Kowalisyon Nasyonal pou Anviwonman Ayisyen (KNAA)

Meeting for the Artibonite, Gros Morne

10-12 June 2008

Welcome

Father Nesly Jean Jacques:

I am very happy to welcome you here today. I never forget two powerful things. First, the way that people who come to stay with us always see how beautiful it is here and say they don’t want to live anywhere else. The second is our country’s motto, L’Union Fait la Force, united we are strong.

When we received the invitation from KONPAY to host this conference we saw a chance to share our experiences here in Grepin and to represent our vision. Gros Morne has the privilege to welcome representatives from different places who are all working on the environment. We are excited with the same spirit that Father Jean Marie Vincent had. We hope that all of our groups who have goals realize that it is the entire planet that is threatened, and we all have to produce or make things. We defend our own ability to continue planting trees, and there is a lot of hope here that we will have rain, beause we need rain to plant rice and it hasn’t fallen yet. We all have an experience to share, and a method to participate and share is what we are using today.

I welcome you in the name of the Montfortan Fathers and Brothers, and in the name of the Religious of Jesus and Mary. We welcome the representative of the Government of Haiti and all the groups in our area, who have come together to share a vision. I hope that we can brainstorm together and find even more conviction to continue our work. I am going to introduce to you Agronomist Rodney Pierre, who represents the Ministry of the Environment here. I hope that he understand what Gros Morne represents in our economy. It is a place that is in danger and it is a big project to keep Gros Morne alive. We’re happy to learn from him, and to share our dreams and concerns with him. After he speaks we will hear from Agronomist Isaac Cherestal, the Haitian National Coalition for the Environment’s (KNAA) representative for the South department and a member of the KNAA coordinating committee.

Presentation of Government of Haiti’s Plan

Representative for the Ministry of the Environment, Agronomist Rodney Pierre

I have spent a long time working in the Artibonite and in Gros Morne with Caritas. Gros Morne has a lot of things going on and it gives me a lot of pleasure to visit here and participate. When I put my feet down in Gros Morne I feel at ease.

The Ministry of the Environment is executing work plans in each department with objectives that revolve around ten axes:

1. To reinforce the capacity to coordinate work for the environment:The Ministry has made a plan for every commune, plan kominal pou anviwonman, in cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (BID). We worked with a focus group and had a dialogue with them to determine problems and priorities. We have a document that outlines the plan and will make copies to share with participants at this meeting. There was a delegation that met to agree to the plans and Agronomist Pierre was part of the group.There were fifteen plans, including one for each department. It’s like the Bible for our environmental plans in the department. They worked with the population to make the plans and then returned to verify it. We are trying to work with the grassroots when making the plans.The plan was made communally and then was fused into the departmental plan. It is not in Creole but we could translate it together. The BID has a plan inside the plan. For example, with the priorities for Gros Morne they have to choose projects inside the plan but there is supposed to be a coordinating committee, to do follow-up and direct the plan, but they get specialists to write the documents instead. All the mayors have copies of the plans.There is a committee to seek funding for projects that are already included in the plan. I am the only technician for fifteen communes. There is a plan for desertification and a conference just took place for that, but I am against it! If we have a communal plan for the environment we should work on that, and desertification is a part of it. It’s someone in Washington, DC who decides we should work on desertification. The plans should not be competing.
2. Coordination of a Strategy for Watersheds:We have to redefine that term. We have Trois Riviere from Marmelade to Port-de-Paix. If we are dealing with flooding and other problems we have to start in Marmelade. A watershed is like a paper with a fold, everything that is water that passes on the land/paper, ends in the fold/river. Gros Morne is a strategic watershed. There is a lot of productive potential. There is a big river, the second biggest, and other rivers, so we should have the attention of the government.The strategy for the watershed is mainly soil conservation, reconstruction of ravines and tree planting. To have the watershed in Gros Morne safe we need good soil conservation. If planting trees, it’s because we can’t do agriculture without good soil, we can’t plant corn without trees to hold the soil and some vetiver ramps. Agriculture without soil conservation sends soil to the sea. A policy of reforestation is necessary!
3. Integrated coordination of the coasts and sea:We’re not all on the sea but we’re all swimming in it and depending on it for fish. People get gout in the mountains because they are not eating fish – we have to protect the ocean and share its products. Plastic pollution – some fish are eating plastic and dying – it’s not good for ALL of us! It is a grave problem throughout the world. Gonaives is not a public beach but people swim there and are always obligated to remove plastic. The ocean deserves protection.
4. Energy for sustainable development:To cook, to see in the dark, for dry cleaning and bakeries. There are two approaches:
5. 1. Alternative energy: don’t use wood but instead use the sun, wind, or electricity but not wood.
   2. Cut wood and plant trees. There are two approaches here; the Ministry of Environment likes briquettes that are made with agricultural waste, like bagasse. They don’t have to cut a tree and that’s important because we need trees!

