Haiti and Dominican Republic: environmental challenges in the border zone

Haiti – Dominican Republic Environmental challenges in the border zone http://unep.org/Haiti/ This report was made possible by the generous contributions of the Government of Norway and the Government of Finland First published in June 2013 by the United Nations Environment Programme © 2013, United Nations Environment Programme United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, KENYA Tel: +254 (0)20 762 1234 Fax: +254 (0)20 762 3927 E-mail: uneppub@unep.org Web: http://www.unep.org This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder provided acknowledgement of the source is made. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from UNEP. The contents of this volume do not necessarily reflect the views of UNEP, or contributory organizations. 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Our distribution policy aims to reduce UNEP’s carbon footprint. Haiti – Dominican Republic Environmental challenges in the border zone United Nations Environment Programme Table of contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Executive summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Part 1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.1 A challenging time for the border zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 1.2 Assessment context and design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.3 Assessment process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 2 Haiti and Dominican Republic country context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 2.2 Environmental status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2.3 Geography, Geology, Climate, Hydrology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.4 Natural Hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 2.5 Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 2.6 Environmental Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3 The border region and transboundary activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.2 Border zone geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.3 Border zone socio-economics and migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 3.4 Transboundary trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 3.5 Transboundary cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 3.6 Development aid in the border area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Part 2 Identification and Analysis of Key Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4 Agriculture – the dominant activity in the border zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.2 Key issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4.3 Land Tenure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.4 Land degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 4.5 Transboundary agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 5 Forest resources and terrestrial protected area management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 5.2 Key issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 5.3 Forest clearance on private land in the Dominican Republic and forest fires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 5.4 The uncontrolled transboundary charcoal trade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 5.5 Collection of fuel wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 5.6 Protected area management and biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 5.7 Reforestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 6 Freshwater resources and flooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 6.2 Key issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 6.3 Transboundary flooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 6.4 Water scarcity, access and pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 6.5 Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo flooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 6.6 Transboundary dams and water extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 7 Coastal and marine resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 7.2 Key issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 7.3 Illegal transboundary fishing and overfishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 7.4 Mangrove cutting and salt production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 7.5 Marine protected areas and biodiversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 7.6 Transboundary trade in marine species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 7.7 Contamination of estuaries, coastal lagoons, and the sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 8 Environmental aspects of trade, employment and industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 8.2 Key Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 8.3 Bi-national markets and their environmental aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 8.4 Rural population increase and transboundary migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 8.5 Environmental aspects of mining and industrial development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Part 3 Analysing trends and causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 9 Strategic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 9.1 Purpose and methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 9.2 Issue comparative analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 9.3 Identification of underlying driving forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 9.4 Shocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Part 4 The way forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 10. Findings and Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 10.1 Key findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 10.2 Preface to the recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 10.3 Bi-national border zone recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 10.4 Haitian national level investment recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 10.5 Implementation and financing of the recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Annexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Annex I – Report terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Annex II – List of Acronyms and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Annex III – Sustainable livelihoods framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Annex IV – Table connecting the recommendations to the driving forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Annex V – References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Annex VI – Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 Foreword The joint management of transboundary natural resources: a first step towards the resolution of binational environmental and social conflicts The issues in the border zone of Haiti and the Dominican Republic are perceived in different ways by people living and working in the region. Some feel that despite the problems that may arise here, the area provides an opportunity for the people of our two countries to cooperate, share experiences and find joint solutions to shared problems. At the same time, others consider the border zone as a region where development opportunities are limited by poverty and isolation. Notwithstanding these different perspectives, addressing the challenges in the border zone is important not only for the development of local communities, but also for the implementation of cooperation strategies and joint initiatives between the two countries. For this reason, the governments, development actors, and civil society in both countries have strengthened their efforts in the border zone and are building on successful initiatives that have already taken place. Among these efforts, we would like to mention those initiatives adopted at both the community and government levels that seek to address the diverse challenges in the border zone, some of which have stemmed from the short-sighted exploitation of natural resources. At the same time, we welcome the efforts of the Joint Dominican-Haitian Bilateral Commission, a flagship initiative which will guide the implementation of joint interventions in the border zone. This initiative, which originates from the highest levels of both States, has catalyzed the development of an increasing number of binational programs. In the environmental sector, momentum for joint programs has also grown. On 16 May 2011, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Environment of Haiti, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, signed a Declaration of Intent, in Ouanaminthe, for the Triangular Cooperation between the three parties, to support the Frontera Verde Programme. The first step in this cooperation was to implement the first phase of the Transboundary Natural Resource Management and Restoration Project, focusing on the Massacre and Pedernales Watersheds. Technical support in the implementation of this work is being provided by UNEP and UNDP. This commitment further highlights the willingness of our two governments to jointly address the problems associated with natural resource management in the border zone. We are aware that in order to effectively address the challenges faced in the border zone, a deep understanding and an accurate analysis of the driving forces that have contributed to the present situation is necessary. For this reason, we welcome this report and analysis on the state of transboundary natural resources and how they are linked with different aspects of life both within the border zone and within our respective countries. This report provides information on natural resources and their role in trade, agriculture, human mobility, energy, among others. This document provides up-to-date information and confirms the close relationship that exists between the state of transboundary natural resources, poverty, and recurring social conflicts. In this respect, this report is an indispensable tool that will inform decision making in the coming years. 4 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone We congratulate all those who contributed to the preparation of this report, both from our Ministries, UNEP, and other institutions. We invite all actors that are providing assistance, or that are asked to intervene in the border zone, to consult this report and to take into consideration its recommendations when carrying out future action. We are firmly committed and dedicated to take the conclusions and recommendations of this report to the highest levels of our governments. It will inform the work of the Joint Dominican- Haitian Bilateral Commission as well as guide the political decisions and actions undertaken in the border zone. DR. JEAN FRANCOIS THOMAS DR. BAUTISTA ROJAS GÓMEZ Minister of Environment, Haiti Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 5 Executive summary This report presents the findings, conclusions and • Finally, it provides practical recommendations recommendations of an 18 month long assess- for the two governments and their international ment of the border between the two countries that partners on how to mitigate the identified share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola – Haiti, risks, capitalize on the opportunities, increase the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere transboundary environmental cooperation, and the Dominican Republic, a middle-income and build resilience to identified areas of country. It is along this 380 km border that there is vulnerability. the most contact between the two populations, and the highest likelihood of tension and conflict The assessment team found that the key issues between them. It is here too that there is the great- of concern identified in the border zone can be est opportunity to have a positive impact on the connected to four interlinked driving forces: complex relationship between the two countries. • Haitian poverty, food insecurity and under- development affect virtually all parts of the Paradoxically the challenges in the border zone border zone. are driven both by the interdependencies of the two countries and by the stark contrasts in the • Environmental degradation manifests itself economic, social and environmental conditions. mainly in soil erosion, deforestation, and a These differences manifest themselves in the degraded marine environment. chronic povert y and severe environmental • Weak governance, especially on the Haitian degradation seen in many areas on the Haitian side of the border, affects all facets of the side of the border, as well as illegal transboundary economy and society. exploitation of natural resources. • Finally, the economic and resource inequalities The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) between the two countries are the cause of and the United Nations Development Programme many of the transboundary problems identified (UNDP) accompanied the Governments of Haiti in the border zone. and the Dominican Republic, through their Ministries of Environment, in undertaking a detailed Examples of some of the key issues in the border assessment of the border area. The assessment zone include the illegal extraction and trade covered both countries, however, emphasis was of natural resources (mainly charcoal, but also put on the Haitian side where the information is firewood and marine resources), agriculture, and scarce and the environmental problems are more large numbers of people crossing illegally from pressing. rural areas in Haiti into the Dominican Republic in search of livelihoods due to the degradation of This assessment has three complementar y land and a surplus of labour on the Haitian side. objectives: Several of the noted problems, such as deforesta- tion and soil erosion, are very large scale and have • Firstly, it sets out to assess how the use of natural been developing for generations. Environmental resources and environmental degradation in degradation in the worst affected parts of the the border zone are contributing to disaster Haitian border zone is almost completely irrevers- vulnerability, conflict risk, poverty and unsustain- ible, due to a near total loss of vegetation cover able practices. This also includes assessing how and productive topsoil across wide areas. resource dependent livelihoods are responding to these challenges. Several of the identified issues related to the • Secondly, it presents an analysis of issues and environment and the use of natural resources trends, as well as of underlying driving forces, also present a short term but high instability and that affect the situation in the border zone. conflict risk to the relations between the two 6 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone countries. These issues include the uncontrolled On a more positive note the international relation- transboundary charcoal trade; illegal farming ship between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and tree cutting on Dominican land in general is quite good, with meetings up to the highest and inside Dominican Republic protected areas political levels taking place on a regular basis. in particular; unclear marine territorial delimitation Important progress has also been achieved by and illegal transboundary fishing; and the flooding local and national initiatives, such as the financing of land and infrastructure due to the rapid rise of of binational tree planting brigades within the Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo. The uncontrolled framework of the Frontera Verde programme, transboundary charcoal trade and tree felling commune level bi-national cooperation, and has, for example, already triggered conflict that cooperation between local organizations and has led to violence. associations on both sides of the border. Sustain- able agricultural programmes, such as ones At present the overall situation is gradually deterio- that promote agroforestry, and the associated rating. If current trends continue in the border zone, trade represent a major opportunity for poverty including practices similar to those which have reduction in the border region. Such initiatives already caused much of the degradation in Haiti, could provide a critical foundation for larger soil erosion and a reduction in land productivity will scale corrective action and investments in crisis worsen significantly on the Dominican side of the prevention. border zone as well. This scenario could change dramatically as a result of shocks or sudden It is with this more positive outlook in mind that the changes, such as natural disasters. Such a shock report concludes with 14 detailed recommenda- might accelerate the decline and further degrade tions that should be developed and implemented the stability and development of the border zone. by the two governments and their international partners. If implemented, the recommendations Climate change is also expected to have a are expected to reduce chronic poverty and negative impact on the Caribbean in the long hunger in the border zone, while promoting more term: the average temperature, the variability of sustainable livelihood practices and enhancing rainfall, and the frequency and average intensity the resilience of the population to shocks and of hurricanes are all expected to increase. All of stresses. They also set out to preserve peaceful rela- these effects will have serious consequences for tions between the two countries through increased the area in question: an adjustment in precipitation national and local level bilateral cooperation that rates alone would have a negative impact on rain will reduce tensions over border zone issues. fed agriculture, which is the mainstay of the border zone economy. The recommendations are divided into ten bi-national border zone recommendations and Most of the driving forces identified are national in four Haitian national scale recommendations. scale, which means that it would not be viable to Most solutions will need to be bi-national or at only develop stand alone environmental or local least bi-nationally agreed, due to the very high solutions. An integrated and larger scale approach inter-connectivity of populations and issues across is needed. For example rural food insecurity and the border. extreme poverty are in part driving the unsustain- able slash and burn agricultural practices on the Haitian side and triggering the associated Bi-national border zone extensive soil erosion and deforestation. Similarly, recommendations charcoal demand in the border area is low, but in Port-au-Prince it is high, thus driving the national 1. P rotecting and increasing the vegetation charcoal economy. A national scale solution on cover – Continue to financially and politi- energy is needed to resolve this matter. Finally, land cally support the bi-national reforestation tenure and tenant farming are major obstacles – and agroforestry efforts. Increase technical farmers understandably are prepared to invest only assistance to improve the quality, consistency in land they either own or can confidently control and sustainability of the re-forestation efforts for longer periods. and implement a more strategic program. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 7  Deforestation resulting in severe land degrada- 7. Improve existing transboundary co-operation tion is a significant problem in the border zone, mechanisms that deal with environmental therefore such investments are to be prioritized. issues and transboundary watersheds – Build on the mechanisms and platforms for coopera- 2. S ustainable agricultural development – tion that already exist on various levels, to create Reform and develop the artisanal and small a functioning network of cooperation, both scale agricultural sector in the border zone to across the border, as well as between the local improve the sustainability of livelihoods. Moving and national levels. In order to galvanize the beyond the destructive cycle of slash and burn necessary political will, the overall cooperation agriculture requires long term and intensive framework should be chaired by the presidents investment in practical, technical support. of the two nations. In addition, there is a need to Educational campaigns aiming at changing enhance the processes by which governments attitudes and building the capacity of local and projects share information. Lastly it is vital farmers are equally important. to build the Haitian Government’s capacity to participate on an equal level in binational 3. Transboundary river flood risk reduction – Invest projects. in flood containment and land use planning for affected Dominican and Haitian townships, 8. Environmental governance for the regulation based on a long term worst case scenario. The and control of the charcoal trade and other flash floods which have damaged Dominican forest products – Increase enforcement of and Haitian towns (Jimani, Fonds Verrets, Peder- Dominican and Haitian law on protected areas nales, Anse-à-Pitre) in the border zone are linked and forest conservation. Include an analysis to severe and mostly irreversible degradation of on the potential impacts a suppression of the the catchments in Haitian territory. transboundary charcoal trade would have in Haiti. 4. Improve the sustainability of transboundary trade and the bi-national markets, while 9. Strengthen the management of marine and reducing their environmental impacts – Sup- coastal resources – Reduce the decline of the port the existing bi-national markets and provide marine and coastal environment in the border better opportunities for fair, profitable and more zone by ensuring that encroachment and sustainable trade between the two countries. practices that are degrading the state of the The impact of the bi-national markets is overall environment are not taking place, in particular positive but they need reform and in some cases in relation to overfishing and the cutting of rebuilding, to reduce environmental impacts, mangroves. improve equality, reduce conflict and increase trade. 10. L ake Azuei and lake Enriquillo flooding analysis – Undertake a hydrological data 5. B order zone economic development and collection and analysis study on the causes of diversification – Encourage the transition the rise in the level of Lakes Azuei and Enriquillo from subsistence agriculture and illegal and and their potential to keep rising. damaging activities to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) led local economic development in agriculture, fisheries and tour- Haitian national level ism. Boosting MSMEs and the service economy investment recommendations is a proven route for economic development and will draw local populations away from These recommendations are not new, rather they unsustainable livelihoods. are part of existing initiatives at the Haitian national level, specifically the Haitian Strategic Plan for the 6. Address the contamination of transboundary Development of Haiti: Emerging Country by 2030 rivers – Address the problem of rivers that are (Plan Stratégique de Développement d’Haïti: Pays polluted by both solid and bacteriological waste émergent en 2030).1 The four recommendations and as a consequence spread disease. are selected from the development plan and 8 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone are considered to be the ones that are of most Costs for the national level investments for Haiti relevance for the situation in the border zone. will need to be detailed within the Haitian strategic plan for development. 1. Improving governance in rural areas – Increasing the presence and role of the state In closing, the situation is already serious in the in rural areas, while ensuring the continuous border area and continues to deteriorate. In the involvement of local stakeholders, covering a absence of significant corrective and preventative broad range of responsibilities including social action, further decline and increased instability is services, policing, customs, town administration, likely. International development assistance and agricultural and business development and conflict prevention support will be required to environmental protection. The aim of this recom- part-finance the recommendations of this report. mendation is to extend the state presence to UNEP and UNDP are ready to help the Governments rural areas, while prioritizing growth poles and of Haiti and the Dominican Republic implement sensitive areas such as the border. the recommendations of this report, and call for the support of international and national partners 2. Non-agricultural economic development and and donors. diversification – Providing viable alternatives to subsistence agriculture through large scale development of the manufacturing and service sectors, particularly in the main urban centres. Note on the text 3. Replace charcoal with LPG – Implement an For the sake of clarity, words that should be integrated programme of regulatory reform, understood as terms carrying a specific technical incentives and enforcement to replace the meaning that is not necessarily a property of those use of charcoal (used for cooking) with LPG, words in ordinary usage, are defined in Annex I – supplemented by other alternative energy Report terminology. options (including renewables) and improved electrification of the country. The programme would focus on urban centres and Port-au- Prince in particular. 