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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Proposal to Build Haiti's Economy with Tree Planting

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

2/28/96

OVERVIEW & SOURCE

It has become abundantly clear that conserving and managing

remaining virgin forests will not be adequate either for

maintenance of forest ecological benefits or forest products

production. Massive restoration of forest ecosystems must occur

if many lands are to remain viable. Follwing is an article

written by David Deppner of Trees for the Future which details an

ambitious proposal to reforest Haiti. It notes "In other words,

if Haiti is to provide continuous income to its people, it begins

by protecting and restoring the depleted natural resources of that

land." There are few remaining unspoiled virgin frontiers to

move into once depleted landscapes are exhausted. Restoration,

conservation and management are essential for our sustainable

future. This was sent by a list recipient, thanks!

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

EDITORIAL FOR MIAMI HERALD

Build Haiti's Economy With Tree Planting

By Dave Deppner

The Miami Herald recently reported on the sharp increase in boat

building taking place in Haiti (Dec. 13). Many of these boats

will no doubt contribute to the growing international exchange of

commerce. However, staff writer Tim Johnson warns of a growing

tide of humanity that is seeking to reach the United States.

The article quotes Ivan Nelson, one of 1100 economic refugees

who was headed to the US in November before his boat was returned

to Haiti: "I'll give you a guarantee: if we find jobs here, we

will stay [in Haiti]."

My expertise, earned over the past 23 years in the developing

countries of Asia, Africa and the Americas, has to do with

ecologically sustainable economic development. In other words, if

Haiti is to provide continuous income to its people, it begins by

protecting and restoring the depleted natural resources of that

land.

Experience has proven that even the depleted uplands of Haiti

can be brought back to a sustainably productive state, meeting the

needs of the population there. One of the best examples of what

is possible took place in the Philippines in the early 1980s, near

La Mesa Dam in the mountains above Manila. That land, deforested

nearly a century earlier, was barren and degraded, covered only

with a coarse grass called "cogon."

On this land, 200 families were recruited to plant fast-growing

tree species, including Leucaena, a nitrogen-fixing tree known

there as "Ipil-Ipil", along with Glyricidia (madera negro, or

"black wood") and Gmelina, a tree from India used for pulpwood.

On about 21 acres per family, these people earned a sustained

livelihood from the formerly worthless land. Within six years,

wood production and leaf forage (for cattle) had increased enough

that the land now supported 470 families, about one family for 8

acres. In less than 10 years, a family was sustained on the

products harvested from just six acres.

Good forest management derived these results. Ignored in this

analysis were any supplemental crops that can be grown around the

nitrogen-fixing roots of the leucaena tree (which avoids the need

for external fertilizers). The families later introduced young

trees of higher value, such as mahogany, which will give

additional future income to the land.

Five acres per family

Based on results obtained in this 10-year project in the

Philippines, we think it's fair to say that five acres of degraded

uplands can be restored to a condition that offers a rural family

in Haiti a reasonable annual income (by local standards) as well

as a permanent home. We believe that by the time the younger

generation takes over the land, it will be sustainably producing

exportable timber, including mahogany, which grows extremely well

in Haiti.

As a result of this, and other such projects, the people of these

threatened uplands saw that they could preserve their homes,

their dignity, their way of life by restoring trees to the barren

lands. Planting trees was not a cost, necessary to allow economic

development -- it was itself a source of constantly increasing

income.

Restoring these devastated lands offers real income to the people

there. It also offers an alternative to the growing exodus

of people from the land: the growing army of refugees from the

environment, who crowd the slums of Port-au-Prince, who, if they

could find a way, would move on to Florida in the desperate hope

of finding a way to continue their lives.

Haiti covers about 2.7 million hectares, or about 6.7 million

acres. If one-tenth of this area (670,000 acres) were to be

reforested at a cost of about $70 per acre (500 trees per acre,

including volunteer labor), the resulting land could initially

support about 30,000 families. If the trends are similar to the

Philippine study mentioned above, within four years a family would

require only 10 acres, so 67,000 families would be supported. By

year 10, more than 600,000 people, or twelve percent of the

country's population of 5 million, would be sustained on land that

is currently deforested. An aggressive tree-planting program,

costing under $50 million, can break the downward spiral of

poverty in Haiti.