   All soil conservation strategies end with planting trees. Not forests, but to plant trees for food and other uses. There are 125,000 people in Gros Morne and they need to do agriculture and trees together! Trees, corn, potatoes, peppers; a marriage of agriculture and trees.

   We may have some spaces too denuded for agriculture but we can plant forests. It is not possible to return to the kind of forest cover we once had because of the population. Some trees can be in your garden and there is the choice of agroforestry or just forest.

   We need energy to replace trees – solar, alternative charcoal, need a system of alternative electricity for Gros Morne or a branch from Gonaives. If we had twenty-four seven electricity we wouldn’t need charcoal. We need credit at the banks for people to get electric stoves. In the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, it was the government that decided to change the source of energy.

6. Environmental education:We can’t change Haiti’s environment or pursue sustainable development without massive environmental education. Yesterday I asked for bottles instead of plastic because I’m driving the truck that says Ministry of the Environment on it! I have to give an example. Don’t bring plastic to the beach. Get into a “protect the environment” mentality. Children don’t have any other mentality yet, so we can teach them to put trash in barrels. People don’t see soda bottles in the street in the U.S. People see me cleaning the street and they say, “Oh, he’s an agronomist.” But we need to change people, to raise consciousness.We can do it through schools, the radio. But we can’t change the environment if we don’t change the consciousness. We know the importance of trees needs to be taught in schools, as part of the Haitian education system. In Cuba they have trees but the cities have no trees. They generally don’t have the mentality to plant trees and keep garbage out of the streets.We need to integrate the environment into the national education system for all children. With education of the masses, we could make Haiti green in ten years. Don’t throw out the seeds when you eat the fruit, like avocadoes! There are African countries that were more deforested than Haiti that have done it. June 24th is the day for all Haitians to plant trees, we could plant millions! A huge sensitization campaign.
7. Conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity:We can’t plant only mangoes to make Gros Morne green, we need to plant cashima, too. Neem leaves are useful. The environment has a lot of diverse potential. Each species of bird and insect has a plant or flower that they like. Varieties of plants bring a variety of bugs and one eats the other. All kinds of medicinal plants, all kinds of birds.
8. Waste management:Make compost from corn cobs and resell it back. Make a center to turn trash into compost. Hunger is a serious problem due to diminishing national production, but compost can help. We need a good plan for the management of solid waste and together we can keep it out of the streets.
9. Disaster management and national preparedness:There are about twenty hurricanes each year but this could change due to climate change. The Ministry of the Environment has a committee in each department and Gros Morne has a communal committee that mobilizes to help us manage if there is a disaster. We need a lot of training for people to know what to do when there is an emergency.
10. Support activities relative to sustainable development:We encourage anything that is sustainable development.

Exploitation of mines and mineral deposits

• What projects have already happened?
• What success and setbacks?
• Begin defining best practices.

• Construct a living ramp.
• Plant trees on the living ramp.
• Don’t plant peanuts on the hillsides.
• Stop allowing livestock to graze freely on the hillsides.
• Don’t burn twigs, leaves, etc, but make a ramp with them.

