Deforestation in Haiti

[1] The rapid deforestation of Haiti began during the colonial period, facilitated by slavery of captive Africans, and was intensified when coffee was introduced in 1730.

The system of plantation monoculture and clean-cultivation between rows of coffee, indigo, tobacco, and sugarcane exhausted soil nutrients and led to rapid erosion.

[3] Though no longer under colonial rule, land remained unequally distributed, and most people were granted access only to marginal slopes between 200 and 600m above the fertile plains and below the zones of coffee production.

Deforestation accelerated, which had already become a problem because of environmentally unsound agricultural practices, rapid population growth, and increased competition over land.

[5] An estimated 15,000 acres (61 km2) of topsoil are washed away each year, with erosion also damaging other productive infrastructure such as dams, irrigation systems, roads, and coastal marine ecosystems.

Much of this charcoal is destined for Puerto Rico and the United States mainland, although a small amount crosses over the border into Haiti.

[10] The island of Hispaniola was first colonized by humans 6,000 years ago and the population size was likely more than one million when the European colonists first arrived in 1492.

[8] Before the quantitative analysis of aerial photos[13] and satellite imagery,[14][9][8] starting in the 1980s, the pattern and rate of deforestation in Haiti is essentially unknown except for anecdotal reports.

Authors of that 2018 study also determined why a previous satellite imagery analysis published in 2014[9] found a much higher (32%) percentage of forest cover.

[5] Because most Haitians depend upon wood and charcoal as their primary fuel source, energy alternatives are needed to save the forests.

[23] Several agencies and companies that produce solar cookers as an alternative to using wood and charcoal have been working in Haiti to establish solutions to the poverty and fuel issues, though their effectiveness and the degree to which they are used are questionable.