Haiti – Dominican Republic - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

and are enforced by the government. There arestill, however, many people crossing over from Haitifarming illegally and cutting trees and producingcharcoal inside the parks. 2165.2 Key issuesThe five key issues identified and dealt with in detailin this chapter are:––Forest clearance on private land in theDominican Republic and forest fires.––The uncontrolled transboundary charcoal trade.––Collection of fuel wood.––Protected areas management & biodiversity.––Reforestation efforts.On the positive side, the improvement of themanagement of forestry resources on both sidesof the border presents opportunities for greatercooperation across the border. The clearestexample is the MPP reforestation programmebut there are others such as the development ofsustainable livelihoods from fruit, coffee and honeyproduction and plant nurseries for example.5.3 Forest clearance on private landin the Dominican Republicand forest firesA substantial fraction of the forest remaining onthe Dominican side of the border zone is privatelyowned. A range of regulations are in place concerningthe right of private owners to cut trees andclear land. It is clear, however, that this practice isnot under control, at least in the border zone. BothDominicans and Haitians are implicated, so this isa clear transboundary issue.The most common form of forest land clearancehappens when Dominican landowners (oftenabsentee) and Haitian laborers join forces toproduce charcoal or farm under a sharecroppingor land leasing arrangement. Trees are cut forcharcoal and afterwards the land is cleared ofbrush and rough grass by burning. Annual cropsare planted for 1-3 years, after which the land istemporarily abandoned, allowing some level oftree regrowth before the cycle is repeated.This well-established practice has four clearnegative impacts:• Intense degradation of the farmed plots.• Forest fires started from plot burning.• Exporting the Haitian destructive system of landclearance and use back into the DominicanRepublic.• Eroding resource governance in the DominicanRepublic.Slash and burn agriculture, for example, resulted ina record 72 forest fires in 2011, and 32 fires duringthe first four months of 2012, in Elias Piña Province(Dominican Republic) alone. 217 According to someaccounts, forest fires resulting from slash and burnagriculture cause even more deforestation onthe island than tree felling for energy productionpurposes. 218 Most of these fires occur in the CentralMountain Range, the Sierra de Bahoruco, or inadjacent protected areas, during the dry season(Feb-April and July-August). The fires usually happenat the time when peasants are clearing theland by slashing and burning. 219 During communityinterviews, the assessment team was also informedthat forest fires, including fires inside national parks,are sometimes deliberately started by people whothen use this as an excuse to harvest the deadtrees. Forest fires occur in both countries andfrequently spread across the border. The team wasalso told by reforestation brigades that they areworking to sensitize communities to the dangersof using fire to clear land. 2205.4 The uncontrolled transboundarycharcoal tradeAn estimated 75% of the Haitian population stillrely on firewood and charcoal for their daily energyneeds. While charcoal is produced in the ruralcountryside, most of it is consumed in urban areaswith an estimated 80% of it in Port-au-Prince alone.Rural inhabitants usually rely on firewood rather thancharcoal for cooking. Therefore, the production of,and transboundary trade in charcoal are largely221 222driven by the demand for it in Haitian cities.Despite the fact that a large portion of thecharcoal consumed in Haiti is produced there, asubstantial proportion of it is also produced in theDominican Republic and imported illegally andHaiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone55