Haiti: Between 12 and 17 Percent Forest from 2000 to 2020

The article separates vegetation cover, all vegetation on the ground, from forest cover, which the FAO defines by area, tree height and canopy. It traces the 2 percent and 1 percent figures to non-specialist publications with no stated method, and notes that the last world forest assessment that evaluated Haiti dates from 1946 according to the FAO and that no national forest inventory has been done since.

It compiles earlier estimates, from 21 percent forest cover in 1945 to about 4 percent in 1995, and recommends the World Bank estimate of 12.6 percent forest area in 2020 compared with 13.8 percent in 2000, and the CIA figures of 3.6 percent forest cover and 17.7 percent vegetation cover, until a new inventory is done. It also describes land degradation, with a high or very high erosion risk over 30 percent of the territory.