4. S ustainable agricultural development and re-forestation – Implement the Haitian National Plan for Agriculture, with a particular emphasis on sustainability. Replace unsustainable slash- and-burn and the cultivation of annual crops on steep slopes and degraded land with more sustainable forms of agriculture and tree plant- ing, with a focus on agroforestry and energy cropping. Integrate erosion control measures into all agricultural landscapes. Extract greater value from remaining viable land with improved techniques and investments in agricultural value chain development. The total estimated cost of the ten targeted bi-national level recommendations for the border zone is USD 136 million over five years. This is a small sum compared to the possible cost of the social and political crises – and the hunger and violence – that might result from the continued environmental degradation of the border area. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 9  Part 1 Background 1 Introduction obvious than along their 380 km border. The area around that border presents a long and rapidly lengthening list of challenges, which includes weak 1.1 A challenging time for the border governance, severe environmental degradation, zone and a population that is profoundly vulnerable to natural disasters and food insecurity. Challenges and opportunities Relations between the neighboring countries of These many challenges are in part balanced · [ Haiti and the Dominican Republic have been by positive short term trends and opportunities: and remain complex. An enormous disparity exist trans-boundary trade is substantial, levels of · [ between them in social, economic, and environ- violence are relatively low, and there is substantive mental wealth. Despite their problems the countries formal and informal cooperation between the two are major trading partners and political relations · [ governments in their efforts to resolve several of the between them have improved dramatically since issues listed above. 2010, thanks in part to the Dominican Republic’s · [ generosity towards the Haitian people following the earthquake · [ of that year, and in part because of A window of opportunity · [ improvements in the political landscape of Haiti. During 2010 and 2011 the Government of Haiti, their immediate regional neighbours and the Nowhere are the inequality of the two countries · [ international community, were focused on helping · [ and the complexity of their relationship more starkly the Haitian society to recover from the earthquake · [ · [ Map 1. The island of Hispaniola Island of Hispaniola ! ^ Capital · [ Turks and Caicos EEZ I International boundary Exclusive Economic Bahamas EEZ · [ Zone (EEZ) · [ Atlantic Ocean Île de la Tortue · [ Pointe Jean-Rabel P Port-de-Paix ! · [ Monte Cristi Cuban EEZ Cap Saint-Nicolas P ! Puerto Plata Cap Haitien Baie de P ! · [ P ! Mancenille · [ Cabo Frances Viéjo Cap à Foux ! P Baie de Fort-Liberté Dajabon Mao Henne Grande P ! ! P ! Pointe Gonaives Ouanaminthe Santiago! Sabaneta P· [ Nagua Baie de la Tortue ! P Moca Bahia Escocesa Baie de Grand-Pierre ! P ! P Pointe de la Grande-Pierre La Vega Cabo Samanba Pico Duarte ! P 3098 m ! P Salcedo Hinche San Francisco · [ ! Bahia de P P ! De Macoris Samania Samana ib Art P ! Pointe Ouest on Bonao Cotui it e Elias Pina P ! San Juan · [ Monte Plata Ile de la Gonâve ! ! P Hato Mayor Belladère ! P P ! El Seibo Îles P ! P ! Jérémie ! P Cayémites Pointe Fantasque Baie de Port-au-Prince Higuey Cabo P ! Miragoâne PORT AU ^· [ ! Jimani Azua · [ Engano ! P PRINCE ! P P Neiba ! ! P San Cristobal P ! [^ · ! ·[ ·[ San Pedro · P[ ! SANTO La Romana DOMINGO De Macoris Jacmel P ! P ! · [ ! P Bani P ! ! P Les Cayes Baie de Jacmel Barahona Punta Punta Palenque Salinas 3000 m Île à Vache Cap Raymond Isla Saona P Pedernales Anse-à-Pitres ! 2000 m · [ 1000 m Haitian EEZ Isla Cabo Beata 0m Beata Dominican Republic EEZ Puerto Rican Turks & Caicos Is. EEZ Cuba Dominican Republic Anguilla Puerto Rico Antigua & Barbuda Caribbean Sea Jamaica Guadeloupe Haiti Martinique St. Lucia km Aruba Grenada Trinidad & 0 50 100 Tobago The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. UNEP 2013. Panama 10 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP The differing levels of tree cover on either side of the Haiti-Dominican Republic border in the Artibonite river catchment is a highly visible symptom of a complex bi-national deforestation problem. of January 12th, 2010. Now the Haitian Government critical transport link, and home to several hundred is leveraging this increased international support in thousand poverty stricken people. Perhaps most an effort to move beyond the most basic recovery importantly, it is a significant source of tension of the areas damaged by the earthquake towards between the two countries, and its fate might well longer-term reform and development of the determine both their futures. If the current situation country as a whole. High on the government’s list stabilizes, both countries will continue to develop, of priorities are economic development, the rule but if it declines, then the stability of both countries, of law, environmental rehabilitation, and energy and the health of the relationship between them, access. will be in jeopardy. Today, this approach is starting to deliver positive 1.2 Assessment context and design results. Business in Port-au-Prince is restabilizing, major business investments in the northeast of The border between Haiti and the Dominican Haiti have been announced, and in the Southern Republic presents a vivid contrast in the wealth Peninsula longer-term sustainable development and environmental status of two countries. The programmes have begun. border area has been experiencing long term chronic environmental degradation, which has Haiti and the Dominican Republic, supported by reached especially severe levels on the Haitian the international community should consider to side of the border. In many areas, this degradation actively re-focus on the development challenges is undermining livelihoods and increasing disaster along their shared border. The border zone is not an vulnerability, while the large disparities between economic growth pole for either country, but it is a the two countries have led to illegal transboundary Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 11  Map 2. Administrative map of the border zone Palmiste # I ( ! 20°N 72°W 71°W Cuba du Nord Atlantic Ocean ! ( Luperon Anse-à-Foleur Haiti Dominican Republic ( ! ! ( Monte-Cristi Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo # ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ Le Borgne ( ! P ! PUERTO El Copey Puerto Plata Lagunea ! ( P L ATA ! ^ ^ de Quebro ! Lucas Evangelista Imbert ! P Port-Margot #779 Cap-Haïtien # ! P De Pena El Mamey ( ! [ · # ( ! ( ! ( ! Limbé Quartier Morin Fort- ! ^! MONTE Laguna la Gros Morne Pilate ( ! Acul du ( ! ! ( Limonade ! (!( Liberté ( CRISTI Jagua Maizal # ( ! ! ( Plaine du Meiac! (! ! ( ! ( NORD Nord Nord ! ( Lagon aux ! P ^ RIO YOQU ( ! Milot Trou-du-Nord Boeufs Merande Dumas ! ( ! ^ E DE L NO RT E VA LV E R D E Plaisance ! ( Pedro Ga ! ( Sainte-Suzanne ( ! ! ( Esperanza ( ! V. # ( ! Grande-Rivière du Nord ! ( ! ( RI C HE AI Ferrier Dajabón Mao ( Villa Bisono ! # FR ( ! Marmelade Dondon Ouanaminthe P ! ! ( ! ! ( ! P ( ! ! ( Perches M V. N ( ! ! ( D A!^J A B O N B IN Sabaneta ! ( RI IO ! ( ! ( ( ! AR ( ! ! ( Partido GU ! Santiago Rodriguez Santiago P[ ^ · ( ! ! ( ( ! ! ( AY aives Ennery # Bahon NORD-EST U ! ( Saint-Raphael ! ( ( ! ! Capotille Santiago! ( ! P ! RIV IE ! ( Ranquitte Vallières ! ( #1170 Chevalier ( ( ! Loma De Cabrera RIV. D MA S S U ! ( ( ! #1474 RE ! ( ! ( Saint-Michel de l'Attalaye RI A C RE SANTIAGO El Rubio CA N ! ( ! VI ^ ! ( OT Pignon ! ^ ER E #1302 RODRIGUEZ ( ! Janico ( ! LI B Restauración ( ! La Victoire O N ( ! #1210 RIO MAO Dessalines SANTIAGO EMBALSE e ! ( A !( RTIBONITE Cerca- ( ! ! ( ( Guayayayuco ! # Carvajal Passe Tilory #2011 #1060 Maïssade Cerca-la-Source #1221 CA JO ! ( ! ( El Corte RIO ! P TE ( ! ! ^ Jara aint Marc Petite ( Rivière de Thomassique ! ! ( Hinche RIV IBO ! ( NI OC IN O ! Tocino Thomassique RT RIO T ( #2801 Monabao IE R ( ! A ! ( Verrettes #1787 V. ! ^ ! ( EG RI # ! ( CENTRE Thomonde YA #2026 UA #3087 ( ! ELIAS PINA ! ^ 19°N ! ^ MO UC Carabela RIO O ( ! MAC IC RIO #2560 AS IA B ON YA SAN RIV #1580 [ · La Chapelle .A Constanza ( ! RT IB O Roy Sec Elías Piña SAN JUAN ( ! JU AN NI T ! ( Las Matas Montazo E Lac de Peligre ! P ! ( ! ( Mirebalais ! El Llano ! ( #1278 Saut d'Eau ( ! Lascahobas ! ( ! ( Belladère San Juan Poulie ! ( ( ! RIV IE ( ! La Rancha ! P ! ( ( ! FE R R E DE A CH Arcahaie E ( VAL ! #1698 Padre Las Casas Savenette Los Botaos El Cercado ( ! ! ( Duvalierville #1381 RIV GA S IE R E ( ! ! ( ( ! ( ! RI O AZUA CO YA Cornillon GN Los Arroyos Q # E Juan U Thomazeau ( ! #2175 Santiago E DE ( ! L PORT-AU- Trou Caiman #2278 SU R Yayas De Viajama ! ( El Cerc PRINCE [ · ( ! Lac Azuei # La Descubierta ! ( O RER Croix des #940 BAORUCO Léogâne ! ( Gressier ( ! ! ^ Bouquets ( Pétion-ville Gantier ( ! Jimaní Los Ríos #-39 ! ( BA R Galván ! ( Carrefour ! Neiba ( ! SU R Fond Parisien ! ( ! P P ! DE L Azua RI Lago E Kenscoff ! ( V. BL AN Enriquillo YA Q U P ! ( ! OUEST CH E INDEPENDENCIA RI O Vicente Noble Trouin #1580 ! ( Duverge ( ! #1342 ( ! Fonds- ( ! Los Negros #2674 Zapoten ! ( #2282 Verrettes ! ( El Peñón L. d. ( ! e de Jacmel SUD-EST #2367 RINCON ( ! Jacmel ! P ! ( ( ! ! ( ! ( ! ( ( ! ! ( Los Arroyos (! ( ! [ Barahona · Cayes- Belle-Anse EN et ( ! Jacmel Marigot ! ( LIB #2084 P ! PE Bony La Cueva Grand-Gosier SON # DE ! ( RO B IN ES 1669 ! ( V. RI NA L ( ! Legend R BARAHONA International boundary Polo La Cienaga ! ( Datum: WGS 84 ( ! Department/Province boundary ! ( NI UTM Zone 18N (!( ZA ! ^ National capital P Pedernales ! Anse-à-Pitre ! ! #1455 LT O 18°N! P Department/Province capital Paraíso ( ! ! Main city ! Caribbean [P E D E R N A L E S · ^ ! ( Town, village Enriquillo Airport Sea Sources: r ! ( MINUSTAH Main route UN Cartographic Section Manuel Golla Secondary route ! ( Major lakes 0 10 20 Major rivers LAGUNA OVIEDO Km # Elevation (in m) UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. ! ^ ! ^ 12 Haiti – Dominican Republic: # Environmental challenges in the border zone ! ^ # trade of natural resources, local level tensions, Assessment methodologies and an encroachment on Dominican land by There are no standardized methodologies for undocumented Haitian migrants looking for assessing transboundary challenges of the economic opportunities. For these reasons, both kind found in the border zone. Neither has a governments requested UNEP to conduct an comprehensive analysis of the zone ever been assessment of the border zone in order to identify conducted. In the absence of a methodological key priorities for stabilizing the present situation and or comparative model, the assessment team needs, in order to secure development goals. designed its own framework based on relevant literaturei and methods and then adapted it to Objectives the reality on the ground. The objectives of the assessment and this report are: The methodology adopted by the assessment team also acknowledged the growing concern 1. To identify how the use of natural resources among national stakeholders and donors that and environmental degradation in the border the limited financial resources available for work zone are contributing to disaster vulnerability, on the border zone should be used to encourage conflict risks related to the conflicting use of practical action rather than further quantitative natural resources, poverty and unsustainable baseline studies. As a result, the methodological practices, as well as how resource depend- approach used in this report did not allow for ent livelihoods are responding to these extensive collection of new quantitative data. The challenges. approach, then, was essentially exploratory and 2. To present an analysis on key environmental relied on various sources of both qualitative and issues and trends, as well as underlying driving quantitative data, as well as anecdotal evidence forces to contribute to determine the potential collected during field missions. This allowed the political, social, stability and development team to reach the objectives of the assessment, implications. while making the best possible use of the available resources, and remaining flexible and responsive 3. To provide practical recommendations for to the realties they faced on the ground. the two governments and their international partners to continue the work on mitigating In order to have confidence in the collected the identified risks, capitalize on the opportuni- qualitative data, and the analysis and conclusions ties, increase transboundary environmental drawn from it, the data was triangulated.2 The cooperation, and strengthen the resilience to use of this research technique, also known as sources of vulnerability. methodological triangulation, ensures that no con- clusion can be drawn from a single source without 1.3 Assessment process corroboration by others.3 Therefore, only when interviews with members of the public on both Geographical scope sides of the border, accounts from government The geographical scope of the assessment authorities, field observations and/or secondary concerned the full length of the border zone, data sources pointed in the same direction, could approximately 380 km from north to south. In the assessment team draw conclusions on key general, this can be defined as a band stretching issues, drivers and trends with a sufficient level of approximately 10-20 km on both sides of the actual confidence. border, depending upon available infrastructure, water courses, topography and the level of Data was collected from: transboundary interactions between communities. • formal reports and surveys containing existing data (both qualitative and quantitative) . Some of the key issues identified in the border zone furthermore proved to be so tightly connected to i Literature included general literature on environment, national scale challenges in the two countries that natural resource management and development, reports emerging from work elsewhere in Haiti and the Dominican the assessment team felt obliged to upscale the republic, as well as studies made on specific issues in the analysis from border zone to national level. border zone. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 13  © UNEP A member of the assessment team collecting data in the field. • field observations throughout the border zone • studying satellite images of the border zone on both sides of the border, with three missions and comparing to field level observations which took place between May 2011 and April 2012. In addition the assessment team used a sustain- able livelihoods framework to understand how • interviews with the local community members livelihoods in the border zone are coping and engaged in various livelihoods (farming, responding to long-term degradation as well as fishing, re-forestation, commerce, charcoal short-term shocks and stresses.5 making), interviews with community leaders and representatives from livelihood associations This framework is a useful analytical lens to under- and NGO’s active in the border zone, as well stand vulnerabilities, livelihood assets, influencing as interviews with national government officials factors, strategies and outcomes that should be from both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. taken into account when trying to understand the • institutional knowledge from UN staff gained main factors that affect people’s livelihoods. The over the course of several years working in Haiti. framework also helps in explaining the relationships • findings from socio-economic case studies between these various factors, as well as how a focusing on the Haitian side of the border zone more sustainable use of natural resources should in the Massacre watershed in the north and be part of the solution when addressing the various the Pedernales watershed in the south. These challenges faced by livelihoods in the border zone. studies were conducted by the Earth Institute The framework was further used when developing of Columbia University together with the Haitian the recommendations that focus on livelihood State University.4 strategies and ways to build resilience among 14 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  Map 3. Areas visited by the assessment team during the course of the study Palmiste I ( ! 20°N Atlantic Ocean 72°W 71°W Cuba Louis du Nord ( ! Luperon Anse-à-Foleur Haiti Dominican Republic ( ! ( ! Monte-Cristi Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ Le Borgne ! ( ! P El Copey ( ! Puerto Pl miste ! ^ ( ! ! ^ Lucas Evangelista Imbert Port-Margot Cap-Haïtien ! P De Pena El Mamey ! ( [ · ! ( ! ( ! ( Limbé Quartier Morin Fort- ! ^! Gros Morne Pilate ! ( Acul du ! ( ( ! Limonade (! ! ( Liberté ( Maizal ( ! ! ( Plaine du Meiac! (! ! ( ( ! Nord Nord ( ! P ! ^ ( ! Merande Milot Trou-du-Nord Dumas ! ( ! ^ euve Plaisance ( ! Pe ! ( ( Sainte-Suzanne ! ( ! ( ! Esperanza ! ( Grande-Rivière du Nord ! ( ( ! Ferrier Dajabón Mao ( Villa Bisono ! ( ! Marmelade Dondon ! ( Ouanaminthe!( !( ! ! ( ! P P ! ( ! Perches ! ^ Sabaneta ( ! ! ( ! ( ! ( Partido ! ( ( ! ! ( ! ( ! ^ ( ! ( ! ! ( Santiago Rodriguez Santiago Gonaives Ennery Bahon ( ! Capotille ! ( Sant Saint-Raphael ! ( ! ! P ( ! Ranquitte Vallières ! ( Chevalier ( ( ! Loma De Cabrera ( ! ( ! ! ( ! ( Saint-Michel de l'Attalaye El Rubio ( ! ! ^ ! ^ ( ! Pignon ! ( Janico ( ! Restauración ! ( La Victoire ! ( Dessalines Saline ( ! ! ( ( ! Cerca- Carvajal ! ( ( Guayayayuco ! Passe Tilory Maïssade Cerca-la-Source ( ! ( ! El Corte P ! ( ! ! ^ Saint Marc Petite ( Rivière de Thomassique ! ( ! Hinche ( ! Tocino Thomassique ( ! ( ! Monabao ( ! Verrettes ! ^ ! ( ( ! Thomonde ( ! ! ^ 19°N ! ^ Carabela ( ! La Chapelle Constanza ( ! Roy Sec ! ( Elías Piña Las Matas Montazo ! ( P ! ( ! ! ( Mirebalais ! El Llano ! ( Saut d'Eau ( ! Lascahobas ! ( ! ( Belladère San Juan Poulie ! ( ( ! ( ! La Rancha P ! ! ( ( ! Arcahaie Savenette! ( Padre Las Casas ! ( Los Botaos El Cercado ( ! ( ! ( ! Duvalierville ! ( ( ! ! ^ Cornillon Los Arroyos Juan Thomazeau ! ( Santiago ( ! PORT-AU- Yayas De Viajama ( ! PRINCE [ · ! ( La Descubierta ( ! Croix des Léogâne ! ( ( ! ! ^ Bouquets Gantier ! ( Jimaní Los Ríos ! ( ! ( Gressier Carrefour ( Pétion-ville ! Neiba Galván !( Fond Parisien ! ( ! P P ! Azua Kenscoff ! ( P ! Goâve ! ( Duverge Vicente Noble Trouin ( ! ( ! ( ! Fonds- ( ! Los Negros Verrettes Zapoten ( ! ( ! El Peñón ( ! a Vallée de Jacmel ( ! Jacmel P ! ! ( ! ( ( ! ! ( ( ! ( ! ! ( Los Arroyos (! ( ! [ Barahona · Cayes- Belle-Anse Bainet ( ! Jacmel Marigot ! ( P ! Bony La Cueva Grand-Gosier ( ! ( ! ! ( Polo La Cienaga ! ( Datum: WGS 84 ! ( ( ! UTM Zone 18N (!( P Pedernales ! Anse-à-Pitre ! ! 18°N Paraíso ( ! ! [ · ^ Enriquillo Sources: ( ! MINUSTAH Caribbean UN Cartographic Section Manuel Golla Sea ! ( 0 10 20 Km UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. ! ^ ! ^ Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 15 ! ^  © UNEP Members of the assessment team interviewing a Haitian reforestation brigade in Capotille, in the Massacre watershed in the northern part of the border zone. livelihood groups to the various vulnerabilities they for the study that was not available in the face. Refer to annex III for a figure representing the public domain. One such category of data sustainable livelihoods framework that was used. refers to information the official record of which had been lost or destroyed during The assessment process or after the 2010 earthquake and copies The assessment commenced in April 2011 and of which existed on paper or as institutional was completed in 2013 with the finalization knowledge. Another category contained and publication of this report. The 4 stage data that was in the possession of the process followed for the assessment is summarized authorities in one of the two countries and below: was available only on request. • T he field teams consisted of specialists 1) Background research and scoping mission from UNEP’s Post Conflict and Disaster The initial part of the project involved reviewing Management Branch, representatives of the the available literature pertaining to the border Government of Haiti (Soils and Ecosystem zone. It also included a scoping mission to Directorate of the Ministry of Environment), the region in May 2011 that sought to identify the Government of the Dominican Republic and understand the key issues, geographical (representatives of the Ministry of environ- scope, and practical constraints on both sides ment) and UNDP personnel in Haiti. The field of the border – all of which information was missions were complemented by shorter needed in order to design the appropriate missions, as well as bi-national meetings assessment methodology. with the two governments. 2) Detailed information gathering and follow- 3) Analysis of findings and writing of the report up field missions This stage was divided into four consecutive • This stage began after the scoping mission steps in May 2011. It included follow-up field a. B ackground chapters. Development of missions to the border zone in November report structure and drafting of chapters 2011 and April 2012, and set out to identify including background and general informa- and gather additional information relevant tion (chapters 1-3). 16 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  b. Thematic analysis. Reviewing and analyzing 4) Consultation and completion the collected data. Through triangulation of • The final stage of the assessment process the various data sources, the team identi- brought government officials and other fied the key issues in respect to challenges key stakeholders together at two workshops and opportunities for the population in the – one in Port-au-Prince and one in Santo border zone that deserved further research Domingo – for extensive discussions about and analysis. Key issues were identified the conclusions and recommendations of based on: a) issues that have an inherent the project. transboundary dimension and linked to • The consultation process was followed by the use of natural resources, b) issues in a report revision, finalization, lay-out and the border zone that result in increased publication of the report in English, French vulnerabilities for the people relying on and Spanish. natural resource dependent livelihoods, c) issues that are a source of tension between The target audience for this assessment is policy the two countries and that affect, or have makers and planners in the two Governments the potential to affect, the stability of the and the international community supporting the border zone, d) issues that are a current Governments. source of cooperation which could be further amplified. This analysis informed Report terminology the thematic chapters 4-8. The chapters Throughout this report, the two countries of Haiti all follow the same structure, beginning and the Dominican Republic are referred to with a short general introduction of the separately as Haiti and the Dominican Republic topic in question, before moving on to respectively, and together as the two countries. the identified key issues, each treated in At no point does the latter term refer to any other a separate sub-chapter. The treatment two countries. of the issues identified, however, differ within and between the chapters to some The terms Dominican and Haitian should be extent, mainly as a result of their scope understood as proper adjectives pertaining to and impacts in respect to transboundary national provenance in the most general sense, dynamics. and not as carrying an association with the c. S trategic analysis. The strategic analysis government of either country. included a comparative analysis of the listed key issues, and the identification and To further define that difference: the govern- assessment of underlying and crosscutting ments of the two countries are referred to as driving forces. Furthermore, this part of the the Dominican Government and the Haitian analysis included an assessment of the Government throughout the report and not as Haiti potential for incidents, disasters and other or the Dominican Republic, nor as Port-au-Prince destabilization tipping points. The strategic or Santo Domingo. analysis also looked at how the identified key issues are linked to underlying driving The border zone, zone, border area, and area forces. These topics are covered in chapter are used interchangeably in the report – to avoid 9 of the report. unsightly repetition – and should all be understood d. Response development. This step included to refer to the geographical area defined in the the development of an overall proposed ‘geographical scope’ section of the introduction, strategy for response, as well as the rather than to any political or territorial construct development and costing of detailed that is exterior to the report, as in the sense of the recommendations. These issues, as well phrases de-militarized zone or disaster area. as an analysis of how the recommenda- tions link back to the key issues that were The terms Dominican side and Haitian side identified and a summary of key findings refer to the two sides of the border area in and conclusions are found in chapter 10 particular and not to the two sides of Hispaniola in of the report. general. