Thursday, September 9 2010

OVER SIX months since the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, severe deforestation and the uncontrolled dumping of debris are among the complex environmental issues the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is helping to address.

As part of the UN relief and recovery effort, UNEP said it is focused on promoting a sustainable recovery for Haiti by minimising the environmental damage from reconstruction and ensuring there is adequate, long-term investment in natural resource management.

Prior to the January 12 earthquake, Haiti was already the poorest and most environmentally degraded country in the Caribbean, and its largely destroyed rural environment could not fully support its population. For example, the total forest cover was approximately two percent in a country where 75 percent of energy demands were satisfied by wood fuel, and a lack of trees had in turn caused significant soil erosion.

The massive damage from the earthquake has now exacerbated the sustainability problems in rural and urban areas, according to UNEP’s Haiti Programme Manager, Andrew Morton.

“The demand for timber poles for tents and construction is accelerating the rate of deforestation and this is one impact which will be very difficult to mitigate,” Morton said. “A new and highly visible problem is debris and waste management in the Port-au-Prince region where the city is literally choking on building rubble and garbage because dumping is generally uncontrolled.

“UNEP is working with the Haitian Ministry of Environment, the UN and non-governmental organisations to try and turn around the environmental situation, but the people of Haiti and the international community have a major recovery challenge in front of them,” Morton added.

Field-based rapid assessments since January 13 identified numerous environmental issues for the short and medium term, including the disposal of medical waste, rubble and demolition material, secondary spills and hazardous chemicals, geological and flood risks for camps and the environmental impact of massive population displacement.

Jointly with the Haitian government, UNEP is identifying opportunities for investment, for example, in erosion control to help increase the productivity of farmland, and in clean energy by establishing a Haiti Improved Stoves Network to introduce more fuel-efficient stoves and reduce the demand for charcoal. Through its Disasters and Conflicts Programme, UNEP has been working with the government of Haiti since 2008 and opened a project office in Port-au-Prince in January 2009.



(Story courtesy Earth Conscious, an online magazine that focuses in environmental issues. For further information visit their website at www.earthconsciousmagazine.com)