• Living ramps
• Plant trees
• Bann annèbe
• Sey ak kleyonaje

• People who have competence in the domain who live in the area.
• Training and motivation for three months to mobilize and raise awareness among the population.
• During a space of six months we’ll have the tree nursery phase that will produce trees during the seventh to ninth months.

• Investigation in the field where there are tree nurseries.
• Preparation of a pilot training.
• Training for teachers, both theoretical and practical.
• Training for students, both theoretical and practical.
• Organization of popular theater about the environment to sensitize people.
• Distribution of seedlings, celebration of the International Environment Day, parade in the streets.

Introduction

Agronomist Isaac Cherestal:

Today I came to discuss some issues about the environment. I am pleased because the director for the environment is here with us. We can see he is interested and he has presented to us the plan that the Government of Haiti has for the environment.

I am also doing follow up to see what kind of program or trainings that are being done under the banner of the Haitian National Colaition for the Environment (KNAA).

I am a member of the KNAA and I am the representative for the South. It is important for us to create a committee at the end of this meeting, so we can discuss at any moment any thing or any problem in our environment. Just as we have a representative for the department for the environment, he is our friend that we can collaborate with to make the work happen. Today is an occasion for me to say, the earth is here for us, but people have left it in a state of illness. It has a fever and all other kinds of sickness. There are some countries trying to diminish their carbon emissions, but we need to think about how we can be contributing to the degradation of the environment. For example, we have kitchens functioning and the smoke just goes wherever leading to acid rain. That’s how you can see an area that is not near the ocean but after a little time the tin roofs become completely rusted as if it was the salt in the air. In terms of the plastic waste, scientists say it takes 100 years to degrade, but there are others they have discovered take 100,000 years before they degrade.

The disaster that is happening in our country with the environment is the consequence of the people who came before us not taking responsibility and also our neighbors in other countries, because it is not only us who have created problems in the world. We need to put our heads together and get our hands dirty.

Open Space WorkshopsDuring the meeting of the Artibonite, the KNAA used the Open Space method to maximize participation. Each of the workshop sessions were suggested by meeting participants and individuals joined the workshop where they felt they had the most to learn or share.

Groups were asked to answer these questions:

WORKSHOP: Watersheds

Participants: Destin Roselande, Josephe Mymose, Denard Eliaze, Saurel Guinea, Ambois Kalito, Mme Jean, Dieupanoie Charles, Geneve, Reserve B. Magoffie

The Mancelle River was distant and there was no water in town. It was difficult to find water but when Elvetas came they created a way for people to get water more easily. One of the best outcomes was people finding water closer to them, and not having to walk far to find it. The biggest lesson learned during the project was when a hurricane came and broke one of the public fountains. That permitted them to have a time when one fountain gave water, and a time when it didn’t. The second lesson was learned because there was no reforestation done. People in the area could have taken that as part of the management of the project. A best practice is to raise awareness among people, and make people conscious of the need to work together. Another practice is to have people planting trees throughout the watershed, and don’t let people discard trash near the water.

Best practices:

We are going to have better soil. Our soil will not wash into the ocean anymore. The soil captured by the ramp will support beautiful banana trees, papaya trees and sugar cane. Our river will have more fish. We can make dry walls, thick walls, contour channels. We’ll ask the government to help us with technicians, agronomists, material, picks, wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, machetes, from the first to the fifth year. We will have a project for the duration of five to ten years. We will have a Haiti that is completely green. We can have a place to welcome tourists. We can increase our economic activity.

WORKSHOP: Soil Conservation

Participants: Verné Lucien, Thomas Lucien, Destin Léonel, Arélus Marceau, Destin Phenix, Diedonné Cassael, Hyacinthe Joseph, Amoncil Gervest, Julnéus Dieucel, Fleurissaint Ilfrandieu, Joseph M. Presendieu, Fritnel Dessalines, Jean Desnor, Tony Dolné, Marie-Coeur Mondezémé

The reason we chose to discuss soil conservation is because if the soil is not conserved it cannot produce and we can’t have life. The soil is our umbilical cord; if we don’t protect it, our entire environment will be destroyed.