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 17  © UNEP Consultation workshops were held in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti with government counterparts, in order to validate the contents of the report. The assessment uses a range of tools, methods conditions. Chapter 3 focuses on the border and terminology to identify, categorize and region, looking at transboundary issues such as analyze the wide range of issues noted, and to trade, cooperation, and migration. develop potential solutions. Annex I provides a glossary of key definitions and brief descriptions Part II of the report (Chapters 4-8) deal with specific of the tools and methods used in this assessment themes, such as agriculture, forestry and protected and associated report terminology. areas, freshwater resources, marine resources, etc. Within each of these categories, specific key Report translation issues and associated livelihoods responses are The findings of the report have significant implica- identified. Each chapter first gives a brief general tions for both countries and the draft report has overview of the theme in question, before individu- gone though a bi-national review and consultation ally presenting the key issues that were identified process. In this context, translation accuracy and as part of the assessment process. neutrality is very important. However, despite best efforts, not all words, phrases and inflections used Part III then concentrates on the analysis of the either in this report and in the received feedback information presented in Parts I and II of the report are directly translatable across the 3 languages. by analyzing the trends, linking the various issues For the avoidance of doubt therefore, the English together, and determining the common underly- version of the report has been designated as ing driving forces to all of them. The identified issues the master version and the French and Spanish and driving forces then inform the recommenda- versions as authorized translations. tions and conclusions that are covered in the final part of this report, in Chapter 10. Chapter road map Following this introductory chapter, Part I of this assessment also includes chapters 2 and 3. Chap- ter 2 provides an overview of both Haitian and Dominican country contexts, providing information on both countries’ economies, physical attributes, histories, natural hazards, and environmental 18 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 2 Haiti and Dominican is classed as a middle income country. The strongest similarities between the countries are Republic country context in their geography and climate, as well as their vulnerability to natural hazards – the Island of 2.1 Introduction Hispaniola lies next to a fault line and in the storm path of many hurricanes. The most dramatic Similarities and stark contrasts contrasts are found in population density, stability, This chapter sets out the context for the two GDP, electrification, forest cover and the number countries, pointing out common features and of protected areas. critical differences. Table 1 summarizes selected key facts and statistics In short Haiti is classed as a Least Developed for the two countries, highlighting key differences Country and a ‘fragile state’ in the UN-World Bank which are considered to influence the dynamics development index, while Dominican Republic between the two countries. Table 1. Key facts and statistics for Haiti and the Dominican Republic Dominican Parameter Haiti Comments Republic ii Geography Surface Area km² 27,750 48,730 76% difference Rainfall range Min-Mean-Max mm. 6, 7 350-1400-4000 508-1708-2540 Average temperature 25.0 Celcius 26.2 Celcius Society Ethnic composition: (Approximate) Percentage 95% – 5% – 0%. 11% – 73% – 16% Black African – Mixed – Caucasian8, 9 State Languages Creole + French Spanish Population (2011 estimate) 10, 11 10.1 million 10.1 million This figure excludes up to 1 million unregistered Haitian immigrants and workers residing in Dominican Republic. Population Density12, 13 362.6/km2 205.4/km2 76% difference Birth rates per 1,000 inhabitants (2010) 14 27 22 22% difference Fertility rates (No. children/woman) (2010) 15 3.3 2.6 26% difference Percentage population under 15 (2011) 16 36% 31% 16% difference Percentage urban population17 50% 71% 42% difference Diaspora Dominican Republic: 1 million 18 1.41 million 23 US: 600,00019 Canada: 100,000 20 France: 50,000 21 The Bahamas: 80,000 22 Remittances $1.97 billion (2010) $2.91 billion (2010) 26.6% of GDP 6% of GDP Governance Stability – Foreign Policy Failed State Index 201124 5/60 84 – not at risk 1st/60 is worst Corruption – Transparency International Corruption 1.8 = 175/182 2.6 = 129/182 1st /182 is best Perception Index 201125 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 19  Table 1. Key facts and statistics for Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Continued) Economy and Human Development Gross Domestic Product (2010 estimate) US$ 26, 27 7.4 Billion 51.7 Billion 700% difference GDP per capita US$ 28, 29 755 5,214 Agriculture as a percentage of GDP 30, 31 25% 7.3% Human Development Index 201132 159th /187 98th /187 1st/187 is best Percentage living in poverty & extreme poverty 76 & 56 34.4 & 2.2 (2010) (2010) ii 33, 34, 35 (2003) Inequality – Gini Coefficient 200136, 37 0.59 = 8th /190 0.48 = 26th /190 1st/190 is worst Life expectancy at birth (years) 38, 39 62.5 77.4 14.9 years difference Access to improved drinking water sources 63% 86% (2008) 40, 41 Literacy (15-24 year olds) 42, 43 74 % 95 % Primary & secondary school attendance44, 45 50 & 19 86.1 & 32.5 Installed MW power generation – design capacity 270 MW 3394 MW Access to electricity46, 47 12.5% 88% LPG Usage 48, 49 2% of national household energy Used in 79% of consumption households. Charcoal and Firewood Usage50 72% of energy demands satisfied by 3.1 % of households firewood or charcoal. use charcoal. Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) 51, 52 300 100 Infant mortality rate (per 100,000 live births) 53, 54 70 21.3 HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate 55, 56 1.9% 0.9% Contraceptive prevalence (ages 15-49, %) 57, 58 32.0 72.9 Environment and Natural Disasters Percentage Forest cover (FAO standards) 59 4% 41% Number of Protected Areas 60, 61 35 86 Percentage Land Cover as Protected Areas 62, 63 6% (Effectively 0.3%) 25.4% Yale University Environmental Performance Index 118/132 72/132 1st/132 is best 2010 64 Germanwatch Climate Risk index 1991-2010 65 5/190 7/190 1st/190 is worst iiiivv Disaster Risk Index (Average number of people 13.2 3.11 killed per million inhabitants)(2000) Major earthquakes 66 1751, 1771, 1842, 1887, 1904, 2010 1946, 2003 Haiti 2010 3, 4, 5 7.0 Ri.S iii iiii,iiiv,iiiv iv ii Poverty is defined by each country’s poverty line. Extreme poverty, before 2005 was defined as living on less than $1 a day. iv In 2005, the World Bank defined extreme poverty as living on less than $1.25 a day. iii The vast majority of the data contained in this table comes from the website of the World Bank’s Open Data Initiative (http:// data.worldbank.org/) and of the CIA Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/). Information on v forests and protected areas come from the Global Forest Assessment 2010 published by the FAO. iv Data on natural disaster vulnerability come either from the country notes elaborated for both countries by the Global Facil- ity for Disaster Reduction and Recovery or from the website of EM-DAT, an international disaster database (www.emdat.be). v Indicators such as the Failed States Index, the Freedom in the World Survey and the Corruption Perception Index can be found at the following URL: www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/06/17/2011 _ failed _ states _ index _ interactive _ map _ and _ rankings / http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2012 / http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2011/results/ 20 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP The environmental, economic and social divide between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is clearly visible throughout the border zone, as here close to the Artibonite River and the Dominican town of Pedro Santana. 2.2 Environmental status There are many reasons for this environmental deterioration. The exploitation techniques used The state of the environment in Haiti and the by farmers have often been detrimental. There Dominican Republic is a sobering study in has been a demographic explosion, and much contrasts. These countries, which had very similar of the population uses firewood or charcoal as environmental baselines in 1800, have evolved its main source of energy. There is a complex into very different societies and the current state land tenure system, which is disadvantageous to of the environment in each country reflects that soil conservation and tree planting. Lastly there difference. is a pervasive absence of awareness about the environment among the general population and Haiti a chronic lack of efficiency within the relevant The environment in Haiti in 2012 is in a chronic governing institutions.71 crisis that has developed over the past 50 years. Environmental degradation is so severe and Subsistence agriculture serves as a good example widespread that it is now a key driving factor in food of the process of environmental deterioration. insecurity, rural poverty, the spread of disease, and Right across the country, land has been cleared flood vulnerability.67 for subsistence farming, even the very steep mountainsides and areas with thin and low-fertility Over the last six centuries, the forest cover in soils. Haitian subsistence agricultural practices Haiti has shrunk considerably. Studies estimate do not traditionally include a strong focus on soil that in the 15th century, 85% of Haiti’s territory was conservation or augmentation, so steep slopes forested,68 the remaining cover is today estimated are tilled without terracing or drainage control to be 2-4% of the territory, with rapid deforestation and small plots of land are replanted year after having taken place in the past few decades.69,70 year. Livestock rearing is usually open, with animals Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 21 wandering over depleted fields and unprotected it reaches about 40%77 and that recent increase slopes. is due to three main factors: • Large-scale reforestation programmes (e.g. The consequences of this progressive disappear- Plan Nacional Quisqueya Verde) ance of Haitian forests are dramatic. Haiti is very vulnerable to water erosion because it is a moun- • The conversion from charcoal and wood tainous country: two-thirds of rural areas contain dependency to gas for cooking slopes of an angle of more than 20 degrees.72 • The effective enforcement of laws and Deforestation increases this vulnerability to erosion, regulations and large amounts of the nation’s topsoil have been washed into the ocean.73 This reduction in Recent surveys show that the forest cover is soil volume and vegetation cover has reduced continuing to increase throughout the country, the infiltration capacity of the river catchments, so but that the increase is slower in the border zone more water runs off quickly rather than sinking into than it is in the rest of the country.78 The main the soil and subsoil. As a result the country is more cause of deforestation in the border zone is still the vulnerable to extreme events such as flooding and illegal production of charcoal. Deforestation has, the rapid depletion of rivers in dry periods, which however, been halted in this part of the country, in turn reduce the amount of crops and transform largely due to the strict enforcement of laws, and farmland into wasteland.74 an increased awareness in local communities of the damage done by the charcoal trade.79, 80 The coastal and marine shore environment of Haiti is also severely damaged. Inshore waters have Even though most of the country is vulnerable to been overfished and polluted by sewage, large flooding, access to water is often scarce in the numbers of mangrove trees have been cut, and Dominican Republic. Uncontrolled development, coral reefs have been badly damaged and in above all in urban areas and at tourist destinations, some places destroyed entirely.75 has seriously threatened the water supply. In some areas the groundwater has been so depleted and Urban environmental issues, such as solid waste contaminated by seawater that desalinization management, are highly visible and problematic. plants have been installed. Another source of There are no sewage networks in any Haitian urban contamination is the Dominican Republic’s poorly centres and the rivers and gullies are used as both regulated industrial sector, which has boomed over latrines and waste disposal sites. Rivers are used the last four decades. for bathing, washing clothes and sometimes for drinking water and so are vectors for disease in The coastline is also threatened in certain areas. general, and cholera in particular. Beaches are eroding and the flow of eroded soil sediment into the sea damages coral reefs. The population as a whole is becoming more Bearing in mind the importance of tourism as one aware of the environmental crisis, and understands of the most important sectors of the Dominican its root causes well, and there has been substantial economy, these are critical national issues. international investment in environmental rehabili- tation. Nevertheless, underdevelopment, instability, and the absence of political will, have combined 2.3 Geography, Geology, Climate, to thwart an effective and durable response to Hydrology that crisis. The geography of Hispaniola Dominican Republic The island of Hispaniola has a surface area of The Dominican Republic is in much better condi- 76,420 km² and is the second largest island in the tion environmentally than Haiti. The expansion Caribbean Sea. Located between the latitudes of agricultural plantations and an increase in of 20 and 17 degrees north, the island is highly charcoal production have reduced the forest mountainous, with four major mountain ranges cover from about 75% of the overall territory in running generally west-northwest to east-southeast. 192276 to 12% in the early 1980s. Today, however, The mountains are commonly steep and the 22 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone highest peaks in Haiti and the Dominican Republic approximately 40 per cent.81 Mangrove forests are at 2680 and 3098 metres above sea level also remain along the shores but are generally respectively. reducing in extent. One critical difference between the two countries Geology and soils is that the Dominican Republic has much more The surface of Hispaniola is composed mainly of flat and gently sloping land than Haiti. In Haiti the marine sediments, with sparse outcrops of older plains at the base of the mountains are generally metamorphic rocks. The marine sediments are relatively small. In comparison, the eastern generally very rich in limestone, and light in appear- and northern half of the Dominican Republic is ance, hence the pale hue of much exposed dominated by relatively flat land that is suitable ground in both countries. for agriculture. All major cities in both countries are found either on the coast or on the flat alluvial The soils of Hispaniola reflect the geology and plains. topography: soils were originally generally thin and limestone rich in the steeper hills and deeper and The original land cover in both countries was sub- better quality in the alluvial plains. Only a minority of tropical forest with some wetlands. However, more the mountainous regions with metamorphic geol- than four centuries of agricultural land clearing ogy have originally deep and/or good quality soils, have seen this forest cover reduced dramatically. although all regions in Haiti are now badly affected The deforestation rate has been much more severe by soil erosion and thin soil cover is the norm.82 Soil on the Haitian side, where a mere 3.7 per cent of depletion and erosion is also a significant issue in forest cover remains (FAO classification system). the Dominican Republic, although not to the same The same metric for the Dominican Republic is extent as in Haiti. © UNEP The climate on Hispaniola is as diverse as its topography: there are great variations in both temperature and rainfall because the island consists of low-lying areas separated by mountain ranges that rise as high as 3000 meters. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 23 Climate More interesting, however, are changes that have The different parts of Hispaniola see major varia- already taken place. In Haiti, UNEP field enquiries tions in annual rainfall as a result of topography, have recorded significant anecdotal evidence prevailing winds, and the sporadic nature of from farmers of increased rainfall variability and tropical storms and hurricanes. The wettest areas later starting dates for the wet season. This is are the peaks of the highlands along the southern supported by studies showing that Haiti’s average coast, where rainfall can exceed 4000 mm, monthly rainfall volumes have considerably whilst the driest areas are in the northwest, where decreased and its patterns changed between rainfall can drop to 350 mm per annum. All parts the beginning of the 20th century and that of the of Hispaniola experience a drier season from 21st century.91, 92 Data from 1900-1930, 1930-1960, December to April. 1960-1990, had similar rainfall patterns. The three periods were characterized by two peaks, one At the national level, year round average tem- between March-May and another between peratures are 25° C for Haiti and 26.2° C for the August-October.93 These numbers contrast with Dominican Republic. Temperature variations are those of the 1990-2009 period. During this period, linked to the seasons but also to the extent of cloud rainfall patterns have significantly changed, and altitude: the hottest regions are the dry plains showing only one yearly peak in the month of near sea level where temperatures commonly September. Average monthly rainfall is the lowest exceed 35° C and the coldest regions are the compared to the three previous 30-year periods wet mountain peaks where temperatures rarely at 106 mm, and yearly average rainfall during this exceed 20° C and can drop to 10° C degrees or period is the lowest at 1269 mm. The 1990-2009 lower. period has experienced a decrease in average yearly rainfall of 368 mm compared to the preced- Climate Change ing period. The 1990-2009 period has also seen Haiti has recently ranked 6th at the 2012 Climate the most extreme rainfall variability, presenting Risk Index developed by the research institute Ger- both the lowest (8.9 mm) and the highest (478 mm) manwatch.83 This indicator analyzes the impacts monthly rainfall averages amongst all four 30-year of extreme weather events of the last 20 years periods analyzed. and identified Haiti as one of the most affected countries in the world. The Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic has experienced similar also ranks high on the same risk index, being one rainfall patterns as Haiti. Its yearly peaks have of six Caribbean countries in the world’s top 40 changed from two a year, around March-May climate “hot spots”.84 With a possible increase in and August-October, to only one in the month the frequency and severity of storms and a of September.94 Even when the 1930-1960 period decrease in average rainfall 85, the impacts of experienced lower average monthly and yearly changing global and regional weather patterns rainfall, the 1990-2009 period experienced the is likely to further increase the vulnerability of the most extreme monthly rainfall volumes amongst island to extreme weather events. the four 30-year periods compared, with a low of 13 mm and a high of 471 mm.95 The 1990-2009 Climate change projections for Haiti and the period experienced a decrease in average yearly Dominican Republic are very similar. Both countries rainfall of 275 mm compared to the 1960-1990 anticipate increased average temperatures of period. approximately 0.7-1.0° C by 2030 and continued increases thereafter.86, 87 Both countries also antici- Temperature patterns in Haiti also seem to have pate significant reductions in rainfall: up to 11% by changed throughout the course of the 20 th 2030 and 23% by 2050.88, 89 Projections, however, century and into the 21st century. Haiti’s average vary greatly, highlighting the high level of uncer- monthly temperatures have gradually increased tainty in respect to the effects of climate change throughout the four periods mentioned. The 1900- on the island. The combination of increased 1930 and 1930-1960 time periods had an average temperature and decreased rainfall may well lead temperature of 24.3° C. For the 1960-1990 period, to water deficits and greatly reduced runoff/stream average temperatures increased by 1° C to an flows in both countries.90 average temperature of 25.3° C, and increased 24 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone once again for the 1990-2009 period to an annual of hours and the same rivers can run almost dry average temperature of 25.4°C.96 for two months in the dry season. Flow variations of 100 times or more are not uncommon. The level The Dominican Republic has experienced of responsiveness reduces with increasing size, the similar temperature patterns as Haiti. Average larger rivers with large catchments are much more temperatures in the Dominican Republic have stable than the smaller rivers. increased by around 1.2° C from the 1930-1960 to the 1960-1990 time period. Between the At the national level Haiti has substantial fresh water 1960-1990 and 1990-2009 time periods, however, resources, divided between 30 main watersheds.98 temperatures decreased by 0.3° C to a yearly However it also has national scale, chronic water average of 24.7° C.97 problems including degraded catchments, water scarcity, flooding and bacterial contamination of In summary, climate change for Hispaniola is water sources. expected to result in an overall drier and hotter climate, with more severe dry seasons with lower The different Departments of Haiti see major vari- stream flows, and exacerbating existing health, ations in annual rainfall as a result of topography, social and economic challenges. prevailing winds and the sporadic nature of tropical storms and hurricanes. The wettest areas are the Hydrology peaks of the highlands along the southern coast, The majority of the rivers in the mountainous regions where rainfall can exceed 4000 mm, while the of Hispaniola are short and steep. This means that driest areas are in the northwest Departments, water flow rates at any particular time are governed where rainfall can drop to 350 mm per annum. mainly by recent rainfall (days to hours) rather than All parts of the country experience a drier season annual rainfall. Flash floods can occur in a matter from December to April. © UNEP The Pedernales river, that forms the border in the southern part of the island, has a low water flow during large parts of the year and is easy cross on foot. The water flow can, however, increase dramatically within hours as a result of heavy rains falling in the mountains a couple of kilometers from the low lying coastal areas. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 25 Natural river flow variability due to climate and by its neighbour Haiti. Water can be scarce in the topography has been greatly exacerbated by Dominican Republic because so much of it is used land degradation: deforestation and agriculture on for irrigation and the population uses more of it steep slopes have resulted in massive soil erosion per capita.104 The current water demand of 10 bil- throughout virtually all Haitian river catchments. lion m3 represents almost half of the total freshwater This is particularly true on the Haitian side, but can resources available. This chronic overexploitation also be seen in the Dominican side of the border. is reflected in increased competition for surface The central province of Elias Piña is, for example, water allocation as well as in unsustainable experiencing increased water shortages, which is groundwater extraction. one contributing factor to why some landowners have sold their land and moved to the cities.99, 100 In the last 20 years, water use has increased fourfold due to the country’s economic and The availability of water varies greatly across the population growth. The most water intensive sector Dominican Republic because of the country’s is agriculture, representing 8 billion m3 per year, diverse geography and climate.101 Most of the around 80 percent of the total water use and a water used (67%) comes from surface water threefold increase in the last couple of year. Water sources, while the rest comes from ground is also generously used for tourism (hotels, resorts, water (33%).102 The Dominican Republic has 60 golf courses) as well as for domestic use.105 watersheds, with most of its territory vulnerable to floods.103 2.4 Natural Hazards Despite the fact that the Dominican Republic A very high vulnerability to natural hazards has substantive water resources – 20 billion m3 of Both Haiti and the Dominican Republic are highly surface water resources per year and groundwater vulnerable to natural hazards. The Dominican resources of 1.5 billion m3 – the country still suffers Republic ranks 24th amongst the 173 countries from water related issues similar to those endured assessed in the WorldRiskIndex, having a “very © UNEP Of all the Caribbean Islands, Hispaniola is the most susceptible to hurricanes. 