The environmental history of the Republic of Haiti

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Haiti: An economic miscellany
From Robert Brice, 6 March 1995. Two brief notes: a) US Mining Operations in Mont Organize, b) Dumping of radioactive and chemical wastes by US mining operations.
US refuses to remove Philadelphia's toxic ash from Gonaives
The International Liaison Office for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti Update, 8 November 1995. Eight years after 2,000 to 4,500 tons of toxic ash from a Philadelphia municipal incinerator were dumped in Gonaives, the U.S. government still refuses to remove the material from Haiti.
The Environment Ministry: plan of action
From the International Liaison Office for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 17 November 1995. Haiti was once among the richest and most productive colonies of the continent. Today, however, Haiti must organize an intensive campaign to overcome the devastation and deforestation caused by centuries of exploitation and neglect.
Environmental degradation deepens
By Elizabeth Bryant, Earth Times News Service, 8 July 1996. Increasingly, environmentalists are looking at grassroots conservation, rather than government-sponsored efforts, as the key to Haiti's future. They criticize the Haitian government and the international community for not doing enough, and for pegging environmental issues to political self interest.
Philadelphia dumps on the poor
By Peter Montague, Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly, 23 April 1998. The City of Philadelphia is refusing to spend $200,000 or 0.008% of its annual budget to clean up 8 million pounds of the city's toxic incinerator ash that was dumped on a beach in Haiti 10 years ago.
A Desert in the Caribbean: As Axes Fall, So Do Numbers of Haiti';s Trees
Reuters, 15 December 1998. Haiti has the worst case of deforestation in the Western Hemisphere because of charcoal's place as the primary fuel. The once-lush country is becoming the Western Hemisphere's first desert. Parts of the country will never be able to recover; loss of Haiti's topsoil.
Statement on Haiti's Environment and Free Trade Zones
Haiti Report, 9 September 2002, prepared by Haiti Reborn/Quixote Center (excerpts). The Support Group for Refugees and the Repatriated (GARR) and the Platform to Advocate an Alternative Development (PAPDA) question the government's commitment to sustainable development given that it will concret the green spaces on the Maribahoux agricultural plain to set up a free zone for textile production.
Haiti and the destruction of nature
By Emmanuel W. Vedrine, 10 November 2002. The Haitian peasants cross the border to the Dominican Republic; so do the birds because of deforestation, no vegetation, and poor agriculture. Part of the ecological problem is that peasants cut down trees to make charcoal (for cash) because of the absence of other cash-crops.
Foret des Pins
Associated Press, New York Times, 23 March 2003. Once blanketed by lush forests, Haiti is now nearly 90 percent deforested. Competing against a demand that has far exceeded supply, the Caribbean nation loses more than 30 million trees a year to provide wood, fuel and work to a desperate population.
As resources dwindle, search for clean water is costly daily struggle for most households
By Marika Lynch, The Miami Herald, Thu 8 May 2003. In Haiti, where just a fifth of the households have running water—a small percentage even for developing countries—getting clean water is a daily struggle. It's also increasingly costly.
Haiti Can't Gain Ground on Erosion
By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times, 17 November 2003. Misguided irrigation and drainage practices in Haiti's highlands, unregulated construction on hillsides and excessive cutting of endangered forests for fuel wood have combined to expose the area around Port-au-Prince to erosion that threatens to wipe out whole neighborhoods, rich and poor alike.