Decree of 4 April 1944 declaring La Gonâve and La Tortue reserved zones

The decree of 4 April 1944, published in Le Moniteur No. 28 of 6 April 1944 under Élie Lescot.

The preamble states that intensive timber exploitation on La Gonâve and La Tortue has caused an alarming reduction in the islands' productive potential in water and wood. Article 1 declares the whole extent of national territory within the limits of the two islands a reserved zone. Article 2 bars any new authorisation or concession for wood cutting on them from publication. Article 3 confines all timber exploitation of any kind to the Service National de la Production Agricole et de l'Enseignement Rural, under conditions set by the departments of agriculture and labour and of commerce and the national economy.

A blanket designation of two whole islands is unusual among Haitian protected-area instruments, which normally delimit a catchment or a massif. La Gonâve remains one of the poorest and most deforested parts of the country, and the decree records that the deforestation and the water scarcity were already understood as linked in 1944.