Haiti Deforestation Water Supply

Can A Poor Country Like Any Longer Survive The Deforestation & Water Supply Issue?

Haiti deforestation is no longer something the country can ignore. Things are getting out of control.

Haiti is one of the largest islands in the Caribbean and it is also one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere. But most Haitians boast the fact that Haiti is the first independent black country in the world.

They deserve many accolades for their bravery. But now the same people who stood together to defeat Napoleon’s army may need to band together to solve Haiti’s deforestation and erosion problems.

Recently, the island experienced a surge of armed gangs kidnapping people for high ransom. Thanks to the United Nation and the hard work of the Haitian police, things are getting under control now.

Recent reports indicate that the situation is improving at the moment. It appears as if stability will continue according Haitian government officials. And Haitians are happy for the good news.

However, this beautiful and proud island is facing an ever bigger problem with its water supply. This is due in large part to the vast deforestation that is happening in the country.

Currently Haiti is left with about 1% of its forests. Another sad fact is that there are about 75 rivers that have just disappeared from the country in the matter of one generation.

Haiti is the most water poor country in the world. This makes Haiti not only a threat to itself but to the surrounding areas as well.

The deforestation that is going on puts this already fragile country in an even more difficult position facing floods in the its urban areas with even normal rain fall, much less impending hurricanes.

When a land lacks forests the land then is less capable of intercepting, retaining and transporting precipitation.

The lack of forests cause the rain then to cause flash flooding and soil erosion because the land is unable to trap the water, instead what happens is the water runs off and this happens at a faster pace then if the water was trapped and moved in the groundwater system.

This then affects the amount of rainfall a region gets. The lack of ground moisture being evaporated and moved into the atmosphere decreases precipitation.

The water that should be moving through the soil and trees and back into the atmosphere is displaced into the ocean instead.

The increased deforestation coupled with the rainfall during the growing seasons has sent the much needed topsoil to be washed away and it has silted up the rivers below.

This then slows the river flow. It decreases the drinking water supply. The heavy sedimentation in the fertile flood plains makes drainage of the land difficult which then increases the salinity of the soil and groundwater.

The reason for the deforestation that has lead to increase soil erosion which has then lead to an inadequate water supply is because of agriculture.

This is not a new epidemic but one that started centuries ago. With the first colonial plantation system and the intense monocropping of exported goods such as cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, coffee and indigo and of course the timber.

Through all this there has not been enough effort made to re-stabilize the land.

It is not too late to help improve the water supply and restore balance to the land in Haiti for the next generations.

Currently there isn’t any safe drinking water in Haiti by American standards. There is a push in the efforts to help get the Haitian people safe drinking water.

While the efforts of people from other countries is admirable it will take the effort of the Haitian government and its people to improve the water quality and supply and stop Haiti deforestation before it is too late.

And we hope that a new breed of conscious Haitian leaders will rise up and tackle this problem head on. It’s about time for politicians everywhere to begin to think of future generation.

Haiti needs help and she needs it now!