26 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Flooding in cities and towns is a common occurrence throughout the island, often causing severe damage and deaths as a result of insufficient infrastructure to respond to high surface water flows. high” risk to natural hazards, with Haiti ranking and 2010 Haiti experienced 74 natural hazards 32nd.106 Although the Dominican Republic’s natural (tropical storms, floods, landslides, epidemics and hazard exposure is higher than that of Haiti, Haiti is earthquakes).107 Haiti’s is also the country with the ranked as the 10th most vulnerable state to natural highest relative vulnerability to tropical cyclones hazards having a higher vulnerability due to its high amongst the Small Island Developing States, susceptibility, and lack of coping and adaptive followed by the Dominican Republic in second capacities, rather than from the mere occurrence place, making Hispaniola the most susceptible of natural disasters. This means that Haiti can island to hurricanes in the Caribbean.108, 109 In 2008, significantly reduce its natural hazard vulnerability for example, four hurricanes affected nine of Haiti’s by improving its public infrastructure, economic ten departments within one month, impacting capacity, governance, and public services. an estimated 8 percent of its population (about 800,000 people) and causing major damages in The key natural hazards for both countries are: all sectors.110 • Hurricanes and associated major floods and Disaster data from the Dominican Republic landslides. indicates 40 natural hazard events for the period • Tropical storms and associated flash floods. 1980 to 2008, which affected 2.65 million people with total economic damages estimated at • Earthquakes. US$2.56 billion. Tropical storms and floods have • Droughts. had the greatest impact in the country, causing respectively US$2.51 billion and US$44.2 million Statistics show that a major disaster (such as dollars damages.111 The number of people killed cyclones, floods and droughts) affects Haiti every is estimated at 1,446, 42% of whom were killed by 5-7 years and that internationally recognized storms, 55% by floods and the remaining 3% by disaster hits it every 2 years. Overall, between 1980 epidemics.112 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 27 Earthquakes 2.5 Society Hispaniola is located on the border of two tectonic plates: the North American Plate and the Carib- Hispaniola population evolution and ethnicity bean plate. Two major, active fault lines cross most Hispaniola has not seen large-scale immigration of the island from west to east,113 leaving both Haiti since the end of the 17th century. Migration since and the Dominican Republic equally exposed to that time has been largely limited to internal earthquakes. The island has a long history of severe movement and emigration. As a result, the social earthquakes, the latest being the devastating 7.0 foundations of both Haiti and the Dominican Richter Scale event of 12th January 2010, which had Republic were laid early in the history of Hispaniola. an epicentre just 30 km west of Port-au-Prince. This During this time, both the African and Caucasian earthquake killed 225,000 people, injured 300,000 populations were spread across the island more, and left a million homeless and displaced.114 and mixed relatively freely. As a consequence, Port-au-Prince sustained massive damage and ethnicity today in Hispaniola is not fully defined by economic losses to Haiti were estimated at US$7.8 the boundary between Haiti and the Dominican billion, which is 122% of its GDP. It is important to Republic. People of African and mixed background note that Hispaniola has experienced several are found in both countries, with much more of the earthquakes of this intensity over the last 300 former in Haiti and much more of the latter in the years and further earthquakes are expected, with Dominican Republic.119 the northern region currently facing the highest risks.115 A study suggests that future earthquakes Haitian population near Port-au-Prince could be similar or larger in The population of Haiti is currently estimated at magnitude than the 2010 earthquake.116 All the approximately 10 million with a population density northern part of the Dominican Republic has a of 362.6 inhabitants/km².120 The ethnic composition high seismic risk,117 with some studies claiming that of the Haitian population is 95% black and 5% Dominican seismic risk is higher than that of Haiti.118 Caucasian and mulatto (mixed African and © UNEP The earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2012 caused unprecedented damage to the capital Port-au- Prince, and killed 225,000 people. 28 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Caucasian descent).121 The mulatto minority is very independent of each other. Each country relatively powerful and economically more secure has managed its affairs and endured its own crises than the majority. with relatively limited interaction with its neighbor. The Dominican Republic has managed to move Over the years, a demographic explosion has beyond a long dictatorship to develop rapidly and occurred in Haiti. Its population was estimated relatively stably over the last 30 years, whilst Haiti at 5,000 inhabitants in 1804122 and had reached unfortunately moved from a long lived dictatorship 3.2 million within one hundred and fifty years. The to major instability and social-economic decline. population then almost tripled between 1950 and This independence is however now effectively at 2005 and is now estimated at around 10 million an end. One in 10 inhabitants of the Dominican people.123 The population is very young: 35% of Republic is a temporary or illegal immigrant from people are under the age of 15, and every year, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic is now a major 200,000 people reach that age. player in the post-earthquake reconstruction effort.130 Half of the Haitian population lives in urban centers124, of which the most populous are Port- Environmental governance in the Dominican au-Prince (home to 25 percent of the population Republic of Haiti and representing 62% of all urban popula- In the Dominican Republic, most major envi- tion)125, Jacmel, Gonaïves and Cap-Haitien. ronmental issues are covered by the general or framework law 64-000, which came into effect Dominican population in August 2000. It covers issues such as air and In 2011 the population of the Dominican Republic water quality, pollution control, habitat and species was 10.1 million, with a population density of 205.4 conservation, protected areas, and environmental persons/km². The registered Dominican Republic impacts. The design and implementation of the population is ethnically very mixed with 11% African, regulatory regime is overseen by the Ministry of 73% mulatto, and 16% Caucasian. These figures, Environment and Natural Resources, which was however, do not include up to one million illegal created to bring all public institutions dealing with Haitian immigrants and temporary workers.126 Just environmental issues under one umbrella. as large numbers of Haitians come over the border to the Dominican Republic so, many Dominicans The legislature has been obliged to develop many migrate from Hispaniola entirely, usually to the USA. specific or “sector” laws pertaining to the details of the broad topics referred to in 64-000, but the Just like its Caribbean neighbors, the Dominican length of that process has delayed the address of population is very young (31.4% are aged under urgent environmental issues. 15) and birth (19.67 births/1000 inhabitants) and fertility rates (2.44 children/woman) remain high.127 The Constitution of the Dominican Republic, (which was proclaimed on the 26 January 2010), makes The Dominican population is now predominantly specific and extensive reference to the environ- urban128 as a result of a rural exodus. Indeed, the ment and natural resources.131 In it, reforestation number of people living in urban areas increased of the country and protection and conservation of from 62% of the total population in 2000 to 71% in forests, high river watersheds and endemic, native 2010.129 Most of those people live in the capital, and migratory biodiversity zones are declared as Santo Domingo (2.2 million inhabitants), San Pedro national priorities. de Macoris and La Romana in the south and Santiago de los Caballeros, in the north. A cornerstone in the national process towards sustainable development has been set forth by 2.6 Environmental Governance Organic Law 1-12 on the National Development Strategy for the Dominican Republic 2030.132 Of Hispaniola governance and stability inter- particular relevance is section 2.4.3, which pertains linkages to the sustainable development of the border The governance and stability situations in Haiti and zone (see sub-sections 2.4.3.1 – 2.4.3.6). In general the Dominican Republic have been historically the law envisages a society with a sustainable Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 29 consumption and production culture that protects far from being an organic law, does establish the the environment and natural resources, and responsibilities of this Ministry in relation to the other can adapt to climate change. The strategy stakeholders in the sector. also looks to de-centralize the management of natural resources by creating 31 provincial and The “Environmental Action Plan” (PAE) developed by 6 municipal directorates of the environment and the Ministry of Environment in 1998 is still the main natural resources. document in which the Haitian government has specifically identified programmes and provided Environmental governance in Haiti133 guidelines towards the management of the The critical state of the environment of Haiti is environment. However, 14 years later, none of these closely related to the country’s deep-seated programs have been implemented systema- institutional, political and governance problems. tically. Despite the abundance of Haitian legislation on the environment and the number of institutions Despite the fact that the environment has been involved in environmental management, Haiti has identified as one of the five priorities of the current a long history of weak environmental governance. administration, the Haitian Ministry of environment currently lacks the financial support and technical There are a number of texts that define the legal capacity to provide leadership or to enforce the framework for effective environmental manage- law. The government, supported by international ment in Haiti – from local bylaws and government organisations and NGOs, has made several efforts decrees to the Constitution itself. However, the to address this situation, but has met with little focus of Chapter II of Title IX of the Framework-Law success.134 of the Haitian Republic is limited to the natural environment, and most of the relevant decrees and bylaws pertain to the protection of natural resources, sanitation and urbanization. It remains difficult to extract a set of standards or guidelines on environmental management from this legislation because the laws were passed at different periods and in different circumstances. The vast majority of them, although still in force, date to the 19th century, when the environment, economic and demographic conditions were very different. However, the task of updating the legislation cannot be accomplished without the will to apply the law. Furthermore, applying Haitian environmental laws is challenging, which means there is little tradition of jurisprudence. The ministries concerned with managing natural resources are the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Planning, and the Ministry of Public Works. The establishment of the Ministry of Environment in 1994 added another stakeholder to the sector of environmental management in Haiti. It should be noted that this ministry still has no organic law, which represents a significant obstacle in the per- forming of its duties. However, the 2006 Framework Decree on Environmental Management, although 30 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 3 The border region and three main mountain ridges on the island, running in an east-west direction across the border: transboundary activities 1. The northern coast and the Massacre water- 3.1 Introduction shed in the north. 2. The Artibonite watershed and Central Plateau. The border zone is unique. Culture, language, and law, as well as conditions of trade, work, and life 3. The area surrounding the two lakes Azuei and vary tremendously from one side of the border Enriquillo. to the other. As the border zone is the location for the most intense interaction between the two 4. The southern coast and the Pedernales water- populations it is also the area of both countries shed in the south. most prone to tensions relating to natural resources. However, there is also a good deal of transbound- Each of the four areas also includes one of the four ary cooperation and there is plenty of potential for main border crossings between the two countries. improvement. These are (from north to south): 1.Ouanaminthe- Dajabón, 2. Belladere-Comendador-Elías Piña; Haitians and Dominicans see the border zone in 3. Malpasse-Jimaní, 4. Anse-à-Pitre-Pedernales. very different ways. Compared with the rest of the Each east-west crossing occurs at low points in the Dominican Republic, the border region is poor and valleys between the east-west trending mountain isolated. Many Dominican nationals are leaving ranges. this part of the country for the cities. In contrast, many Haitians see proximity to the Dominican The Northern Coast and Massacre watershed border as an opportunity to trade, work, farm The bi-national Massacre River watershed forms vacant land, or get access to basic services in the natural boundary between Haiti and the the Dominican Republic. Many of them emigrate. Dominican Republic in the North. The two border towns of Dajabón (Dominican Republic) and This chapter presents the border zone in detail, Ouanaminthe (Haiti) are the largest towns along covering geography, socio-economics, migration, the border and are the transit point between the trade and transboundary cooperation and aid second largest cities of the two countries, Santiago projects. The purpose of this chapter is to present in Dominican Republic and Cap Haïtien in the status quo, rather than to offer analysis of the Haiti.135 zone’s many thematic issues. That analysis can be found in subsequent chapters in Part II. The Massacre watershed starts in the high rainfall and steep mountains of the Cordillera Central, 3.2 Border zone geography with the majority of the catchment located on the Dominican side. The forest cover in this catchment The border between the two countries extends is relatively intact, resulting in relatively regular along a 380 km line that ranges from sea to steep seasonal flows of the Massacre River. North of the mountains over 2000 m high. It crosses areas with mountains the catchment levels out into a large very high and very low rates of precipitation and coastal plain and finally into extensive coastal widely varying soils and geological substrates. wetlands including mangrove swamps. Annual The border area includes 5 out of the 6 climatic rainfall in the mountains can exceed 2000 mm, zones of the country (arid, medium aridity, humid, as compared to an average of 750 mm in the high hills, and high altitude).These conditions have coastal plain.136 created a mosaic of ecosystems and habitats, making the border area at once an interesting Livelihoods in this area include small-scale ecology, and one that is difficult to regenerate. agriculture on the Haitian side, with larger scale agriculture on the Dominican, semi-natural For the purpose of this study, the border zone has pastureland, charcoal production, salt produc- been divided into four areas, based on watershed tion, the harvesting of mangroves for fuel and boundaries. These areas are separated by the fishing. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 31  Map 4. The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic Palmiste # I ! ( 20°N 72°W 71°W Cuba Atlantic Ocean du Nord ! ( Haiti Luperon Anse-à-Foleur Dominican Republic ! ( Monte-Cristi ! ( Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo # ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ Le Borgne P ! Puerto Plata ! ( El Copey Ri oY ! ( ! ^ o ! P ! ^ q ue Lucas Evangelista Imbert Port-Margot del N # 779 Cap-Haïtien # ! P o rt e!( De Pena El Mamey ! [ ( · # ! ( ! ( Limbé Quartier Morin Fort- ! ^ !( Liberté . Massacr ! ( ! ( Gros Morne Pilate Acul du Limonade ! ( ! ( Maizal l ! ( ! ( ! ( # Riv ! ( ! ( Nord ! ( Plaine du Nord ! ( P ! Meiac ! ^ ! ( Merande Milot Trou-du-Nord Dumas ! ^ l ! Plaisance ! ( ( Pedro Ga ( Sainte-Suzanne ! ! ( ! ( Esperanza # ! ( Grande-Rivière du Nord ! ( ! ( Ferrier e Dajabón Mao ! ( Villa Bisono ! ( # Marmelade Dondon Ouanaminthe ! P ! ( ! ! ( P ! Perches ! ^ bi n Sabaneta l l l ! ( ( ! ! ( ! ( ! ( ! Partido ! a yu ! ( ll ( ( ! ( l 1128 Santiago ! ( ! Santiago Rodriguez [ ^ l l P· ! ! ( ! ( # ! ( aives ( Ennery Bahon Gu ! ( lle Capotille ! Santiago ! poti ! ( ( Saint-Raphael l ! ( ! P Vallières # Ca Chevalier ! ( ! ( Loma De Cabrera ll Ranquitte ! ( ! ( ! ( l ! ( # 1474 ! R ivi ( ! ( Saint-Michel de l'Attalaye ! ^ ! ao El Rubio ! ( (èr e ! ^ oM C Pignon # 1302 an ! ( ! ( Restauración Ri Janico ! ( ot La Victoire ! ( # 1210 Ri Dessalines v ièr e ! ( e ! ( ! ( Cerca- Libon ! ( ( Guayayayuco ! # Carvajal Passe Tilory Riv. Guaya # 2011 # 1060 Maïssade mou c Cerca-la-Source # 1221 J oc a ! ( ! ( El Corte R io ! P ! ( ! ^ Jara aint Marc Petite ! ( Rivière de Thomassique ! ( Hinche te!( Tocino Thomassique o ci n o ! i ( on # 2801 Monabao R io T ! ( Verrettes # 1787 ! ( rtib ! ^ ! ( # A v. ! ( Ri Ri # 2026 v. Thomonde # 3087 Ar ! ( ! ^ 19°N t ib l ! ^ on ic o Carabela ite ! ( n # 2560 bo R io Y a [ # 1580 · La Chapelle Constanza ! ( Roy Sec ! ( Elías Piña Las Matas Montazo ! ( ! P ! ( ! ( Mirebalais ! El Llano ! ( RI # Saut d'Eau ! ( Lascahobas ! ( ! ( Belladère O M San Juan Rio S 1278 ! ( Poulie AC ! P ! ( La Rancha AS J Riv ! ( an ua . F er à ! ( ! ( Cheval IA n Arcahaie Savenette ! ( # Padre Las Casas ! ( Los Botaos El Cercado ! ( ! ( ! ( Duvalierville # 1381 ! ( ! ( Cornillon Los Arroyos # Juan Thomazeau ! ( # 2175 Santiago l ! PORT-AU- ( # 2278 Yayas De Viajama ! ( El Cerc PRINCE [ · ! ( # 14 La Descubierta ! ( Croix des # 940 Léogâne ! ( Gressier ! ( ! ^ ( Pétion-ville Bouquets Gantier ! ( Jimaní Los Ríos # -39 ! ( Galván Su r ! ( Carrefour ! Neiba l de ! Fond Parisien ! ( ! P P ! ( ue Azua Ri Yaq P ! ! v. o Ri ( ! Kenscoff Bl ( an c he l Duverge Vicente Noble Trouin # 1580 ! ( ! ! ( ( # 1342 Los Negros ! ( # 2674 Fonds- # 2282 Verrettes Zapoten ! ( l ! ( El Peñón s ! ( e de Jacmel ale # 2367 Jacmel rn [ Barahona · ! ( Pede ! ( ( Los Arroyos ! P ! l ! ( ! ( ! ! (! ( ! ( ( ! ( Cayes- Belle-Anse et ! ( Jacmel Marigot Ri v. # 2084 P ! Grand-Gosier ! ( Bony L ib e n La Cueva ! ( Ro n binso # ! ( 1669 ! ( l Ni Polo a l La Cienaga Legend to z ! ( Reforestation Datum: WGS 84 ! ( ! ( International boundary brigades ! ( UTM Zone 18N P Pedernales ! Anse-à-Pitre ! ! ( # 1455 ^ ! National capital 18°N P ! Department/Province capital l 1-2 Paraíso ! ( Main city l [ ! ! · ^ Town, village Enriquillo ! ( 3-6 Sources: ! ( r Airport MINUSTAH Manuel Golla UN Cartographic Section Main route l Secondary route Caribbean ! ( Major lakes 7 - 14 Sea 0 10 20 Major rivers Km UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. ! ^ ! ^ 32 Haiti – Dominican Republic: # Environmental challenges in the border zone ! ^ #  Map 5. Distinct areas of the border zone I 20°N 72°W 71°W Cuba Atlantic Ocean Haiti Dominican Republic Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ THE NORTHERN COAST ! ^ AND ! ^ MASSACRE WATERSHED ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ THE ARTIBONITE ! ^ 19°N ! ^ WATERSHED AND ! ^ THE CENTRAL PLATEAU ! ^ THE AREA SURROUNDING THE LAKES THE SOUTHERN COAST AND PEDERNALES WATERSHED Datum: WGS 84 UTM Zone 18N Legend 18°N International boundary ! ^ ^ ! National capital P ! Department/Province capital Sources: ! ( Town, Village MINUSTAH Airport UN Cartographic Section r Main route Caribbean Major lakes Sea 0 10 20 Major rivers Km UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. ! ^ ! ^ Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 33 ! ^  Map 6. The northern coast and the Massacre watershed 72°W Cap-Haïtien ! P Dajabón ! P ! P ! P ! P Cayos Sietes Hermanos Monte Cristi El Morro I ! P Hinche ! P San Juan ! P Monte Cristi ! P Rio Yo Jimaní Neiba que d el Nor te ! P ! P ! P ! P Pedernales ! P LAGUNA DE QUEBRO Manglares del Estero Balsa Pepillo Salcedo Caracol MONTE CRISTI Jacquesil Phaëton LAGON AUX BOEUFS 1 Meiac Fort-Liberté k Laguna Saladilla LAGUNA LA JAGUA Merande Rio Chacuey Trou-du-Nord 1 viè Dumas Ferrier Ri re Cayuco Fr h aîc e Lafleur Ouanaminthe Dajabón k Manket Acajou Perches R iv Dosmont 1 1 DAJABON iè re Acul du Pins Bedou 14 M 1 N O R Dari-o E S T Savane 1 n Longue Cana Baja Partido 1 1 Massa ivière Welch Capotill Cerros de Chacuey cre RI o 1 Capotille Chevalier Vallières 1 1 Lamine Loma De Cabrera 1 Mont- k Organisé Riv ièr e Lib on La Victoire Legend Mangrove Restauración Marine protected area Terrestrial protected area Datum: WGS 84 Salt production zone UTM Zone 18N Rio Art ) Dams ibonito Cerca-Carvajal l Reforestation brigade Charcoal production hotspots l ! ! ! Area of intensive charcoal production CENTRE Passe Tilory Guayayayuco Sources: ! ! ! MINUSTAH ) Bi-national markets UN Cartographic Section Main border crossing Waterflow Nalga de Maco k 0 3 6 Intermittent river Km Watershed boundary UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. 