However, this tree-planting should not been viewed as a cost.

This is an opportunity to invest in a sustainable future for a

Caribbean neighbor.

Income opportunities

Let's examine how the island once functioned. Rainfall was

trapped in the hills and stored underground. These reservoirs fed

springs which provided water year-round to upland farmers. The

farmers sold food in markets and the island could sustain a

population.

The system broke down when forests were clear-cut and burned

over. The vast extent of the clearing, and the resulting

pressures on the land prevented any natural regeneration of the

forests that were once there.

Fifty-four of Haiti's 63 watersheds are now totally barren of

tree cover. The others are close behind. None retains the

capability of retaining the water from the constantly declining

rainfall that visits these uplands.

When it rains, the water flows off the hills of exposed dirt

instead of soaking into the ground. Without water, the crops fail

and the farmers leave the land, looking for work in the city.

With thousands of former farmers migrating to cities like Porte-

au-Prince, the capacity for new jobs is exceeded and slums expand.

Reversing this migration to the urban center starts by planting

nitrogen-fixing trees like Leucaena that help hillsides to retain

water and keep farmers on their land. There is a "ripple effect,"

since the trees restore humus to the soil and wildlife returns to

the area (deer, wild pigs and endangered bird species returned to

the La Mesa Dam region in the Philippines). This increase in

diversity expands the income-generating potential of the land.

Look to other crops

By now my message will be clear to potential investors and

entrepreneurs with the vision to see opportunities in restoring

these lands in cooperation with the people living there. These

earlier projects in the Philippines also demonstrate that once the

soils have been restored to productive life, they will sustainably

produce a great array of products with high demand, both in the

rural markets of Haiti, and also in world trade.

Haitian limes and tangerines are in high demand in the US markets.

As Texas A&M University and Edwin Singer in Corpus Christi have

demonstrated in recent years, leaves of the fast- growing trees

that could be planted in Haiti have a proven value for their high-

quality protein in cattle rations. That's something very much

needed by Florida's beef cattle industry. With paper prices in

the US more than doubling in the past year, it's important to note

that we could plant pulpwood trees in Haiti that would grow more

than twice as fast as trees do in the Pacific Northwest.

All these possibilities, and many more, offer exciting investment

possibilities for North American entrepreneurs and good jobs for

the people of Haiti's mountainous areas.

Even charcoal, the only fuel available for most of the people

of Haiti, offers the opportunity to generate important income

while also solving a serious environmental threat: right now,

entire villages in Haiti move from place to place, harvesting

trees and selling the resulting charcoal in Port-au-Prince.

By planting the right kinds of trees, like Leucaena, trees can

be harvested time after time, growing back as a continuing source

of renewable energy for thousands of households. Haiti's energy

crisis could be solved by saving the land and giving local people

meaningful employment.

To break the cycle of poverty, organizations like Operation

Greenleaves, based in Coral Gables, and Trees for the Future

(Silver Spring Maryland) are putting trees in the ground, but our

projects are small. The plans are ready; we just need support

from individuals and governments to make tree planting part of the

international effort to pull Haiti into the 20th century.

20 years of Tree Planting

How do I know this works? Since 1989, I have supervised the

planting of over 20 million trees in 61 countries. I've been part

of tree-planting programs since the mid-1970s and I've seen the

changes that can take place, both on a barren hillside and in the

eyes of a dispirited community.

There remains this very brief period of time in which the

environmental crisis of Haiti, and the resulting human tragedy,

can be reversed. To that end, we're working with local

organizations in the rural areas of Haiti. The program works:

we've proven that. However, the need is great and the time is

short.

Why not test the word of refugees like Ivan Nelson? It will

be easier to hire hundreds of people to plant the hillsides of

Haiti's deforested watersheds than to prepare South Florida for

another flood of economic refugees.

Haiti stands on the edge of an environmental, therefore economic,

abyss. We all stand to benefit if the disaster is averted. It

can be, if we think in terms of sustainable development.

Dave Deppner is executive director of Trees for the Future, a not-

for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to aiding developing

countries through tree planting. For more information on how this

program works in Haiti and worldwide, call (800) 643-0001.

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