What projects already happened? The Gros Morne ravine, in the Bwasiye area there was a project to build walls (in masonry form). The advantages it had: the water that always ran off in that ravine couldn’t come down and create destruction anymore and everyone could plant gardens in the soil. But it had disadvantages too, it was expensive, so not everyone could replicate it.

In the area of Bòden, we corrected the ravine with dry tree branches. Advantages: we planted sugar cane and plantains behind them and when the water came it didn’t rush down and make a big flood anymore, and after that more people joined in the work. There were disadvantages, too: people tied their livestock to the them, they came to break them down, and at that time people took the branches and used them for their own personal affairs.

Best practices for soil conservation:

Find people who have competence in the domain to render the soil conservation project sustainable, just as we did:

For us to have sustainable soil conservation in one to five years, we must have:

When we launch the tree nursery there are some soil conservation techniques we can begin with such as:

In the ravines during the dry period we’ll make fences with branches and retaining walls, dry walls, (kleyonaj), (fasinaj).

On the hillsides we’ll construct: living ramps, contour channels, cordons of trees.

Follow-up and evaluation
WORKSHOP: Education to Protect the Environment
Participants: Florian Lagrein, Charles Mytilien, Guy Desnor, Tidio Dorsainvil, Cedieu M. Philippe, Hermann Lecius, Jn Louis Réné, Henry Raroule, Jean Eriek

Motivation and awareness raising on the question of the environment. Introduction: an example is the project SOS did in fifteen schools within the commune. They had various activities within the project:

Successes:

All the children who didn’t have a place to plant their trees planted them in rural areas.

In the evaluation that was done after three months, the seedlings they planted had a 60% success rate.

Teachers and students took upon themselves to put their heads together to see the project succeed.

Other tree nurseries were started with the peasants.

Lessons learned: We were unable to find all the students to do the evaluation. The project continued after the organization that financed it was finished and left.

Each school has to have the resources to make a proper tree nursery. We need to visit to see what number of trees survive. The program should grow, whether it is in the school or in the communal section.

We saw another experience that was done in the 3rd section, Blanch River. The education was carried out in the midst of a peasant organization.

In the first year, we need to:

Continue raising awareness in the schools.

In that education we must enable the schools to create a proper tree nursery.

Do awareness raising with: peasant organizations, the churches, and all the other places people gather in groups.

Put message son the radio and television and prepare all kinds of sports, theater, etc to motivate people.

In the second year:

Raise awareness about how to care for headwaters/water sources, the areas around rivers (plant bamboo, mapou trees, reeds, figye, twonpèt, saman moubeni)

Training and installation of tree nurseries in communities within grassroots organizations.

Give trainings and encourage the marriage of gardens and trees.

In the third year:

Give training and plant local forests, forests in the communal section, and community forests.

Organize a day to reconnect and give awards to those who work hard.

Motivate and help people to value trees, where trees give fruit.

4. On the issue of food security:

Haiti was a self-sufficient country in terms of food. Haitian peasants always produced enough food to nourish the entire population. The country even exported and sold food and other agricultural products in foreign countries.
Haiti was known for exporting organic produce, produce that is the best for health. Today the country has turned into a restavèk in terms of food. We buy 80% of the rice we eat from foreign countries, even though we have the capacity to produce enough rice to nourish ourselves, and to have a surplus we can export to sell abroad.

Our stomachs now depend on secondhand food like turkey wings, chicken wings, rotten chicken, secondhand fish and a lot of other secondhand products that destroy our health.

