[Scpg] A green balm for Haiti's strife

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

A green balm for Haiti's strife http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3979453.stm

By Charlotte Eimer
BBC Monitoring



Parts of Haiti were devastated by Tropical Storm Jeanne
Haiti's reconstruction is top of the agenda for 19 Latin American countries 
at this week's annual talks of the Rio Group of Nations, in Brazil.

Meanwhile, an award-winning environmental group from Brazil is busy 
preparing to send staff to the storm-battered country in January.

Brazil heads the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti. But political unrest and 
rising violence are just some of the problems facing the Caribbean island.

The Institute for Permaculture and Ecovillages of the Savannah (Ipec) 
believes Brazil is well-placed to provide more than just military 
assistance, Brazilian media report.

Deforestation

Intense deforestation has left Haiti particularly vulnerable to heavy rains.

The hills and mountains have been stripped of trees - leaving nothing to 
hold back water.


The violence in Port-au-Prince has claimed dozens of lives

In October, Tropical Storm Jeanne left more than 2,000 dead and many more 
homeless.

Earlier this year flash floods killed another 2,000 people in the Western 
hemisphere's most densely-populated nation.

According to the latest World Bank assessment, Haiti needs $1.37bn in 
urgent financial aid.

But in a recent interview, Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue rebuked 
the international community.

Insecurity in the capital, Port-au-Prince, was being used as an excuse to 
delay the sending of funds, he said.

'No money'

Poverty-stricken peasants are cutting down the island's few remaining trees 
to scratch a living selling charcoal.

Now a group of 10 Haitians from the Papaye Peasant Movement (PPM) has come 
to Brazil to study sustainable agricultural and architectural techniques at 
the Ipec centre in Pirenopolis, 160 km (100 miles) from the capital, Brasilia.

This is the third time Ipec has hosted representatives from the movement, 
which is one of the strongest grass-roots groups in Haiti, with some 
200,000 members.

	
ENVIRONMENT IN HAITI

More than 98% deforested
Wood and charcoal represent 71% of national fuel consumption
15,000 acres of fertile topsoil washed away each year

Their goal is to set up a similar Living and Learning Centre in the Western 
Caribbean to teach permaculture, village economy, sustainable technologies, 
ecological building and co-operation to restore the endangered ecosystems.

The solutions taught at the Ipec centre include taking advantage of rain 
water, recycling waste and building houses made of super-adobe.

They are cheap to implement - a crucial factor in the poorest nation in the 
Western hemisphere.

"We want information," a Haitian visitor told Rio de Janeiro newspaper 
Jornal do Brasil.

"We cannot think about traditional processes," agricultural engineer Accene 
Joachim said.

"There is no money for that."

Dry toilets

The visitors hope to return to Haiti armed with techniques to reconstruct 
the nation and educate the population.

One of the many environmental challenges is the need to rebuild the 
original vegetation, reduced to a mere 2%.

This loss of vegetation has caused changes in the rain rate and a reduction 
in native flora and fauna.

Decades of deforestation have also set in motion a process of 
desertification and erosion.

One of the tasks for Haitian group member Marie-Lucie Adolph will be to 
convey basic hygiene concepts to rural communities.



She will be responsible for distributing dry toilets, which is a cheap 
solution to deal with human waste.

This technology does away with the need for drains and pipes, and uses only 
dry organic material such as sawdust.

A by-product of the system is the production of high-quality humus for 
agricultural use.

The possibility of catching rain water has also caught the attention of 
agricultural engineer Vernat Supreme.

Many Haitians are forced to drink from contaminated wells and rivers while 
pure rain water is being wasted.

Another agricultural engineer told of his excitement on seeing the Ipec 
ecovillage - a sustainable human development designed to create a peaceful 
and healthy environment.

"I have never seen anything like it," Augustin Sylvestre said.

He will be involved in the planning of the Haitian version, taking into 
account local topography and natural resources.



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