The Total Environment

Though usually harm to the environment and its effect on human populations seems gradual and distant, the tragic reality is that in many parts of the developing world, the environment is not a distant concept but something dealt with and depended on for daily survival. The traditional concept of “nature” or “conservation” in the US is a large, undeveloped area with lots and lots of trees—and no people. Though volumes exist on the evolution of the environmental movement and the debates between conservation and poverty alleviation (most people that inhabit forests are generally poor, booting them out to “conserve” only disrupts their livelihood more), the fact is that the connections between human and environment are exponential and cannot be ignored. These connections are tragically apparent in Haiti, where environmental degradation is inherently tied to degenerated soil quality and a near total absence of trees. Because only 2% of Haiti’s tree cover remains, deforestation has caused massive erosion and soil degeneration. Subsequently poor agricultural yields hinder the nation’s ability to produce enough food to feed itself (though US rice imports flooding the market has not helped either). Combining these conditions with peasant demands for energy—which comes in the form of wood charcoal—threatens the Haitian environment’s capacity to sustain a burgeoning population. While Haiti may never be the lush forested island it once was, strategically planted trees and hedgerows may serve as erosion barriers to halt what in some cases can be a rather harsh reminder that the effects of environmental degradation are not always slow or gradual. A recent mudslide in Cap Haitien, which crashed into a school and took the lives of four students, serves as a harsh reminder that in Haiti the environment is not fading slowly on a distant horizon but is crumbling away on a daily basis, threatening not only Haiti’s agricultural economy, but her citizens too.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/02/16/1482002/mudslides-hit-school-four-students.html

*The city of Cap-Haitien is built right into the mountains surrounding the city