Environmental reservoirs are environmental sources where the bacterium can survive between outbreaks of the disease. There is evidence that conditions are appropriate for Cholera to establish environmental reservoirs in the water of Haiti. The establishment of environmental reservoirs would make it nearly impossible to eradicate the disease from Haiti, and increase the chance of transmission of the disease neighbouring countries. Both improving sanitation and monitoring potential environmental reservoirs are necessary to reduce the spread of Cholera throughout Haiti.

Haiti's position as a southern island nation makes it particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change. Factors that make Haiti more vulnerable than other Caribbean nations, such as the Dominican Republic, are its higher population density, extensive deforestation, extreme soil erosion, and high income-inequality. Several effects of increased intensity of tropical storms, depleted coral reefs, and desertification. Since 1960 the mean annual rainfall has decreased by 5mm per month per decade, and mean temperatures have increased by 0.45 °C. The combination of increased temperatures and decreased rainfall will likely lead to the intensification of drought conditions, especially in the centre of the country. According to the IPCC climate change predictions for 2050, more than 50% of Haiti will be in danger of desertification. The frequency of hot days and nights has increased, while the frequency of cold days and nights have steadily decreased. Sea-level rise is projected to rise between 0.13 and 0.56 m by 2090. The US Climate Change Science program estimates that with each 1 °C increase in temperature, hurricane rainfall will increase by 6–17% and hurricane wind speeds will increase by 1–8%.

As a small Caribbean country, Haiti is often the victim of intense natural disasters such as hurricanes, tropical storms, and earthquakes, which have a large impact on both Haiti's environment and its citizens. The intensity of Atlantic hurricanes in Haiti has increased substantially since 1980. These storms frequently result in loss of human life, loss of livestock, destruction of agriculture, soil erosion, a spike in water-borne diseases, and decreased food security. Tropical storms often also lead to flooding, which is one of the leading causes of vulnerability in Haiti. Flooding often occurs in Haiti's most populous cities, which are located in valleys along the coast. Large amounts of rain, barren hills resulting from deforestation, and poor drainage infrastructure leave Haiti especially susceptible to flooding after tropical storms. Landslides also often result from the rain accompanying a tropical storm since much of the soil has eroded as a result of deforestation. From 1980 to 2009, Haiti had more deaths due to natural disasters than any other country in the insular Caribbean. The majority of deaths were caused by flooding or landslides, which resulted from the heavy rains of tropical storms combined with the unstable slopes left from deforestation. Poor infrastructure makes it difficult for people to cope with natural disasters on a basic level. A significant reason why other Caribbean countries experience lower death rates than Haiti is that their investment in physical infrastructure and human resources have led to risk reduction and successful disaster management. In Haiti, inability to evacuate leads to a much larger loss of life than a country with good public infrastructure and paved roads would experience in the same situation. Unfortunately, Haiti lacks both climate-resilient infrastructure and the funds to construct it.

Roughly 40% of the total land in Haiti is farmed, with agriculture being the basis of the country's economy. Given agriculture's high dependence on natural ecosystem services, farming systems are at high risk to be negatively affected by climate change and climate-induced shocks. Food security is poor in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, and more erratic and unpredictable rainfall will place strain on the agriculture industry in the future. Following the hurricanes of 2012, about 70% of Haitian residents reported suffering from moderate or severe hunger, and more than two-thirds of farmers reported having crops destroyed, losing materials to plant new crops, or losing farming equipment. A warning system to aid farmers in preparing for these natural disasters would be an efficient way to reduce the impact of storms on the agricultural system. The farming sector will also have to build resilience against drought and water scarcity as rainfall patterns change. Drought particularly affects the Northwest, Artibonite, and Centre departments of Haiti. Erratic rainfall patterns and poor water management infrastructure cause droughts, which destroy crops, reduce agricultural production, and decrease food security. Improved infrastructure could play a role in increasing food security, as Haiti largely relies on small rural farms and struggles to transport enough food from the countryside to village markets and urban centres. Specific improvements needed to aid the Haitian food system are improved public infrastructure and more paved roads.

• Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Penguin Books, 2005 and 2011 (ISBN 9780241958681). See chapter 11 entitled "One Island, Two People, Two Histories: The Dominican Republic and Haiti".

There have been great challenges to the environment and biodiversity of Haiti. Deforestation in Haiti has left approximately 30% percent of forest cover at present.

The island of Hispaniola 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 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 forests (in some of the mountain ranges and the protected areas), high mountain peaks, arid desert, mangrove forest, and palm tree-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 only pinniped ever to occur in the Caribbean, is now extinct.

In addition to soil erosion, deforestation in Haiti 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. 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—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 Gonaïves 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.

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, 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 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.

Despite the large environmental crises, Haiti retains a very high amount of biodiversity in proportion to its small size.

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

• List of environmental issues
• List of natural disasters in Haiti
• Mangrove Fund

• Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Penguin Books, 2005 and 2011 (ISBN 9780241958681). See chapter 11 entitled "One Island, Two People, Two Histories: The Dominican Republic and Haiti".

• EIN News - Haiti Environment News

Throughout its history, Haiti has suffered cyclones, hurricanes, tropical storms, torrential rains, floods, famine, disease and earthquakes.

The hurricane season in Haiti lasts from June to the end of November.

Environmental issues in Haiti include a historical deforestation problem, overpopulation, a lack of sanitation, natural disasters, and food insecurity. The major reasons for these environmental issues are corruption, human exploitation, and the embezzlement of taxpayers' funds for personal gains. In addition, there is not sufficient protection or management of the country's natural resources. Other environmental issues, such as decreases in precipitation and more severe natural disasters, will likely arise in Haiti as a result of climate change. Experts agree that Haiti needs to adopt new policies to address both the issues that already exist and to prepare for the effects of climate change.

Deforestation in Haiti occurred primarily during the colonial period, and later after the Haitian Revolution to pay a post-independence war indemnity to France. Deforestation has led to soil erosion by decreasing tree cover and leaving soil exposed. In the present era, arboreal fallow, or trees cleared for agricultural production, are then transformed into charcoal as a secondary agricultural by-product.

Today, 'primary' forest cover in Haiti is estimated at less than 1% of all land area. In an earlier study using the Food and Agricultural Organization (United Nations) global standard definition for 'forest', which includes areas that have been degraded by as much as 90% (10% canopy), approximately 30% of Haiti was estimated to be covered with trees and/or forests. However, because the United Nations definition does not distinguish between areas that have been previously deforested and those never deforested (primary forest), and the use of different canopy cover values can yield different per cent forest cover values, and because primary forest is the most important forest for the preservation of biodiversity, it is argued that only the value of <1% primary forest is relevant for environmental issues in Haiti because it addresses both deforestation and biodiversity.

Haiti had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.01/10, ranking it 137th globally out of 172 countries.

Charcoal production and consumption in Haiti is a widely misunderstood phenomenon. Charcoal is the primary source of energy for Haitian residents. The UN reported that 92% of Haitian households rely on charcoal for cooking, and approximately 10,000 bags of charcoal are burned daily in Haiti.

Media has popularly portrayed Haitians as engaged in a widespread and lucrative illegal market for charcoal in the neighbouring Dominican Republic. Conservative estimates calculate the illegal movement of 115 tons of charcoal per week from the Dominican Republic to Haiti in 2014. Dominican officials estimate that at least 10 trucks per week are crossing the border loaded with charcoal. However new research and charcoal export data from the Dominican Republic indicate the flow of charcoal into Haiti has declined as Dominicans have found more lucrative charcoal markets in the United States and the Middle East.