34 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  Map 7. The Artibonite watershed and the Central Plateau I Cana Cap-Haïtien !P72°W ! P Welch Dajabón otil lo Capotille Cerros de Chacuey ap ! P ! P ! P Welch ! P C Vallières Chevalier Loma De Cabrera Hinche Lamine ! P Chevalier Mont-Organisé Lamine San Juan ! P N OJimaní R DNeiba ! P NORD-EST DAJABON bin ! P ! P a yu ! P ! P Gu Pedernales ! P Alto Mao La Victoire Restauración R ivi è re Li Cerca-Carvajal bo n Armando Bermúdez k Passe Tilory Guayayayuco Nalga de Maco Cerca-la-Source oc a Hinche Riv iè re G ua y El Corte k Ri oJ am Pedro Santana Tocino ouc R io To cino k Thomassique Banica Cerro de San Francisco k it o on tib Ar Ri o ThomondeC E N T R E 19°N ELIAS PINA 12 Carabela Rio M ac asia ic o k b on Ri o Ya k Roy Sec Elías Piña Las Matas Lac de Peligre El Llano LAC DE PELIGRE Belladère Poulie Lascahobas SAN JUAN Dos Bois Rouge RI Baptiste La Rancha OM Riv A CAS ièr IA e Fe ràC heval Savenette Legend k El Cercado Los Botaos Los Arroyos Mangrove Rivi èr Juan Santiago Marine protected area eG a sc OUEST Terrestrial protected area og n e Datum: WGS 84 Salt production zone Cornillon UTM Zone 18N ) Dams Sierra de Neiba Ba l Reforestation brigade 1 rr e Charcoal production hotspots l ro ! ! ! Area of intensive charcoal production Sources: ! ! ! ) Bi-national markets INDEPENDENCIA MINUSTAH UN Cartographic Section Main border crossing Las Caobas La Descubierta BAORUCO k Waterflow 0 4 8 Intermittent river Los Cacheos LAGO ENRIQUILLO Km Watershed boundary The boundaries and namesLago Enriquillo shown and the e Isla used Cabritos designations UNEP on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 35 The population in this watershed is approximately agriculture, and there is some trade in, and 170,000 on the Haitian side and 62,000 on the production of illegal charcoal. Dominican. Contrary to most other areas on the Haitian side of the border zone, the urban The Lakes population in this area has grown much faster The area around the two lakes Azuei and Enriquillo, than the rural population. An estimated 60% of situated in the central part of the border, is of the population lives in and around the border particular importance for several reasons: city of Ouanaminthe, which has experienced a • The main road connecting the capitals of the population increase of more than 20% per year in two countries passes through this area – at the recent years.137 Employment opportunities linked to border of Jimaní-Malpasse – and is currently bi-national trade is thought to be the main driver under threat due to rising lake levels. of this rapid urbanization. • That border crossing is the point at which The Artibonite watershed most goods are exchanged between the two and the Central Plateau countries. The central parts of the island along the border • This part of the border zone has an intense ille- zone are very mountainous with steep mountains gal charcoal trade between the two countries. rising to over 2000 m above sea level. This is one of the poorest parts of the whole island. It is also • The area has several problematic transbound- the area that has seen some of the most intense ary watersheds. Floods from the tropical storm deforestation and erosion of soils, particularly on Jeanne in 2004 – to offer vivid evidence of the the Haitian side. problems – killed hundreds of inhabitants from the Haitian mountain town of Fond Verrettes The Plateau Central is a vast basin bordered in the and partially destroyed the Dominican town North by the Massif du Nord, in the West by the of Jimani. These flood waters originated in Black Mountains, in the South by the mountains the deforested Rivière Soliette watershed of Trou d’eau and in the East by the San Juan in Haiti. Basin. This is also the area where the island’s (and the Caribbean’s) largest and longest river, the All of the watersheds in this area drain inland, Artibonite, has its headwaters. The river starts as towards the two lakes. The lakes Enriquillo and numerous tributaries on both the Dominican and Azuei, lie below sea-level, with the Lake Enriquillo Haitian side of the border. It also partly forms the being the lowest point in the Caribbean (39 m border with the two countries, before turning west below sea-level).141 Lake Enriquillo is also the largest and flowing across Haiti into the Caribbean Sea, lake in the Caribbean. Its watershed encompasses south of Gonaïves, on the West coast of Haiti. around 3,500 km² and its surface is estimated at around 200 km². Lake Azuei is slightly smaller, with The population in the whole Haitian Central a surface area of approximately 170 km².142, 143 department (stretching far away from the border zone) amounts to appr.680,000, while the The lakes are saline, have no natural outlet, and neighbouring Dominican province of Elias Piña have been formed in the fault line running along has approximately 70,000.138, 139 No reliable the southern edge of the island. They have been information, however exists on specific areas along experiencing rising water levels for the past 10 the border, with the exception of the community years, with a rise of up to one meter per year, which of Belladère, which has approximately 90,000 has caused major problems for both countries. inhabitants. The population increase on the Haitian The reasons for this rise are unknown, but possible side of the border zone is estimated at 3.9%, and causes include variations in rainfall, catchment urbanization rates in the largest border town in degradation, and tectonics.144 (This issue is covered the region, Belladère – with 16,000 inhabitants – is in detail in Chapter 6.) estimated at 11% per year.140 The Dominican population amounts to approxi- The main land use and source of income for mately 55,000 (in the Independencia Province).145 the population of both countries is small-scale No reliable number exists for the Haitian side, 36 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  Map 8. The area surrounding the lakes I 72°W Elías Piña Cap-Haïtien ! P ! P Dajabón ! P Lac de Peligre LAC DE PELIGRE Belladère ! P ! P ! P El Llano Hinche ! P Poulie San Juan ! P Lascahobas ! P Jimaní Neiba Dos Bois Rouge ! P ! P Baptiste ! P Pedernales ! P CENTRE ! P Ri v i èr ELIAS PINA e Fer à Cheva l Savenette Los Botaos R i v iè Juan Santiago re G a sc Los Arroyos o gn e Cornillon Las Lajas, area of charcoal production and transit. Sierra de Neiba Ba rr er o 1 Lac Azuei Boca de Cachón, area of Las Caobas k Limit in 2012 charcoal production & transit. La Descubierta k Limit in 2004 Los Cacheos Gantier Los Ríos Fond Parisien OUEST Jimaní Lago Enriquillo e Isla Cabritos Ravine de Dyab, et one major entry point for charcoal te Lago Enriquillo from the Dominican Republic o li LAGO ENRIQUILLO re S R iviè r LAGUNA EN MEDIO k Riviè INDEPENDENCIA e Bla nc 4 he Fonds-Verrettes Puerto Escondido, area of charcoal production. Zapoten 2 Réserve Forêt des ¨Pins Legend Mangrove Marine protected area Terrestrial protected area Garreau Salt production zone Belle-Anse S U D - E S T Thiotte Plateau de Cedre GarreauTesul ) Dams Plateau de Cedre Sierra de Bahoruco l Reforestation brigade Jaragua - Bahoruco - Enriquillo Charcoal production hotspots l PEDERNALES ! ! ! n de Area of intensive charcoal production be Grand-Gosier Pe Li ! ! ! ) ! ! ! Bi-national markets r na Main border crossing Bony le s Robi n s o n0 k Waterflow Bony 3 6 Intermittent river Banane Km Watershed boundary Banane The boundaries and names shown and the designations UNEP used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 37 y point for charcoal nican Republic Map 9. The southern coast and Pedernales watershed Cap-Haïtien ! P Dajabón ! P ! P ! P ! P Fonds-Verrettes I ! P Hinche ! P San Juan ! P ! P OUEST INDEPENDENCIA Jimaní Neiba ! P ! P Zapoten 2 ! P ! Réserve Forêt des ¨Pins P Pedernales ! P les rna de Pe Garreau Tesul 1 Los Arroyos Plateau de Thiotte Cedre SUD-EST k Sierra de Bahoruco Grand-Gosier n Lib e Bony Banane k Jaragua - Bahoruco - Enriquillo PEDERNALES 6 Ro bins on Zone d'irrigation Zone de refugies Saline Pedernales Anse-à-Pitre 18°N Cabo Rojo, Jaragua Bahía de las Aguilas Legend Mangrove Marine protected area Terrestrial protected area Datum: WGS 84 Salt production zone UTM Zone 18N ) Dams l Reforestation brigade Charcoal production hotspots l ! ! ! Area of intensive charcoal production Sources: ! ! ! MINUSTAH ) Bi-national markets UN Cartographic Section Main border crossing k Waterflow 0 2 4 Intermittent river Km Watershed boundary UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. Cabo Rojo-BahÕ a de las Aguilas 38 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone although it is estimated to be much higher than In the Provincia de Pedernales (Dominican the population on the Dominican, in line with other Republic) Annual precipitation ranges from about border areas. The main towns on the Haitian side 600 mm on the southern coast to 2,000 mm on of the border are Fonds Parisienne and La Source the slopes of the Sierra de Bahoruco148. This area is and several smaller towns are scattered on the also the home of two important protected areas. plain and up in the mountains. One is the Sierra de Bahoruco, which is situated in the north of the watershed, and which stretches Agriculture and large scale illegal charcoal over the mountain ridge into the area of the Lakes production and trade are the main land uses and connects to one of the few protected areas and livelihoods in the area. Dominican protected in Haiti – Forêt des Pins. The other is the marine areas are one of the main sources of the wood protected area of Jaragua, in the Dominican for this trade. (This issue is presented in detail in Republic, on the southern tip of the Pedernales Chapter 5.) Peninsula. The Pedernales watershed yields ample evidence The Southern Coast and Pedernales of the environmental differences between the two watershed countries in the border zone. The watershed can The Pedernales River Basin is located in the be divided into three distinct zones, with distinct border zone in the south of the island. Water flows environments: start in the mountains on both the Haitian and Dominican side and flow to the southern coast. 1. Mountainous. The Pedernales River is the largest watercourse 2. Mid-altitude. in the area and forms the southernmost part of the international border between the Dominican 3. Dry coastal. Republic and Haiti. The source of the river is in the mountains on the Dominican side in Bahoruco, 3.3 Border zone socio-economics and its watershed covers an area of 174 km2. The and migration watershed comprises an area of high mountains that stretches along some 70 km in a northwest- The border between Haiti and the Dominican southeast direction. It is relatively flat in its western Republic is increasingly porous and unregulated part, where the slope descends gently southward. with distance away from the main border crossing At an altitude of approximately 500 m, at the stations. Interactions relating to trade, agriculture, level of Las Mercedes, a plateau is formed. To legal and illegal use of forest and marine the north, the slope is larger and exceeds an resources, education and medical needs, occur angle of 40 degrees in many places. Another between the populations of the two countries.149 plateau exists at about 1,000 m and spans much of the northern side, being interrupted by gullies. Haiti Water levels in the river rise rapidly in response In Haiti, the border departments are the North-West–, to precipitation and may go dry during the dry Central–, West– and South-East departments. The period. The Pedernales River is one of the few rivers border region attracts Haitians from other parts of on the Pedernales Peninsula which contain water the country who are looking to take advantage of for most of the year. the additional employment and trade opportuni- ties that can be found both closer to and over the The estimated population of the area is approxi- Dominican Republic border.150 As a consequence, mately 21,000 on the Dominican side of the villages in the Haitian border zone have seen basin146. On the Haitian side, no reliable information their populations increase in the last ten years of the population numbers for the whole watershed and urbanization rates are high. The population can be found, but the population has reached of the city of Ouanaminthe, for example, grew approximately 30,000 in the community of Anse- by 20% per year.151 The effects of this movement à-Pitre, two thirds of whom live in the countryside. of people can be felt over the border as Haitians That population is increasing by roughly 3.7% per enter and settle on vacant land in the Dominican year.147 Republic. Case study 1 also highlights the level of Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 39  Case study 1. Food insecurity in the border zone Socio-economic surveys of the Haitian side of the two watersheds, Pedernales and Massacre, were undertaken by the Earth Institute of Columbia University and the Haitian State University. They found that food insecurity was the main concern of most households. The lack of sufficient food to cover the daily needs of the population drives much of the cross-border movement, and the expansion of detrimental practices, such as charcoal production, seen in these areas. In respect to household concerns, food insecurity was followed by lack of money, bad health and poor education. Figure 1 shows the level of food insecurity in the Massacre and Pedernales watersheds. It clearly shows that a large majority of the population are experiencing a lack of sufficient food. ‘Severely food insecure’ is here defined as a household that has experienced running out of food or going to bed hungry at some point over the past 30 days. ‘Moderately food insecure’ is defined as a household that has cut back on quantity by reducing the size of meals or number of meals, rarely or sometimes, but not running out of food, or going to bed hungry. Figure 1. Food insecurity in the Massacre and Pedernales watersheds. Massacre (n=159) Pedernales(n=70) Food Secure Severely Food Insecure Food Secure Severely Food Insecure Moderately Food Insecure Moderately Food Insecure In terms of demographics, having a higher number of children relates positively to higher food insecurity scores in the Massacre watershed, while gender seems to be independent from food insecurity levels. Interestingly there appear to be significant differences in food security across eco-zones. There is a higher prevalence of people who are severely food insecure in the middle altitude and mountainous areas (Figure 2), which suggests important differences in the livelihood possibilities and levels of vulnerability between areas and communities in the watershed. Figure 2. Differences in food insecurity within the Pedernales watershed Food security levels across eco-zones - Pedernales (n=70) Food Secure Moderately Food Secure Severely Food Insecure Costal area Middle altitude area Montainous area Levels of food security also vary throughout the year, with two peaks of food insecurity for each watershed. The first one occurs at the end of the dry season in March – April in the Massacre area and slightly later, in May – June, in the Pedernales watershed. The second food insecurity peak is common to the two watersheds and takes place in October and November. It has a more powerful impact on the Massacre watershed (Figure 3). 40 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  Figure 3. Seasonality of food insecurity Months with lack of food across watersheds Total (n=224) Massacre(n=158) Pedernales(n=66) 47% 32% 32% 29% 24% Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec The household surveys also included information of livelihoods. Farming (defined as generating at least 40% of the total household income) and charcoal production, have a strong positive relationship with food insecurity. Families engaged in commerce were generally more food secure and not as poor. food insecurity on the Haitian side of the Massacre According to a UNDP study on the socio-economic and Pedernales watersheds, a main concern for context of the Dominican border region,156 the many Haitian households. border provinces of Dominican Republic show levels of poverty higher than the national average. The population on the Haitian side of the border Close to 28% of the Dominican border population zone has increased much more quickly than it has live in extreme poverty, while 54% live in poverty. done in the rest of the country. The populations The incidence of extreme poverty in the border of the communities in the border zone for which zone is twice that of the rest of the country. In data is available have grown by nearly 4% per the Dajabon and Pedernales provinces, extreme year, compared with 1.3% across the country as poverty reaches 27.6% and 25.9% respectively, a whole.152, 153, 154 The Haitian population in the while poverty reaches 51.6% and 57.5%.157 Another border zone is very young: 68% of people are study shows similar results, highlighting the weaker under 25 – a much higher percentage than in and poorer states of provinces along the border. the rest of the country.155 The relative youth of For example, malnutrition rates for children below the border population shows the attraction of the age of five are higher in the border provinces the border zone for young – often unemployed – (ranging from 16 – 23%) than in the average of the Haitians. country (10%).158 Dominican Republic Migration In the Dominican Republic, the border provinces The great majority of the migration by land are Montecristi, Dajabón, Elías Piña, Independ- between the two countries is Haitians travelling to encia, Pedernales, Bahoruco and Santiago the Dominican Republic, both legally and illegally. Rodríguez, and these seven provinces represent The limited migration in the opposite direction is 22% of the national territory. However, only 5.2% mainly Dominican businessmen and skilled labour of the total Dominican Republic population lives on short term visits. there, leaving the region with a relatively low population density. The Dominican population has Large scale short-term and long-term migration a long history of internal migration away from the from Haiti to the Dominican Republic occurs rural areas towards the cities. This is particularly true all along the border zone. Some of the Haitian in border zone provinces, which are the poorest migrants spread out throughout the Dominican rural parts of the Dominican Republic. Republic, looking for work as unskilled labour in Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 41 the agriculture, construction or tourism industry.159 (6%), cement (4%), and food, for example wheat A majority of Haitians crossing the border, however, flour and rice.164 The Dominican Republic is Haiti’s stay in the border region, where the main source third most important export destination.165 The most of income is to work within agriculture as unskilled common Hatian exports are cotton products (71%), labour (see chapter 4 for more on transboundary ropes (7%), mobile phones (5%), pants (4%), and agriculture).160 It is estimated that up to one million shirts (3%).166 Haitians live in the Dominican Republic, and that more than 90% of the agricultural workforce are In 2010, 872 million US dollars worth of goods Haitians, the majority of them undocumented passed though official channels from Dominican migrants. Republic to Haiti, and 24 million US dollars worth went the other way.167 The real volume of trade is of Many Haitians cross the border for short periods of course much larger than those numbers suggest, time. There are five main reasons for this: as there is a great deal of unofficial trade between –– Purchasing food. the two countries. –– Looking for employment or land to farm. Commerce is important to the people of the –– Engage in trade at the bi-national markets that border area. Only agriculture generates more exist along the border. income, and there are 14 bi-national markets scat- tered around the border, the largest of which are –– Take advantage of services offered on the those at Ouanaminthe-Dajabon, Comendador Dominican side, such as schools, hospitals or (Elias Piña)-Belladére, and Pedernales-Anse.168 universities. Twelve of these fourteen bi-national markets are in –– Engage in illegal activities such as charcoal the Dominican Republic but most of the vendors making or collection of firewood. are Haitians, who either live in the Dominican Republic or who have crossed the border on The border zone is the poorest and least accessible market day. part of the Dominican Republic; many Dominicans have sold or are leasing their land and have The agricultural products that are most frequently moved to the cities.161 Nevertheless the Dominican sold by Haitians to Dominicans in those bi-national side of the border area is still more prosperous than markets are avocadoes, pois congo, mangoes, most places in Haiti, and so is attractive to Haitians livestock, such as goats, cows and free-range in search of a livelihood. chickens, coffee, passion fruits, chadeques, oranges, rice, corn, garlic, beans and clairin (a When seen together, the Haitian and Dominican strong, alcoholic drink).169 There is a healthy trade population and poverty trends for the border in fish at both the coastal extremities of the border zone indicate that a very significant change is area. Generally speaking Dominicans buy big taking place. Simply put, Illegal immigrants from fish that are destined for restaurants and hotels, Haiti are replacing the vacating Dominican rural whereas Haitians tend to buy smaller, cheaper fish underclass in the border zone. The pace of this that they consume at home. change increased dramatically after the 2010 earthquake, when a surge of Haitians immigrated The increase in trade between the two countries illegally to the Dominican Republic.162 is a very positive development that presents the people of the border area with opportunities to 3.4 Transboundary trade create better living conditions for themselves, gain access to capital, and to improve relations Trade is one of the key features of the border between communities on both sides of the border. zone, connecting the two countries, and creating interdependencies between the two populations. There is a good deal of illegal trade between Haiti is the Dominican Republic’s second most the two countries and it is driven entirely by the important trade partner, receiving 16.9% of its difference between the two import tariff regimes. exports in 2011.163 The most frequently traded Goods that are cheap on one side of the border – goods were cotton fabrics (appr. 38%), steel rods because they are subsidized or lightly taxed – can 42 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone be sold for a profit on the other side. It is estimated US dollars.173 Illegal trade is similar in character to that more than 70% of the agricultural produce legal trade, in that the majority of goods sold – sold across the border by Haitians to Dominicans more than 80% – were sold from the Dominican was not produced in Haiti but was imported there Republic to Haiti. from abroad.170 Rice imported and subsidized from the USA, for example, is cheaper than that which The customs of the two countries have an is available in the Dominican Republic. Similarly, important role to play in respect to the cross-border imported chemical fertilizer that is sold to Haitian movement of people, as well as the cross-border farmers at subsidized prices is also sold to farmers in trade of various goods. the Dominican Republic at higher prices. The other significant illegal trade is that in charcoal, which is The regional UNEP office has been supervising the discussed in more detail in chapter 5. implementation of the “Green Customs Initiative” (GCI), the purposes of which are “to enhance the The value of goods traded unofficially between capacity of customs and other relevant enforce- the two countries is estimated to be at least equal ment personnel to monitor and facilitate the legal to that of goods traded officially.171 A study con- trade and to detect and prevent illegal trade in ducted in 2001 estimated that the value of official environmentally-sensitive commodities covered agricultural trade between the two countries was by the relevant conventions and multilateral USD 10 million per year, while that of the informal environmental agreements (MEAs).”174 This global agricultural trade was 40 – 60 million US dollars.172 initiative was designed to inform customs officials In accordance with the latter figure another study, around the world about the international legal conducted between July 2004 and June 2005, context in which they work.175 estimated that the value of agricultural goods crossing the border through informal trade at the The Dominican Republic has a Green Customs main border crossings amounted to 46 million Unit that is dedicated to the enforcement of rules © UNEP The bi-national market in Ouanaminthe-Dajabon is the largest of the 14 markets in the border zone. Trade and smaller scale commercial relationships between the two populations bring important income to both, and also serve to connect them by building mutually beneficial interdependencies. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 43 relating to the trade in commodities that are set In Dominican Republic, the Joint Commission has down in the Multilateral Environment Agreements an Executive Secretary who works under the aegis among other laws. The unit works very closely with of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is funded by the other ministries and in particular with the Ministry EU, and has the mandate to propose, design, of Environment. formulate and channel funding to projects. There is no such office in Haiti. 3.5 Transboundary cooperation Border development agencies In the past, both governments have tended to Both countries have development agencies ignore the border zone as a focus for develop- that deal exclusively with the border area. In ment, unless their attention was drawn to it by the Dominican Republic there is the General a security issue. However, that attitude has now Directorate for Border Development (DGDF), and changed. Both governments are concerned in Haiti there is the Transboundary Development about the potential for instability in the area and Commission (Fonds interministériel pour le increasingly cooperate with one another formally développement transfrontalier). and informally. The two agencies are very different. The Dominican Although they are by no means equal in level, entity has staff working all along the border, scale, funding, continuity or impact, the four most whereas the Commission in Haiti for the last few important transboundary mechanisms identified years consisted of just one man with little or no by the assessment team are: financial means and has now been closed. The Haitian Government plans to replace the com- • The Joint Dominican-Haitian Bilateral Commission. mission with a national council that will coordinate • Border development agencies. the management of transboundary issues called • Local level cooperation platforms. the Conseil national de coordination de la gestion transfrontalière. So at the time of writing the DGDF • The Parliamentary border commission. does not have a Haitian counterpart but despite that it does assist Haitian border communities on The Joint Dominican-Haitian Bilateral an ad hoc basis.176 Commission (“Commission mixte binationale”) The commission was created in 1996 and is the Local level cooperation platforms only existing bilateral and political decision-making At the local level, the mayors and other authorities forum (chaired by the two Presidents in plenary have daily and often very constructive contact with session and by relevant ministers when thematic their counterparts on the other side of the border, commissions meet), which address all themes defusing tensions and settling disputes. One such related to cooperation (including the environment) example can be found in case study 2. between the two countries. These relationships are mostly informal but there In a positive development, the presidents of the are some more institutionalized structures like two countries have met several times in 2012, and the Association of the Mayors of the Border, the have signed accords dealing with border security members of which live right along the Haitian and trade, the most significant of which are: border, or the Intermunicipal Transboundary Committee, which was created when mayors –– Memorandum of understanding between the from Elias Piña province (Dominican Republic) ministries of planning. and Plateau Central (Haiti) started working together –– Memorandum of understanding on border to find and solve shared problems. One more security. notable example of institutionalized co-operation is that of fishermen who have formed associations –– The Bolivarian fund for solidarity with Haiti. in Pedernales (Dominican Republic) and Anse- –– Memorandum of understanding on cross- à-Pitre (Haiti). That phenomenon is dealt with in border transportation. chapter 7. 