Today we have lost the eating habits that identified us as a people. There are Haitians who no longer want to eat native rice. Peasants who don’t want to eat local cornmeal porridge anymore. When a konbit (community work team) happens it isn’t with a big pot of cornmeal porridge anymore. We should be eating food like tchaka, chanmchanm, doukounou, akra, anpanan, tonmtonm, tayo mazoubel, tayo dijannankou, breadfruit, labapen, sweet potatoes, manioc, plantain, etc. Instead we prefer to eat bread, spaghetti and macaroni. Instead of cooking the food with fresh herbs like thyme and basil leaves we opt for bouillon cubes like Maggi, Accent, all kind of chemical products that are making us ill.

Today our stomachs are on our neighbor’s hands. It is our neighbors who sell us a million eggs each day, 84,000 white chickens each day. It is our neighbor who sells us key limes, coconuts and all kinds of products.

5. On the issue of hunger and the high cost of living

Today, if we were relying on the production of local food, hunger would have already reached 60% of us.

We are experiencing national hunger that has our stomachs in knots. A hunger that is truly painful and the people are calling it “klorox”. We are in this klorox because the government of the republic has abandoned its national production. The peasants have been abandoned like a millet field without a caretaker. They are obligated to drop the production in their own house to work the land at the neighbor’s house and to import and sell to us.

The country’s president and prime minister are always saying to us that it is food that brings down the price of food, as a way of confusing those who are incapable of analyzing the situation. We the peasant to do not participate in this lie, when we know it is only 4.5% earmarked for agriculture in the national budget. In that 4.5%, there is not even 1% that reaches us. The money in the budget for agriculture is a joke, because that is what the funders have promised them. They don’t really have these funds and the majority of this little money will pay bureaucrats.

The country’s president and prime minister are mocking the people’s hunger. They say they can’t make miracles. They don’t have any national production policy, no food production policy.

President Preval no longer talks about agrarian reform. They closed the BCA [1], even though it wasn’t of that much use to the pesants anyway. They speak of rural banks but it is truly a bluff.

The government does nothing to support the peasants in the face of the high cost of living. There is no job creation in the rural areas. The social appeasement didn’t reach the rural areas and was truly a bluff. This government is not interested in peasants’ affairs.

The government’s policies for peasants are making the peasant class disappear or return to slavery on the jatropha plantation to make gas to export to quench the thirst of American cars, or to go work for potato peels in the free-trade zone, this government is putting their plan in play all over the country.

6. On the environmental problem

At the moment of our independence, 80% of the country’s territory was covered with forest, today we have less than1% vegetable cover. It is the existence of the country and its entire population that are in jeopardy. The country cannot stand heavy rain without a catastrophe descending upon the population. The situation becomes more serious everyday, because the majority of peasants are obligated to enter into charcoal production to survive. But, we don’t have trees anymore to cut down. The peasants have to dig up the roots of trees to make charcoal. There are no more trees to make food in many communal sections of the country. What makes things more difficult is that the Haitian government has never had any plan to create another source of energy to alleviate the pressure on trees.

Each rain that falls, a part of the thin layer of soil that can still produce food washes into the sea. The worst is that the flood water washed away the people, their house, their animals and their garden. In many areas, like Ansafolè, Lapwent, Polen lakòn in the north west to give only those examples, peoples’ lives are in danger at all times. The rivers overflow their banks and destroy whole community.

The mountains are crumbling into the sea. Our fish cannot repopulate anymore. The mangroves have nearly completely disappeared, our fish cannot reproduce anymore and people who live as fishers can catch them. Unfortunately, we do not have the means to go far out at sea to fish. In this way, it is other countries that are exploiting the maritime resources of our country. Our birds have gone into exile, our fish have gone into exile.

Garbage has chased people out of the town. There is no drainage in the cities, there is no policy for managing the trash. The water sources for drinking water are contaminated. The peasants don’t have latrines to take of their business. We are truly living in a catastrophe.

In the face of all these threats, we don’t have any policies for protection of the environment. The government does not plant any trees anywhere in the country. We don’t truly know which ministry is responsible for reforestation in the country.