It was once believed that Haiti's reliance on agriculture to support its economy is another primary reason for deforestation. 66.4% of the land in Haiti is used for agricultural purposes. Reallocating land for forest means a reduction in land available for cultivation of crops, and currently the land available is insufficient to keep pace with the growing population of Haiti. Additionally, insecure property rights discourage forest management; the possibility that tenants will reap the benefits of land conservation is reduced because it is possible that they may lose that property in the future. The Haitian government could encourage citizens to preserve forested land through the strengthening of property rights, as this would create greater responsibility of land use. Currently, there is a lack of off-farm opportunities; many rural residents depend on agriculture for their livelihood. An increase in off-farm employment could minimize deforestation, as this would potentially reduce the need for households to clear forest for crop.

Early researchers claimed that an increasing Haitian population contributed to the degradation of the environment. However, recent research places Haiti as the country with the lowest per capita ecological footprint in the world.

Haiti can be characterized as a low-income, high-density nation. As of 2012, Haiti's population count was at 10.6 million. The UN estimates that 52% of the population lived in urban areas in 2011, with an annual 3.9% annual increase in population in urban areas. Low-income individuals are largely concentrated in urban areas, especially Port-au-Prince, and are subject to poor environmental quality, human health, and quality of life. Port-au-Prince's urban environmental quality is further reduced by its poor infrastructure, lack of government management, and its subjectivity to natural disasters, as a result of being located on the coast. As the population of urban areas in Haiti grows it is hard to update the already poor infrastructure to meet the needs of so many people. When an abundance of people don't have an adequate waste management system, it can have devastating effects on the environment through air and water pollution. Studies show that more than 60% of Haitians live in low environmental quality urban areas near the coast, such as Port-au-Prince. Environmental quality can be measured by assessing the domestic environment, public environment, physical environment and atmosphere. The areas with the lowest environmental quality have the highest population density and are subject to pollution and an array of natural hazards, which can destroy natural resources and cause environmental degradation. These individuals face a situation of environmental injustice. In rural areas, overpopulation causes over-cultivation of land and therefore soil erosion, as nutrients are quickly depleted from the soil. Although many Haitian farmers are aware of the effects of their practices on the soil, they are often reluctant to change their practices because political and economic factors, such as insecure property rights and high prices of capital, prohibit them from adopting proper technologies.

The lack of sanitation and sewerage treatment in Haiti has led to an inadequate supply of safe drinking water. City sewerage systems are insufficient, and many citizens have to use septic tanks. Local drainage systems primarily consist of open channels dug along the side of the road. The densely populated capital of Port-au-Prince is especially at risk for water-borne diseases, with many of its citizens residing on flood plains in poorly constructed housing and a generally under-developed waste management system. Only 46% of the urban population has access to safe water, and in 2012 only 55% of people in urban areas had "improved sanitation", which consisted of using a latrine. Natural disasters make water sanitation even worse, as latrines and channels on the side of the road often overflow with large amounts of rain. A 2012 study after hurricane season found that less than 10% of households were drinking treated water a week after a storm.

Cholera has become one of the leading issues facing Haiti, and its recurrence is largely due to Haiti's poor sanitation system. A Cholera epidemic was reported in Haiti in October 2010 after the infection was brought to the country by peacekeeping troops providing aid after a devastating earthquake struck the region. Infections have continued to occur since the initial epidemic, which raises questions as to whether there is an established environmental reservoir of Cholera in Haiti. Environmental reservoirs are environmental sources where the bacterium can survive between outbreaks of the disease. There is evidence that conditions are appropriate for Cholera to establish environmental reservoirs in the water of Haiti. The establishment of environmental reservoirs would make it nearly impossible to eradicate the disease from Haiti, and increase the chance of transmission of the disease neighbouring countries. Both improving sanitation and monitoring potential environmental reservoirs are necessary to reduce the spread of Cholera throughout Haiti.