44 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone vi Case study 2. Comité Intermunicipal Transfronterizo (CIT) – Cooperation between mayors in the central border zone Elias Piña in the Dominican Republic has long been the poorest province of the Dominican Republic: 47% of the people there live in extreme poverty and 31% of them are illiterate.177 In 2006 a group of newly appointed mayors met to try to solve some of their communities’ problems and concluded that their success would depend upon their collaborating effectively with their Haitian counterparts. So in 2008 12 mayors – six from each side – formed the Intermunicipal Transboundary Committee (Comité Intermunicipal Transfronterizo [CIT]).vi In the beginning the committee’s operations were quite small – they cleaned parks and improved roads and paths. But over the years the projects have grown more ambitious. They have repaired crucial cross-border trading routes, created job opportunities for women, restored buildings, set up micro-credit schemes for farmers and small businesses, improved access to water resources, given young Haitians the chance to study in the Dominican Republic, and built one plant to purify water as well as another to process fruit.178 This transboundary initiative is unique. It is an institutionalized network of local authorities that spreads across the border area that is driven by the engaged mayors and public officials, led by the mayor of Elias Piña, Mr. Luis Miniel, rather either of the central governments, from which it receives little funding or support. It relies to a great extent on its own efficiency and on the relationships it has built with national and international organizations. The improvement of the Commendador (Dominican Republic) – Belladère (Haiti) road was, for example, carried out in co-operation with, and partly funded by, development organizations. Interestingly the committee also secured money for the project from city coffers, and from local traders and businessmen whose interests will be served by the road. The committee members are motivated by their shared belief that their cooperation can function as the engine that will lift the people of the border area out of poverty. At the forefront of their strategy is an effort Comité Intermunicipal Transfronterizo to facilitate the movement of and trade in agricultural and artisanal goods both across the border and to other parts of the two countries. And although the committee has not resolved any disputes, it has strengthened relationships and helped resolve many problems before they develop into deeper conflicts. This cooperation is, however, still to a large extent This local level cooperation initiative involving six Dominican and six Haitian communities in the central parts of the border dependent upon personal relationships between a zone, engages in activities that range from improving roads and fairly small amount of people. Indeed cooperation facilitating access to markets, all the way to engaging women stalls whenever a new mayor is appointed in any in small scale business and microcredit schemes. Their overall of the constituent towns. Only a greater degree of aim is to alleviate poverty in the central border zone. formalization would guarantee its survival. Haitian Parliamentary Commission 3.6 Development aid in the border for Border Development area Created in 2007 this commission plays a key role in helping parliamentarians understand the There is no permanent register of development aid importance of the border region and its economic projects in the border area. As a result, any listing potential. In 2008, it organized a national forum can only be considered a snapshot, and is likely on borderland issues that secured funding for to be incomplete. This assessment found seven infrastructure projects in Belladère, Ouanaminthe, relevant projects: and Anse-á-Pitre.179, 180 Although the commission is less active today than it once was, it could well • Revegetation and transboundary natural have an important role to play in developing resources management project (MPP) – This the border zone, and in fostering transboundary project is part of an overall initiative called cooperation. Frontera Verde, which aims to reforest the border vi The towns involved were Pedro Santana, Bánico, Comendador, El Llano, Hondo Valle and Juan Santiago in the Dominican Republic, and Cerca-la-Source, Thomassique, Thomonde, Lascahobas, Belladère and Savannette in Haiti. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 45  area, and consists of four main components: • Bi-national Project in the Artibonite Watershed – reforestation, capacity building, activities The aim of this project is to resolve water-related demonstrating sustainable socio-economic conflicts in the bi-national Artibonite River basin activities, and bi-national cooperation. and to develop a joint bi-national action plan • Libon Verde – The two goverments, supported for the management of shared resources in the by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Artibonite watershed.183 Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), are starting this project • Nuestra Frontera – Fwontyè Nou – This Pan which will be similar in character and purpose American Development Foundation initiative to the MPP. aims to reduce poverty, strengthen relations • Caribbean Biological Corridor – This EU, Global between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, Environment Facility (GEF) and World Food and promote collaboration in the border Programme (WFP) funded project aims to area.184 define and then create a biological corridor • International Organization for Migration’s between Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican (IOM) Cross-Border & Migration Management Republic in an effort to restore ecosystems and project – IOM Haiti is running some migration reduce biodiversity losses.181 management programmes that pay particular • UNDP ART initiative – This local development, attention to border management, assisting which has so far been largely focused on the Do- voluntary return, fighting human trafficking, minican Republic, has recently become active and strengthening cross-border and regional in the border area, working to reinforce the ca- cooperation on migration management and pacities of women in the north of the border.182 border security.185 © UNEP As this sign points out, the Revegetation and Transboundary Natural Resources Management Project (MPP) has brought together the two governments, three UN organizations, and the government of Norway to work jointly to increase transboundary cooperation and to ameliorate the situation in the border zone. 46 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Part 2 Identification and Analysis of Key Issues 4 Agriculture – concentration of poor households in the country. A large part of the population there, rely on the dominant activity agriculture for their daily subsistence. Poverty levels in the border zone are highest in the Elias Piña province in the central parts of the border zone, where 82 per cent of the 4.1 Introduction population live in poverty. Levels of poverty are at their lowest in the Dajabon province in the north, Agriculture is the most important economic activity where 56 per cent live below the poverty line.188 in the border zone in both countries. In Haiti it is overseen by the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Most farms in the zone are small and farmers Resources and Rural Development (MARNDR), and in practice slash-and-burn techniques to produce the Dominican Republic by the Ministry of Agriculture. annual crops, which is in contrast with the situation in the Dominican Republic as a whole, where Within this section, the term agriculture refers to agriculture is increasingly mechanized and often farming and livestock keeping only and not to on a large scale. Large scale agriculture within the forestry or fishing, which are addressed in sections border zone is confined to the northern parts of the five and seven respectively. Massacre watershed. Haiti Traditionally many Dominican farmers grow fruits Farming is the dominant economic activity and such as oranges, lemons and avocados, which livelihood option in the border zone. Farming require years of cultivation. In contrast, Haitians on the Haitian side of the border zone appears farming land in the Dominican Republic produce to follow the Haitian national model, with slash- mainly beans and corn which require only a short and-burn agriculture being the most widely used stay in the country.189 Small scale crop farming in technique. Farms vary in size, from 0.25 – 5 ha. Dominican Republic generally follows the Haitian with an average of 1.5 ha.186 Farmers commonly model in that the moitié-moitié land leasing rely on sharecropping to secure access to land. system is the most common, but there are also Sharecropping is a form of leasing (“métayage” or other arrangements, like renting the land for ¼ – as “moitié-moitié”) in which an owner offers his land to opposed to half – of the crops, or Haitians simply a farmer for cultivation in exchange for a portion of squatting on land vacated by Dominicans.190 the harvest. When not sharecropping, farm workers are often hired as laborers. 4.2 Key issues Agricultural productivity is very low because the land is degraded, the plots are small and there Three key issues were identified for the agricultural are few if any modern agricultural inputs. Most sector, which are relevant to the border zone and farms in the zone are owned by families practicing so are addressed in this report: subsistence agriculture to produce corn, manioc, • Land tenure. rice, sorghum, beans, sweet potato and plantain, • Land degradation. coffee and beef.187 • Transboundary agriculture. Dominican Republic The border zone is among the poorest regions The agricultural sector in Haiti and the Dominican in the Dominican Republic and has the highest Republic has a plethora of other national scale Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 47 Satellite image 1. The scale of agriculture differs greatly between the two countries as can be clearly seen here in the north of the border zone. Farms in the Dominican Republic are getting bigger and are increasingly mechanized while their Haitian counterparts remain small and still have few modern agricultural inputs. I Haiti Dominican Republic Small scale agriculture Large scale agriculture c li b u p e R n i a it ic H a in m o D Meters 0 160 320 480 640 800 Source: GoogleEarth UNEP - 2013 48 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone and local issues. These include, for example, trade periods (including depletion of forest resources, liberalization and a flood of cheap or externally lack of erosion control and the development of subsidized imports,191, 192 vulnerability to natural unsustainable agricultural practices); b) physical hazards, policy weaknesses (particularly in Haiti), aggression and/or lack of collaboration of different as well as weak supply chains and limited post- individuals and groups claiming the property processing possibilities for agricultural produce in of the same lands; and c) absence of the land Haiti. These issues, do not, however fall under the owners (or their representatives) of large areas of scope of this study, as they were not identified in the land (locally called “grandons”), leaving large land assessment process as being specific to the border areas without control or appropriate use. zone, or fulfill the criteria used for determining key issues, as detailed in chapter 1.3. The issue of land tenure is not creating as significant problems in most parts of the Dominican territory. 4.3 Land Tenure This is partly as a result of a modern and functioning cadastral system,196 although some problems, for Understanding and addressing the issues related example in respect to land ownership involving to land tenure is important in order to develop overlapping claims exist. The border province of successful strategies for agricultural practices, not Elias Piña seems to be the exception in this regard in only in the border zone, but throughout the two the Dominican Republic, where problems relating countries. to land tenure seems to be particularly prevalent.197 According to government officials, very few people Much of Haitian land officially belongs to the state, here own the lands they use. Usually, problems but there is no functioning national cadastral occur when farmers have been using government system. Left with no alternative, many peasants lands, as under normal circumstances ownership cultivate state lands or harvest wood from them of the land, over time, would go by right to the illegally. In rural Haiti, informal arrangements person farming it. That process could well be regarding land tenure are more important than contested by the government not least because, formal titles, which are demonstrably more as in Haiti, the system is not formalized, and it expensive and less flexible. Land tenure ranges often results in problems and conflicts over land from direct access by virtue of ownership to indirect ownership in this province.198 access through tenancy or usufruct. According to a USAID study, investment decisions are based 4.4 Land degradation on the duration of access to a plot regardless of formal tenure. Duration of access depends on a Land degradation is widespread, but varies greatly farmer’s social capital, economical means and in severity, right across the border zone. In general, position in the society.193 The Haitian Institute of land degradation is much more severe and Agrarian Reform (INARA), which researched land widespread on the Haitian side, however there are tenure, concluded that “the judicial system is significant degradation hotspots on the Dominican incapable of guaranteeing land tenure security side as well. The most severe degradation is noted even for those able to take full advantage of it”.194 in the northern and central parts of the Haitian This situation reduces incentives for people to border zone. make long term and productive investments on plots of which they might be dispossessed. The The most common forms of degradation noted resulting land insecurity also “creates a reticence are: a) topsoil loss through erosion; b) soil nutrient or even the fear of investment and promotes the depletion and compaction; and c) watercourse emergence of conflict and violence.”195 drying and bed expansion. Soil erosion is noted in all of its forms: sheet, rill and gully erosion. This lack of a functioning land tenure system in Haiti creates several different problems. Some of Deforestation and vegetation loss are the first steps the most outstanding are: a) unclear land tenure to degradation: trees removed are not replaced systems that result in the depletion of resources with adequate perennial vegetation cover and as farmers are only prepared to invest in land water erosion proceeds rapidly. Reduced water that they own or can confidently control for long retention results in flash flooding which transports Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 49 sediment and widens the watercourses, but also zone is sloped, the rains rapidly remove the ash results in rapid drying out of the watercourse and topsoil. In addition fire usually spreads beyond between flood events. the fields targeted in the process, often resulting in uncontrollable forest fires, which further degrade Field observations by the assessment team noticed the land. that the worst degradation in the Haitian border zone is almost completely irreversible, due to a In the absence of soil conditioning and conserva- near total loss of productive topsoil across wide tion, the depleted soils on cleared land commonly areas. While vegetation is still visible in such areas, drops in productivity after 1-3 years.199 It is then the productivity of the remaining exposed subsoil is no longer in a state suitable to produce sufficient so low that agriculture would not be economically crops and is commonly left uncultivated for a viable and reforestation will be difficult. number of years. In the interim the land may self- revegetate. However, in many cases it is subject Land clearing for agriculture, including the use of to grazing by cattle, sheep and goats, which fire (slash-and-burn) is one of the main drivers for suppresses brush and tree re-growth and results in land degradation in the border zone. On both sides an exposed landscape of very short grasses and of the border, land is usually cleared by slashing animal trails.200, 201 and burning. Any trees that can be used as fuel or in the production of charcoal are removed and Due to a shortage of land, farmers often try to the remaining brush and rough grasses are set start another slash and burn cycle before sufficient on fire. The remaining ash acts as a fertilizer and vegetation cover and fertility has returned. The land gives the soil a short term fertility boost. Annual is by then so degraded that it proves unproduc- crops are then planted in time for the rainy season. tive – a situation that has direct and obvious However, as most agricultural land in the border consequences for food insecurity and poverty in © UNEP Land degradation in general and severe erosion in particular are visible throughout the border zone, and are especially severe on the Haitian side. 50 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Lacking productive topsoil this land in Haiti is now barren and no longer suitable for farming. the area. Faced with a failure to secure sufficient It is important to note that destructive land use food and income from crops, Haitian farmers in the and land degradation is also common on the border region, as elsewhere, look for other sources Dominican side of the border. The key differences of income, like charcoal production, or migrate to with Haiti are that the land degradation is more the cities or across the border to the Dominican localized and the cycle is generally at an earlier Republic. In addition land degradation leads to stage. Destructive practices are used mainly water shortages, which in turn reinforce poverty by Haitian immigrants, albeit often working and help to drive the rural exodus. in co-operation with Dominican landowners. Nonetheless, based on observed trends, selected The long term result of this destructive cycle is parts of the Dominican Republic are heading highly visible throughout the hills of Haiti in general, into exactly the same severe land degradation and in the border zone in particular. The hillsides situation as is observed in Haiti. are a patchwork of cropped fields, and bare, degraded, or partially recovering land with short, 4.5 Transboundary agriculture rough vegetation. Sheet erosion has removed a large percentage of the topsoil and deep rills and The main direction of people engaged in trans- gullies are prevalent. boundary agriculture is from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. The large majority of farmers and A near total absence of erosion control measures agricultural laborers in the Dominican Republic in for cleared land on slopes is another driver general, and in the border zone in particular, are causing land degradation,202, 203 as is tree cutting Haitians, most of them having come to the country for energy – both charcoal and fuel wood, and illegally.204, 205 Their main agricultural practice is including the practice of burning the forest to justify slash and burn, and their main crop is beans.206 the cutting of dead trees (dealt with in more detail Some of them farm as tenants or sharecroppers, in chapter five). others squat on private or public land – including Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 51 Satellite image 2. Here on the Dominican side of the Pedernales watershed, the cleared hillsides and other signs of slash and burn agriculture – common sights throughout the border zone – are clearly visible. Slash and burn is usually practiced by Haitians farming under a crop sharing agreement with a Dominican landowner. I Haiti Dominican Republic 2006 Ü Slash and burn agriculture Meters 0 100 200 300 400 500 Source: GoogleEarth 2010 UNEP - 2013 52 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Slash and burn agriculture and overly intensive farming cycles have degraded the land by leaving the topsoil exposed to heavy rain, which washes it away. In addition, these practices frequently result in forest fires. protected areas – some cross the border for a and security, particularly where Haitians are settling short period of time, others have settled in the illegally on vacant land and in protected areas. Dominican Republic. Indeed some Dominican communities have large, well-integrated Haitian Many Haitians complain of being robbed or populations.207 arrested when they return to Haiti after a stint of migrant work and there are some accounts The cross-border dynamic in agriculture is, however of illegal immigrants being forced to work in two-way. Some Dominicans engage in farming agriculture, although this is a bigger problem in activities in Haiti, usually providing Haitian farmers the construction sector. A study conducted in 2009 with seedlings and materials, and tasking them found that 21% of the Haitian construction workers with cultivating land. The crops – in particular rice interviewed reported that they had had at some in the northern and central provinces – is then sold time been forced to work while in the Dominican back to Dominicans at a low price.208 Republic.212, 213 Social issues linked to transboundary Most agriculture related labour problems occur in agriculture sugar cane production. Approximately 80% of sugar Several issues arise from the fact that many cane workers are of Haitian descent and are often Haitians regularly cross the border illegally to work recruited by Dominicans in Haiti, sometimes with in agriculture and farm the land on the Dominican the promise of well-paid work, and then brought side. It is worth noting that the numbers increased across the border illegally and undocumented.214 dramatically following the earthquake in Haiti The conditions sometimes border on those of in 2010.209, 210, 211 The main concern for Haitians forced labor, and there are some accounts of crossing the border is the lack of rights that they Haitian workers being rounded up and forced to enjoy once in the Dominican Republic, whereas work on the sugar plantations for less than US $2.50 Dominicans are concerned about governance a day, and of employers withholding wages.215 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 53 5 Forest resources and from the Dominican side to Haiti and destructive invasion of Dominican forests and national parks. terrestrial protected area management The critical issue specific to forest resources and protected areas is that incidents of tree cutting, 5.1 Introduction charcoal making, fire clearing, and crop planting have the potential for generating violent conflict Forestry and protected area management issues at the local level. People have already been killed in the border area are truly transboundary in nature as a result of this issue. and an important source of conflict. Essentially the demand for timber for energy and forested Resolving this issue should be a top priority for both land for farming is much stronger on the Haitian governments. This chapter explores this and other side, whereas the bulk of the remaining timber interlinked forestry and protected area manage- and effectively all of the government managed ment issues and opportunities in detail. forested land is on the Dominican side. The border is porous and governance is effectively absent on Agriculture also has affected national parks and the Haitian side and variable on the Dominican protected areas in the Dominican Republic, side. As a result there is a large scale, illegal cross although the problem has decreased substantially border movement of charcoal and fuel wood in recent years, as delimitations have been agreed © UNEP Many Haitians cross the border illegally to farm inside Dominican protected areas. 54 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone and are enforced by the government. There are This well-established practice has four clear still, however, many people crossing over from Haiti negative impacts: farming illegally and cutting trees and producing • Intense degradation of the farmed plots. charcoal inside the parks.216 • Forest fires started from plot burning. 