Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Reforestation & Recycling in Haiti

Haiti Innovation, a group of Peace Corps volunteers, has two articles linked below relevant to sustainability.

Recycling in Haiti
Plastic has been an incredibly beneficial invention for the developing world, but in many countries, there is no established recycling of the material - and thus an entire city can become covered in discarded plastic bottles. Haiti Innovation describes a new group working to establish a recycling center in the capital city of Port au Prince.
In Dhaka, an entrepreneurial person can make ends meet by collecting trash and selling it to middle men who then bale it for the plants. This seems like a no brainer for Port au Prince and other urban centers in Haiti. Port au Prince is crowded, full of people who need and want a job, and ample amounts of trash which just winds up in the canals or in the Bay of Port au Prince. From reforestation to recycling, environmental preservation will succeed in Haiti only when it is linked to livelihoods. Though it will take years to make the transition from environmental degradation to environmental management, recycling could be part of the solution. It would create jobs and make Port au Prince a cleaner and more livable city.
Reforestation - by the youth?
This article references an organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture called ORE. Sewanee's Outreach Office has raised several thousand dollars for ORE, most recently with the documentary photography & human health classes' book and exhibition.
It doesn't matter what political party you are for, whether urban or rural, whether rich or poor, whether Christian or Voudouisant - As Jonathan Katz noted in an article last month, Haiti's future depends on being able to halt and then reverse environmental degradation. If not, there will be continued food insecurity and political instability. At a minimum, this should be something we can all agree on and thus something we should all be able to work together on.

Haiti has a wide network of schools, churches, and other organizations that could and should be involved in reforestation. If the students from each school were given one week a year to learn about the environment and to take part in reforestation, it could plant a seed in the minds of young students who could become the next generation of environmental leaders. Regardless of whether you are Christian or Vodouisant (or both), nature is sacred and it is the responsibility of humankind to be a good steward over it. If the environment were discussed in church, and if every church had a tree nursery, it would make a difference. Both schools and churches would benefit from National Days of Service which could incorporate the environment and other important social issues.

No comments:

Powered by Blogger.