Haiti's position as a southern island nation makes it particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change. Factors that make Haiti more vulnerable than other Caribbean nations, such as the Dominican Republic, are its higher population density, extensive deforestation, extreme soil erosion, and high income-inequality. Several effects of increased intensity of tropical storms, depleted coral reefs, and desertification. Since 1960 the mean annual rainfall has decreased by 5mm per month per decade, and mean temperatures have increased by 0.45 °C. The combination of increased temperatures and decreased rainfall will likely lead to the intensification of drought conditions, especially in the centre of the country. According to the IPCC climate change predictions for 2050, more than 50% of Haiti will be in danger of desertification. The frequency of hot days and nights has increased, while the frequency of cold days and nights have steadily decreased. Sea-level rise is projected to rise between 0.13 and 0.56 m by 2090. The US Climate Change Science program estimates that with each 1 °C increase in temperature, hurricane rainfall will increase by 6–17% and hurricane wind speeds will increase by 1–8%.

As a small Caribbean country, Haiti is often the victim of intense natural disasters such as hurricanes, tropical storms, and earthquakes, which have a large impact on both Haiti's environment and its citizens. The intensity of Atlantic hurricanes in Haiti has increased substantially since 1980. These storms frequently result in loss of human life, loss of livestock, destruction of agriculture, soil erosion, a spike in water-borne diseases, and decreased food security. Tropical storms often also lead to flooding, which is one of the leading causes of vulnerability in Haiti. Flooding often occurs in Haiti's most populous cities, which are located in valleys along the coast. Large amounts of rain, barren hills resulting from deforestation, and poor drainage infrastructure leave Haiti especially susceptible to flooding after tropical storms. Landslides also often result from the rain accompanying a tropical storm since much of the soil has eroded as a result of deforestation. From 1980 to 2009, Haiti had more deaths due to natural disasters than any other country in the insular Caribbean. The majority of deaths were caused by flooding or landslides, which resulted from the heavy rains of tropical storms combined with the unstable slopes left from deforestation. Poor infrastructure makes it difficult for people to cope with natural disasters on a basic level. A significant reason why other Caribbean countries experience lower death rates than Haiti is that their investment in physical infrastructure and human resources have led to risk reduction and successful disaster management. In Haiti, inability to evacuate leads to a much larger loss of life than a country with good public infrastructure and paved roads would experience in the same situation. Unfortunately, Haiti lacks both climate-resilient infrastructure and the funds to construct it.

Roughly 40% of the total land in Haiti is farmed, with agriculture being the basis of the country's economy. Given agriculture's high dependence on natural ecosystem services, farming systems are at high risk to be negatively affected by climate change and climate-induced shocks. Food security is poor in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters, and more erratic and unpredictable rainfall will place strain on the agriculture industry in the future. Following the hurricanes of 2012, about 70% of Haitian residents reported suffering from moderate or severe hunger, and more than two-thirds of farmers reported having crops destroyed, losing materials to plant new crops, or losing farming equipment. A warning system to aid farmers in preparing for these natural disasters would be an efficient way to reduce the impact of storms on the agricultural system. The farming sector will also have to build resilience against drought and water scarcity as rainfall patterns change. Drought particularly affects the Northwest, Artibonite, and Centre departments of Haiti. Erratic rainfall patterns and poor water management infrastructure cause droughts, which destroy crops, reduce agricultural production, and decrease food security. Improved infrastructure could play a role in increasing food security, as Haiti largely relies on small rural farms and struggles to transport enough food from the countryside to village markets and urban centres. Specific improvements needed to aid the Haitian food system are improved public infrastructure and more paved roads.

• Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Penguin Books, 2005 and 2011 (ISBN 9780241958681). See chapter 11 entitled "One Island, Two People, Two Histories: The Dominican Republic and Haiti".

Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of The Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is the third largest country in the Caribbean, and with an estimated population of 11.4 million, is the most populous Caribbean country. The capital and largest city is Port-au-Prince.

The island was originally inhabited by the Taíno people. The first Europeans arrived in December 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus, establishing the first European settlement in the Americas, La Navidad, on what is now the northeastern coast of Haiti. The island formed part of the Spanish Empire until 1697, when the western portion was ceded to France and subsequently renamed Saint-Domingue. French colonists established sugarcane plantations, worked by slaves brought from Africa, which made the colony one of the world's richest.