Environment of Haiti

[1] Since arrival of aboriginal man, the biodiversity of Haiti has been significantly diminished due to human exploitation.

Tropical storm Jeanne skimmed the north coast of Haiti, leaving 3,006 people dead in flooding and mudslides, mostly in the city of Gonaïves.

Casualties proved difficult to count because the storm diminished human capacity and physical resources for such record keeping.

Since then, recent in-depth study of satellite imagery has erroneously concluded an estimate of <1% primary forest cover.

Eventually the shortage of arable land and rising rural poverty pushed peasants from hillside subsistence farms to search for work in Port-au-Prince, where the concentration of desperate people in slums contributed to the country's tragic history of civil strife.

[8] Despite the large environmental crises, Haiti retains a very high amount of biodiversity in proportion to its small size.

Foreign and Haitian NGOs play an important role in the sector, especially in rural and urban slum areas.