5.2 Key issues • Exporting the Haitian destructive system of land clearance and use back into the Dominican The five key issues identified and dealt with in detail Republic. in this chapter are: • Eroding resource governance in the Dominican –– Forest clearance on private land in the Republic. Dominican Republic and forest fires. Slash and burn agriculture, for example, resulted in –– The uncontrolled transboundary charcoal trade. a record 72 forest fires in 2011, and 32 fires during –– Collection of fuel wood. the first four months of 2012, in Elias Piña Province (Dominican Republic) alone.217 According to some –– Protected areas management & biodiversity. accounts, forest fires resulting from slash and burn –– Reforestation efforts. agriculture cause even more deforestation on the island than tree felling for energy production On the positive side, the improvement of the purposes.218 Most of these fires occur in the Central management of forestry resources on both sides Mountain Range, the Sierra de Bahoruco, or in of the border presents opportunities for greater adjacent protected areas, during the dry season cooperation across the border. The clearest (Feb-April and July-August). The fires usually hap- example is the MPP reforestation programme pen at the time when peasants are clearing the but there are others such as the development of land by slashing and burning.219 During community sustainable livelihoods from fruit, coffee and honey interviews, the assessment team was also informed production and plant nurseries for example. that forest fires, including fires inside national parks, are sometimes deliberately started by people who then use this as an excuse to harvest the dead 5.3 Forest clearance on private land trees. Forest fires occur in both countries and in the Dominican Republic frequently spread across the border. The team was and forest fires also told by reforestation brigades that they are working to sensitize communities to the dangers A substantial fraction of the forest remaining on of using fire to clear land.220 the Dominican side of the border zone is privately owned. A range of regulations are in place con- 5.4 The uncontrolled transboundary cerning the right of private owners to cut trees and charcoal trade clear land. It is clear, however, that this practice is not under control, at least in the border zone. Both An estimated 75% of the Haitian population still Dominicans and Haitians are implicated, so this is rely on firewood and charcoal for their daily energy a clear transboundary issue. needs. While charcoal is produced in the rural countryside, most of it is consumed in urban areas The most common form of forest land clearance with an estimated 80% of it in Port-au-Prince alone. happens when Dominican landowners (often Rural inhabitants usually rely on firewood rather than absentee) and Haitian laborers join forces to charcoal for cooking. Therefore, the production of, produce charcoal or farm under a sharecropping and transboundary trade in charcoal are largely or land leasing arrangement. Trees are cut for driven by the demand for it in Haitian cities. 221 222 charcoal and afterwards the land is cleared of brush and rough grass by burning. Annual crops Despite the fact that a large portion of the are planted for 1-3 years, after which the land is charcoal consumed in Haiti is produced there, a temporarily abandoned, allowing some level of substantial proportion of it is also produced in the tree regrowth before the cycle is repeated. Dominican Republic and imported illegally and Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 55 Satellite image 3. In the Massacre Watershed, Haitian farmers lease land from Dominican landowners to farm beans and to keep the land clear. Slash and burn is their method of choice, which, results in erosion and land degradation. The law is unhelpful here in that it is in the interest of the Dominican landowner to keep vegetation down, because if it grows above a certain height he is no longer allowed to clear it for agricultural use. I Haiti Dominican Republic Ü Land cleared for farming Meters 0 210 420 630 840 1050 Source: GoogleEarth 2010 UNEP - 2013 56 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone without any form of control into Haiti. The total be they land owners, truck drivers, forest parks amount of charcoal produced in the Dominican guards, or army officers, who receive part of the Republic and taken to Haiti is roughly estimated profits.225, 226 at 50,000 tons per year,223 and constitutes a trade worth approximately USD 15 million (assuming a This trade is a main driver causing deforestation on price of USD 300 per ton).224 the Dominican side of the border zone. Govern- ment authorities in Elias Piña Province, for example, Widespread charcoal production and trade mentioned that last year they found 32 charcoal along the border kilns in one day, all of them manned by Haitians.227 Transboundary trade in charcoal happens all along the border and mostly on a small scale: Charcoal production and law enforcement individual people or small groups in Haiti cross There seems to be a total absence of regulation the border either to cut trees for charcoal kilns and enforcement on the Haitian side. All of the in Haiti, or to produce the charcoal in kilns in actors involved in charcoal production that were the Dominican Republic, before transporting it interviewed by the team mentioned that they had across the border. Reportedly, although charcoal no interaction with Haitian authorities whatsoever. production in the Dominican Republic is physically On the Dominican side however, the trade involves carried out by Haitians, it is nearly always under the risks. Intermediary sellers whom the assessment supervision of, or in collaboration with, Dominicans, team interviewed mentioned that producers © UNEP Charcoal is produced in charcoal kilns – such as this one in the lower part of the Pedernales Watershed – that turn wood into charcoal by drying it. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 57 run the risk of being either imprisoned, seeing north because state control is tighter there and of their production or cattle confiscated, or paying Pedernales watershed in the south because there substantial amounts of money to Dominican are no roads on which to take charcoal from there officials in order to be released. directly to Port-au-Prince. On the Haitian side of these two areas dry forest is also still abundant Field interviews on the Haitian side also show in the coastal regions, which is suitable for use in that charcoal production is a livelihood coping domestic charcoal production. mechanism, especially for households that have lower asset values and higher risks of experiencing In the bi-national market of Dajabón in the north food insecurity. Such households are significantly of the island, the assessment team only saw one more likely to produce charcoal, as a last resort charcoal maker who had had to obtain permits to generate some income. Case study 3 provides through tax payments for all charcoal bags. examples of the smaller scale charcoal production However, according to interviews in Ouanaminthe that is taking place in the northern and southern in the Massacre watershed, the main transbound- parts of the border zone, where there is a relatively ary trade of charcoal is happening mainly at night small amount of transboundary trade in charcoal. time or far away from border control posts where That is true of the Massacre watershed in the the border is porous. Two to three tons of charcoal is © UNEP Roadside stacks of charcoal bags are a common sight on the Haitian side of the Massacre Watershed – here they line the main road between Ouanaminthe and Cap Haitien. 58 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Two sailing boats arrive, on average, per day, to this site, called Ravin de Dyab in Haiti, a couple of kilometers from the border. Each boat is loaded with about 200 bags of charcoal, which adds up to approximately 2,800 bags entering Haiti from the Dominican Republic per week at this one site alone. reported to transit every week from the Dominican An EU funded, cross-border project that, in 2009, Republic to Haiti in the Ouanaminthe area.228 studied the charcoal trade in the area around Lakes Azuei and Enriquillo,229 found that charcoal Some accounts also suggest that since the 2010 produced in this area of the Dominican Republic earthquake, people have gravitated in greater (in the region of Boca de Cachón) is loaded on numbers to charcoal production zones, but the trucks and transported to the Dominican shores assessment team has not, however, been able to of Lake Azuei. From here it is shipped off to Haiti in verify that suggestion. boats that cross the lake, arriving on the southern Haitian shore, to a location called Ravin de Charcoal trade “hotspots” Dyab, lying next to the main road connecting the Compared to the smaller scale uncontrolled border zone with Port-au-Prince. The charcoal’s charcoal trade that is widespread throughout the final destination is Port-au-Prince, and more border zone, larger scale and more organized specifically the wholesale and retail markets of forms of this activity is concentrated mainly in the Croix de Bossales and Salomon. The assessment forest areas around Lakes Azuei and Enriquillo, team observed thousands of bags of charcoal, and is more specifically concentrated in Boca de which had been brought over from the Dominican Cachón, Las Lajas, Tierra Nueva, Puerto Escondido Republic, stacked at the side of the road in Ravin and Bahoruco. de Dyab, and estimated the number of bags Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 59 being transported from the Dominican Republic to generate employment for 150,000 people to Haiti to be approximately 2,800 bags per week across Haiti, including 67,000 charcoal makers, at this one site alone. either on a full time or part time basis.233 Primary producers receive approximately 50% of the The same EU funded project concluded that 86% total income generated; truck and boat drivers of the charcoal produced in or transiting that area, receive 25%, local intermediates 13%. “Tips and originated in the Dominican Republic.230 The illegal gifts” represent 12% of the total amount and are charcoal trade produces 22,170 tons or 362,000 distributed among all actors.234 According to a bags a year, an amount 231 that corresponds study, the value chain of transboundary charcoal to approximately half the estimated amount of trade/production in the Lake Azuei and Enriquillo charcoal traded between the two countries. This area is relatively simple. The chain is composed figure also exceeds the Dominican Republic’s of 200 mainly Haitian charcoal producers who total domestic charcoal consumption (i.e. 310,000 are assisted by a minimum of 12 Dominican truck bags).232 drivers,235 and produce approximately 37,000 bags of charcoal a month, which are then sold to at Charcoal Value Chain least five traders/retailers who store them on the The same EU funded study, as referred to earlier, west bank of the lake before transporting them to found that the charcoal value chain is estimated Port-au-Prince.236 © UNEP A member of the assessment team interviews Haitian charcoal producers in the north of the border zone. The more isolated and underemployed a community is the more likely it is to get involved in charcoal making. 60 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  Case study 3: Charcoal production in Haitian communities in Massacre and Pedernales Though time consuming and labor intensive, charcoal is an important cash crop for rural households. In the two watersheds an average of 28% of households are engaged in charcoal production. Five out of the 20 communities surveyed, reported that at least 50% of the households were engaged in the production of charcoal at some point in the year (Figure 4). Most of the charcoal produced in the Haitian part of Massacre and Pedernales is being produced from bayahonde (Prosopis juliflora), a fast-growing exotic invasive tree species able to survive in harsh, dry conditions. Logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum, also known as “bloodwood” or “Campêche”) is the next most common tree used. Fruit producing trees such as Caimito or mango trees are also used, but producers are preferentially cutting down older, less productive trees of these varieties. Villages closer to transportation infrastructure, larger agglomerations or markets, seem less dependent on charcoal production. On the other hand, more isolated and rural communities with easier woodland access and more limited job opportunities appear more likely to engage in this activity as it requires neither formal education nor large capital investments. Some communities in the upper watershed area in the Pedernales watershed are notable exceptions to this trend. This is believed to be a result of the local coffee production, which represents an important source of income in these communities. The fact that coffee plants need shade probably explains why farmers are protecting the tree cover in this area. Female-headed households also seem less likely than male-headed households to earn income from charcoal production. Figure 4. Percentage of households producing charcoal by community in the Massacre and Pedernales watersheds Percentage of household producing charcoal by community (n=229) 75% 70% 57% 50% 50% 40% 38% 33% 30% 30% 20% 20% 20% 33% 10% 6% 7% 0% 0% 0% i ns -p es ul-d Ac Nearly 8 out of 10 charcoal producers have noticed a sizeable decrease in the quantity of wood available in the past two years, probably because charcoal producers do not plant trees to replace those they have destroyed. Moreover, they do not allow the two to three years trees need in order to grow back to their normal size. Rather they cut them before they reach maturity, taking poorer quality wood, which means in turn that more wood is needed to produce similar amounts of charcoal. Most small-scale Haitian charcoal producers interviewed in these two watersheds, make their charcoal in Haiti. Only 9% of the Haitian charcoal producers interviewed collect or buy their wood in the Dominican Republic, while just 5% produce charcoal in the Dominican Republic, and when they do, it is always under the supervision or in collaboration with Dominicans, with whom revenues are shared. If caught, the Haitians risk being severely punished, with several accounts of cases of mutilation or murder killing over the past ten years. The households interviewed in both watersheds had, been producing charcoal for an average of 14 years. However, nearly half of the charcoal producers in the Pedernales watershed started producing charcoal at some point in the past five years, which suggests that this activity is relatively new for a significant amount of the population living in this watershed. Despite its importance, charcoal production is not liked as a livelihood. Virtually all of the charcoal makers interviewed would rather do something else, if they had the choice: charcoal production is perceived as being bad for health, physically demanding, poorly paid, illegal in some cases, and having negative impacts on the environment. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 61 5.5 Collection of fuel wood Fuel wood is a large scale and transboundary deforestation driver. The Haitian population on both sides of the border uses fuel wood as their primary energy source for cooking and use highly inefficient open fires. The Dominican rural population also uses fuel wood, but has access to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG). LPG is also used by the residential sector in Haiti but accounts for less than 2% of the total final energy consumption in the country as a whole.237, 238 Fuel wood is often in the form of branches and logs that are collected in the vicinity of the household. © UNEP However, the need for fuel wood often far exceeds local supply, with people having to journey further This farmer had just chopped down one of the last trees in sight, explaining that the land here – on the afield, including over the border to find the fuel Plateau Centrale, not far from the Artibonite River wood they need, as can be seen in case study 4. and the border with the DR – is no longer suitable A minority of wood is also bought at local markets. for farming because most of the topsoil is gone. Case study 4. The use of fuel wood among the rural population Surveys of the households of families living on the Haitian side of the Massacre and Pedernales watersheds, show that fuel wood is the primary source of energy for Haitians in these two areas. More than 70% of households in the Pedernales watershed use fuel wood use as their primary energy source, and in the Massacre watershed it is 80%. The use of LPG or mixed sources of energy is negligible, as can be seen in figure 5. Differences in fuel wood collection habits also provide a proxy for fuel wood scarcity and deforestation in these two watersheds. 16% of surveyed households in the Pedernales watershed buy wood from the © UNEP market, compared to 0% in the Massacre watershed. 33% of surveyed households in the Pedernales watershed cross the border to collect fuel wood compared to 10% in the Massacre watershed, which indicates that The majority of rural households in Haiti wood is much scarcer in parts of the Pedernales watershed than it is in use firewood as their main source of energy. the Massacre watershed. Figure 5. Primary energy source used for cooking meals in the Massacre and Pedernales watershed Primary energy for cooking Primary energy for cooking meals - Massacre (n=159) meals - Pedernales (n=70) Mix LP gas Charcoal 1% Charcoal 1% 16% 27% Firewood Firewood Chacoal Chacoal Mix LP gas Firewood Firewood 83% 72% 62 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Satellite image 4. The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is clearly visible, where it runs next to the Artibonite river, close to the Dominican town of Pedro Santana. Charcoal production, slash and burn clearances, and forest fires have left the land denuded of trees, and rain has washed away the topsoil. I Haiti Dominican Republic Denuded Land in Haïti Ü Pe d r o S a n t a n a F o r e s t e d a re a i n Do m i n i c a n R e p u b l i c Meters 0 220 440 660 880 1100 Source: GoogleEarth 2010 UNEP - 2013 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 63  ! ^ 5.6 Protected area management and biodiversity Map 10. Protected areas in the border zone I 20°N Atlantic Ocean 72°W 71°W Cuba Cayos Sietes Hermanos Haiti Dominican Republic Monte Cristi BahÕ a Luper¾n Monte-Cristi Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! P Estero Hondo ! ^ Puerto Plata ! ^ ! ^ ! P Manglares del Cap-Haïtien ! P [ · Fort- ! ^ Estero Balsa Villa Elisa Liberté ! P ! ^ Laguna Saladilla La Citadelle, ! ^ Las Matas Sans Souci, Ramiers Dajabón Mao Río Cana P ! Ouanaminthe !P ! ! ^ Entrada de Mao ! Santiago P[ ^ aives Cerros de Chacuey !· ! P ! ^ ! ^ Alto Mao Nalga de Maco Alto Bao Armando Bermúdez P ! ! ^ Hinche ! ^ ! ^ 19°N ! ^ José del Carmen RamÕ rez Elías Piña [ · Lac de Peligre P ! ! Belladère San Juan P ! Guanito Sources Puantes Sierra de Neiba PORT-AU- Cabeza de Toro PRINCE [ · Las Caobas Los Cacheos ! ^ Fort Mercredi Jimaní Neiba P ! Lago Enriquillo e ! P Loma del 20 Azua Isla Cabritos ! P Fort Jacques and La Visite Fort Alexandre Réserve Forêt des Pins Jacmel P ! [ Barahona · ! P Sierra de Bahoruco Datum: WGS 84 UTM Zone 18N P Pedernales ! Anse-à-Pitre ! 18°N Legend ! [ · ^ Marine protected area Sources: MINUSTAH Terrestrial protected area Caribbean UN Cartographic Section Sea International boundary Cabo Rojo, Bahía ! ^ National capital de las Aguilas 0 10 20 ! P Department/Province capital Km UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. ! ^ ! ^ Jaragua 64 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone ! ^  © UNEP Illegal tree cutting for fuel wood inside protected areas in the Dominican Republic is a common phenomenon, such as seen here in the Sierra de Bahoruco national park. Dominican protected areas close to the border are Environmentally detrimental activities occurring being significantly degraded by illegal activities within protected areas are generally the same conducted by Haitian immigrants, often with the as elsewhere in the border area: land is cleared collusion of Dominicans. This is a problematic for agriculture, there are forest fires, firewood is situation which has already provoked small scale collected, and charcoal is produced. One feature but deadly conflict between Haitian immigrants that is specific to land surrounding protected and Dominican park guards. areas and observed in the vicinity of the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park is that of illegal settlements. In the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park in early Haitian farmers have moved into these areas 2012, in the southern part of the border, a park on a semi-permanent basis, establishing small ranger was killed by a Haitian charcoal maker communities with churches and schools.242 who had been apprehended inside the park boundaries. This incident created tension between The positive news is that the rate of deforestation the communities, as well as retaliation that saw at has decreased substantially in the past years in and least one Haitian killed.239 This case also highlighted around Dominican protected areas in the border the existing difficulties that can frustrate cross zone.243, 244 The borders of the parks have been border cooperation: Dominican authorities see formalized and enforced. Sensitization campaigns that there is little they can do if a criminal flees have increased consciousness among the local over the border to Haiti.240 Similarly, several Haitians communities on the importance of protecting the described cases of mutilation or killing that have forest cover, and the environment in general.245, 246 taken place over the past ten years, when Haitian However the enforcement of regulations within charcoal makers have crossed into the Dominican the Dominican protected areas is still somewhat Republic.241 inconsistent. Episodic strong enforcement at some Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 65 locations is contrasted with a degree of tolerance sea level to over 2000 m; bodies of water and in others. wetlands that are considered the most important of the insular Caribbean; and a wide variety of The most important protected area in the Haitian agroecosystems border area is the Forêt de Pins in the south. This protected area, as well as other protected areas The natural resources found in those various in Haiti are under extreme pressure.247 In practical ecosystems are of considerable value to the terms the enforcement of the Forêt de Pins national border zone’s human inhabitants, who use them park is non-existent and it has been rapidly for firewood, charcoal, building materials, food degraded and encroached, resulting in Haitians and medicine. Biodiversity also plays a notable instead crossing the border into the adjacent Sierra role in the production of ecosystem services and de Bahoruco Park on the Dominican side. in tourism development of the area due to its aesthetic value. There is a need to halt the degradation and strengthen the protected area systems in the It is worth noting how little is known about the tremendously bio-diverse border zone. The area’s species living in the area, particularly on the Haitian diverse geomorphology yields a great range of side. As each new scientific expedition to the area habitats that in turn sustain a wealth of flora and identifies a great number of species it reminds fauna so great that the border zone’s endemism the people of both countries and the scientific and diversity indices are the highest in the Carib- community at large, of this alarming dearth of bean. The area boasts forests that range from knowledge. © UNEP Some of the Haitians who cross into the Dominican Republic farm as tenants or sharecroppers, others squat on private or public land – including protected areas. Many settle and build small communities and some Dominican communities have large, well-integrated Haitian populations, with their own schools, such as this one just outside the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park. 66 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Satellite image 5. Farmland borders the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park, in upper Pedernales Watershed. The Haitian protected area Forêt de Pin is just across the border. The formalization of park boundaries and improved law enforcement have slowed the pace of the deforestation of Dominican protected areas but Sierra de Bahoruco remains under a lot of pressure. Charcoal production, felling and stripping for fuel wood, and illegal farming all pose threats to the park’s forests. I Haiti Dominican Republic Ü Bo rd e r b e t w e e n f a rm l a n d and National Park Ü Yo u n g b o y c u t t i n g t r e e s inside the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park Meters 0 90 180 270 360 450 Source: GoogleEarth 2010 UNEP - 2013 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 67 Enough is known, however, to be certain that the (USD 8). Every brigade is headed by a chief (capa- genetic diversity of plants is under threat. Haiti, for taz), who in a vast majority of cases is a woman. example, has more than 200 varieties of mangos, Box 1 gives more details of the composition and but is in the process of losing many of them as only use of reforestation brigades in the border zone. a few species are commercially valuable. There are several reasons for this success. Partly, 5.7 Reforestation it is because the creation of the brigades have created a source of income to the members Today the forest cover in the Dominican Republic of the brigades, as well as related livelihoods, is estimated at approximately 40% of the land including plant nurseries and fruit production. Also surface, compared to only 12% in the 1980’s and the work of the brigades has ripple effects in the approximately 4% in Haiti.248, 249 The reversal from communities where they operate, in respect to deforestation to reforestation occurred as a result awareness building, and increased consciousness of a large-scale program of reforestation and of issues among the local population.252 Some the promotion of alternative sources of energy, of the members of the reforestation brigades specifically LPG and electricity. previously were engaged in producing charcoal, providing good examples of alternative and more Recent surveys show that the forest cover continues sustainable livelihood options to this detrimental to increase in the whole country, but that the practice. Some members of reforestation brigades increase is slower in the border zone than in the rest also noted that they try to sensitize their communi- of the country.250 This positive trend has been more ties to the risk of forest fires inherent in the use of apparent in recent years, as the population living in fire as a clearance technique. the border zone has started using resources more consciously, and the state is enforcing its directives The challenge, however, is to retain these positive more vigorously than it used to do.251 effects in the long run and how to use the available resources better. Issues to address include ensuring Generally, the sentiment among authorities and the long term survival rates of trees; preventing the community members alike throughout the border felling of recently planted trees; and discouraging zone is that the establishment of Dominican (and people in these communities from returning to now Haitian) reforestation brigades has had a very charcoal production in the event that financing positive effect in ameliorating the negative trend for the reforestation efforts is phased out. of deforestation. Brigades are generally composed by eight to ten members from the local com- As noted by Mr. Cornelio Acosta Monegro, munity, with every member working in the brigade Frontera Verde Executive Director, the survival rate earning approximately 300-350 pesos a day of recently planted trees vary between different Box 1: Reforestation brigades in the border zone At the time of writing, there are 62 reforestation brigades in the border zone (46 in the Dominican Republic and 16 in Haiti). In the Massacre watershed, there are currently five Dominican brigades and nine Haitian brigades. In Pedernales, there are three Dominican brigades and three on the Haitian side, although all of them mostly are composed of Haitians working on both sides of the border, due to the lack of Dominican population in this area. Additionally there are 12 active Dominican brigades in the Elias Piña province, four in the Independencia province, nine in Restauracion and one in Monte Cristi. The bi-national reforestation brigades are also the main tool for executing the MPP project. The selection methodology of members working in the brigade is not set: in the case of the Haitian brigades of Capotille, the choice was made by the CASEC (the mayor) and the project technician. In others, members have been chosen after community consultations, but modalities are not clear. The various brigades are, however, always to be led by a woman (capataz). At the time of writing people selected to serve in the brigades have to be able to provide 1.25 “kawo” of land to the project for reforestation activities. This requirement is, however, problematic, as it excludes many households from this cash-for-work scheme, many of which are in the greatest need of intervention, and who are the most likely to engage in charcoal production for income generation. 68 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Members of the assessment team meet the two bi-national reforestation brigades that operate in Zapoten, which borders the national parks of Sierra de Bahoruco in the Dominican Republic and Forêt de Pins in Haiti. These two brigades are among the most successful in the border zone, with reported survival rates of trees reaching 95%. brigades, reaching 95% in the Pedernales water- seems that the exploitation or harvesting rights as shed, but only 40% in Pedro Santana. The level of well as the obligations of the landowners has not technical assistance received by the brigades also been clearly set out. Landowners are authorized to varies significantly from one brigade to another, harvest mature trees but there is no mechanism to which has clear repercussions for the successful ensure that they harvest or replant in a sustainable implementation of the project. In Capotille for way. There are no contracts between the entity example, where trees have been growing well, a running the reforestation efforts and the landowner, Haitian technician oversees the plantation activi- and it is not at all clear how the system for sharing ties daily. However, this is one of the only Haitian revenue among community members is supposed technicians that have been involved in project to function. monitoring to date. In some places visited by the assessment team, especially towards the center In addition, it appears that the selection of tree of the country, the border population seemed species used is guided mainly by forestry criteria to receive only sporadic technical assistance such as rapidity of growth and fire resistance. and seemed unaware of basic plantation Ecological and conservation factors or the pos- techniques. sibility of creating income generating activities (fruit trees, and communal plant nurseries) were not It seems that in most cases sites have been taken into account in the original project design, selected for planting because the land there is but have been added to some extent at a later available and the owner of that land is willing, rather stage. For example, in areas where forest has than for a strategic criterion such as the vegetation never existed, the regeneration of original shrubs cover or high vulnerability to erosion. Moreover, it should be encouraged instead of creating tree Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 69 plantations that the habitat will not sustain. The There is clear statistical evidence of forest recovery promotion of native species in nurseries could in the Dominican Republic as a result of energy also be encouraged: currently, only a few native policy, governance and reforestation investments. high value timber species are being planted by The early evidence from the Frontera Verde project reforestation brigades (e.g. mahogany, cedar). is that the reforestation investments are working in This would bring positive results not only in terms of the border zone as well. The establishment and use conservation but also of survival rates of planted of reforestation brigades also is a positive example species. of bi-national cooperation on an issue of mutual concern. The current MPP project, has for example Members of reforestation brigades expressed on brought together both local community members numerous occasion their desire to plant more fruit and officials, as well as ministries of environment, trees as well as to establish more nurseries in order with the aim of jointly working to improve the to provide additional “green job” opportunities. situation in the border zone. © UNEP Dominican and Haitian reforestation brigades have done a great deal to reverse the negative trend of deforestation in the areas they have targeted. At the same time the brigades offer alternative livelihoods to the people in the communities in which they are active. 70 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 6 Freshwater resources 6.2 Key issues and flooding Transboundary water resources are a subject of high interest in both countries. There are several 6.1 Introduction serious issues but only limited tensions. In general most issues are of mutual interest to be addressed The border zone is moderately well endowed with and the potential for cooperation is clear. The most water resources. The important permanent rivers difficult issues are linked to floods and borders that (from north to south) include the Massacre, the cross rivers, where actions or lack thereof in one Artibonite and the Perdenales. In addition there country directly impacts the other. are multiple rivers and streams that are transient and effectively dry in the dry season (known as The four most important issues noted in the arroyos in Spanish). Finally there is Lac Azuei, known assessment were: as the Etang Saumâtre in Haiti, which forms the Haiti-Dominican Republic border in the Cul-de- • Transboundary river flooding. Sac Valley. Lac Azuei is brackish, so although it is • Water scarcity, access and pollution. an important water feature it is not a fresh water • Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo flooding. resource. Despite the amount of available water resources, shortages can still be severe in particular • Transboundary dams and water extraction. regions throughout the year and broad scale water shortages are experienced right through the dry 6.3 Transboundary flooding season. The phenomenon of flash flooding in Hispaniola is Change in the availability of fresh water is already well understood. High rainfall events in the upper a major concern for farmers and communities parts of degraded catchments result in very rapid in the central parts on both sides of the border rises in river levels. The flood peaks which can last zone.253 Water levels have decreased here mainly from hours to a few days at most, breach river due to changes in precipitation and in runoff rates, banks and impact settlements in and adjacent erosion, as well as sedimentation of canals, which to the flood plains. This is a nationwide problem in have in turn changed the physical characteristics Haiti and a problem in some specific areas in the of the rivers.254 Dominican Republic. There are two types of transboundary rivers and A rarer problem is that of floods caused by hur- river sections in the Haiti-Dominican Republic ricanes and tropical storms. In these cases, very border zone: heavy and widespread rainfall – over a period of hours or even days – simply overwhelms the entire • Riverine borders – where the border is the river catchment and widespread flooding occurs all itself, or runs close and parallel to the rivers, along the floodplain, with water levels taking up as true for the Massacre River, parts of the to days to fully recede. Artibonite River network, and the Pedernales River. In these instances, the ownership and Transboundary flooding is a very localized subset water allocation rights remain unclear between of the larger problem of flooding in Hispaniola. In the two countries. select cases, rainfall in one country causes floods • Border crossing rivers – where one nation is and damage in the other. upstream and the other downstream. The importance of this transboundary issue is This distinction is important, both in terms of key catchment specific. It is not, for example a major issues and potential solutions. Responsibility for issue for the Massacre watershed, but is an impor- catchments with riverine borders is shared and tant issue for the Artibonite watershed, the areas sometime blurred. In contrast, the allocation of around the lakes and the Pedernales watershed. responsibility for border crossing rivers is clear: However the impact of “normal” heavy rainfall in responsibility and ownership changes at the the Dominican Republic upon Haiti is mitigated border. by remaining forest cover and the Peligre Dam. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 71 Satellite image 6. Just before reaching Lake Enriquillo, the Soliette/Arroyo Blanco river has created a floodfan, threatening the Dominican town of Jimani. In 2004, a flashflood in the river first destroyed the Haitian town of Fonds Verrettes, before crossing the border and flooding the Dominican town of Jimani, leaving death and destruction in its wake. I Haiti Dominican Republic Flooded area Flooded area Jimani Ü Meters 0 380 760 1140 1520 1900 Source: GoogleEarth 2010 UNEP - 2013 72 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Signs of the destruction wrought by the flashflood of 2004 can still be seen along the riverbed of the Soliette/ Arroyo Blanco River where it passes the Haitian town of Fonds Verrettes. The issue is most critical however for the Soliette/ will not increase. This is because it is soil, not trees, Arroyo Blanco and Pedernales Rivers, draining into which retain the bulk of the rainfall and encourage Lake Enriquillo and the Caribbean Sea respectively. infiltration in high rainfall events. Trees simply Both of these rivers have very heavily degraded, protect the soil from rain damage. However for the steep catchments in the Haitian southeast Soliette/Arroyo Blanco and Pedernales watersheds, mountains – a region prone to heavy rainfall due much of the soil is already lost and transported as to prevailing winds bringing moisture laden air sediments by the rivers either to Lake Azuei, to Lake from the Caribbean Sea. Both rivers also have Enriquillo, or to the Caribbean Sea. Dominican towns located next to the riverbeds, on alluvial fans at the base of the catchments: Jimani Second, micro-dams in the upper catchments, if for Soliette/Arroyo Blanco and Pedernales for the very widespread and well built, will mitigate general Pedernales River (with Anse-à-Pitres on the Haitian flash flooding, but will not mitigate hurricane or side). Both sites have experienced damaging major storm related flooding risks. Micro-dams are floods in the past. small semi-permeable dams built across tributaries in the upper part of catchments. Generally they The forecast for these three towns is very negative: are either dry or have a low flow leaking through major flooding can be expected to continue for the wall via drainpipes. In the event of short-term the foreseeable future, even if there is investment in heavy rainfall, they do rapidly fill up and retain mitigation. The technical rationale for this forecast water for some time, thereby extending the is that both of the potentially viable flood risk drainage time and reducing the flood peak. As a reduction measures (reforestation/soil conservation result micro-dams can reduce the flash flooding and micro-dams) will not fully work in these specific risk – for some rainfall events. However hurricanes cases, and the flood control dams of the size that and major storms tend to bring heavy rain for would be needed to make a difference are simply extended periods and this both overwhelms the not economically viable. micro dam storage capacities and damages the structures through very heavy and fast flows. First, reforestation and upper catchment soil conservation investments may help cap but will Finally, localized flood channel containment not reduce the current flood risk levels. At best, they measures (gabionage and channel excavation) will retain the remaining soil and flood risk levels will work only in part. These types of very local Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 73 interventions if well designed do work for all but the 6.4 Water scarcity, access largest events but do require regular maintenance and pollution and rebuilding/excavating after each flood. Water scarcity refers to an absence of sufficient In the above cases, the recommended flood risk amounts of water in the environment, while water mitigation strategy is a balanced combination access refers to the availability of suitable water of investments in mitigation, retreat, which would for the use of the population. It is, in other words, mean the abandonment of the most vulnerable possible to have abundant water in the environ- areas, and the reconstruction of infrastructure away ment but insufficient access, particularly in respect from the flood risk. to clean drinking water. Case study 5. Water insecurity in two Haitian watersheds Household surveys in the Massacre watershed in the north and the Pedernales watershed in the south of the border zone give a good indication of the situation in respect to water shortage. About four in ten people in both watersheds have suffered from a lack of water availability for either drinking or bathing/cooking over the past 12 months. However, while this level is consistent across the Massacre sub-watersheds, there is dramatic divergence within Pedernales. In the Pedernales watershed, the mountainous areas are significantly more exposed to water insecurity, with 75 per cent of the respondents answering that they have had insufficient water availability, than the two other eco-zones, where only 20-30% of households reported suffering from water shortages. As can be seen in Figure 6, the lack of water directly corresponds to the dry season, from December to April. People interviewed in the Pedernales watershed are significantly more likely to report insufficient water access from January to March than in Massacre, suggesting a stronger impact from the climate variability and the dry season in the Southeast. Figure 6. Seasonality of water insecurity Months with insufficient water across watersheds Total (n=98) Massacre(n=70) Pedernales(n=28) 54% 33% 24% Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec The number and variety of sources of drinking water also diverges across the watersheds on the Haitian side of the border. The prevalence and accessibility of public taps or tube wells in most Massacre communities might explain the higher proportion of respondents drinking ground water in the Northeast. When tap stands are not available or too far away from households, families obtain their water from rivers, even though they generally understand the higher risk of contamination. In contrast, the proximity and apparent higher quality of the surface water in the Southeast leads to higher surface water consumption in the Pedernales watershed. The technical director of the MPP in Pedernales noted that the source of the river is in the Dominican Republic, where deforestation is limited, and perhaps that is why the quality of water was significantly better than in the Northeast. Bottled water does not appear to be a viable alternative in either watershed. 74 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Refuse from landfills and untreated domestic waste, pollute the Massacre River, from which it was safe to drink as recently as the 1970s. A key problem is people’s attitudes toward waste handling on both sides of the border, which highlights the need to raise people’s awareness about the issue.260 Water scarcity is a major issue in the central to both countries due to inadequate waste and driest areas of the border zone, including management, sanitation and wastewater treat- the plateau centrale in Haiti and the Elias Piña ment. There is no long-term comprehensive data Province in the Dominican Republic. Elias Piña is, on the quality of the rivers in the border area, for example, experiencing decreased rainfall and but there is abundant anecdotal evidence of river water shortages, which is a contributing factor pollution.257, 258 Rivers are used on both sides of the to landowners selling their land and moving to border as solid waste disposal sites, as laundries, the cities.255, 256 Without detailed analysis it is not bathrooms and latrines. All permanently flowing possible to pinpoint and weigh the various causes rivers observed by the assessment team had high of the shortages, but both hydrology and local levels of visible pollution (garbage, foul water) in perceptions indicate that one of the main causes their downstream parts, and are obvious sources for such shortages are related to land degradation of bacterial contamination. The border zone does resulting in increased run-off rates and reduced not at present host large-scale manufacturing; so water retention. This in turn results in rivers drying industrial wastewater pollution is not yet an issue. out quicker in general and completely in the dry season. Another reason seems to be changing A specific source of pollution is the bi-national rainfall patterns, as discussed in chapter 2. markets, which are poorly organized and have low standards of sanitation. They produce high Case study 5, highlights the levels of water insecurity volumes of garbage which trickles down into, as in two regions on the Haitian side of the border. well as is disposed of in the water streams.259 Water pollution is another widespread and The largest practical impact of water pollution transboundary problem. It is essentially endemic in the border zone is on health: bacterially Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 75 contaminated rivers are disease vectors, which On the Dominican side, the General Directorate is an issue of serious concern now that cholera is of Border Development has developed proposals widespread in the region. and is trying to mobilize funding for municipal sewage treatment for the effluents from Dajabon The governance problem presented by pollution that are currently draining into the Massacre River. in the rivers of the border area rivers is unique in This is a very positive step, but represents only a that is necessarily the shared responsibility of the small fraction of the required investments. two countries, neither of which has the motivation or means to clean up the rivers on their own. Therefore, the issue is an opportunity for coopera- 6.5 Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo tion, albeit a difficult one. flooding Reduction of water pollution in the Massacre, Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo are both terminal Artibonite and Pedernales rivers in Haiti would lakes: they are located in the same tectonic require major improvements in governance on depression and have little or no exit drainage. both sides and widespread and major investments Water escapes the lakes mainly through evapora- in solid waste management, sanitation and tion; some also escapes from Lake Azuei via wastewater treatment. Given the current economic groundwater flows to the east (towards Lake constraints, this is considered unlikely to occur in Enriquillo). As a result both lakes are saline, as the short to medium term at least – so the current continued evaporation increases the concentra- pollution status of the transboundary rivers is also tion of salts and there is no flushing drainage. Lake unlikely to change. Azuei used to be an exclusively Haitian water body. © UNEP Investments that have been made in the last five years to provide Haiti with modern custom and immigration facilities along the main road connecting the two countries are now inoperative and partially submerged as a result of the rising water levels in Lake Azuei. 76 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP The main road connecting Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo has been raised several times where it follows the shores of Lake Azuei, but that solution can only be seen as temporary as the lake’s water levels continue to rise. During a slow but sustained flooding process the sides. The road has been raised by earthworks lake has expanded into the Dominican territory several times and is still cut frequently, and many and is now several kilometers into the Dominican warehouses and some houses in the area have Republic, making delineation of the border difficult been submerged. Agricultural land has been because it is understood in some places as the flooded on both sides of the border, with the lake shore, which is clearly a moving geographical greatest losses being Haitian land at the west feature. end of the lake. Multimillion investments that have been made in the past five years to provide Haiti Since 2004, both lakes have visibly risen above with modern custom and immigration facilities are historical levels. Level changes in Lac Azuei have also now inoperative and partially submerged. not been accurately tracked but are reported unof- ficially to be in the order of 1m per year at peak The cause of this rise has not been technically periods (please refer to map 8 for the changed assessed. Nonetheless it is possible to make shoreline of lake Azuei). This has caused a number an interim professional judgment, based upon of problems. The main southern transboundary hydrological principles and anecdotal evidence route between Port-au-Prince and Santo Domingo gathered on site reconnaissance visits. runs along the south side of Lac Azuei and is also the main transport link for goods being traded Interpretation of the potential causes and transported between the two countries. Since of the Lac Azuei flooding 2008, the route has been gradually submerged Studies conducted after the 2010 earthquake on both the Haitian and Dominican Republic show that there has been no change in the earth’s Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 77 crust substantial enough to be the main cause • Permanent increases in river water and of the lake level rise. Although it is true that the groundwater run-off percentages – The majority number and intensity of the flow of the springs of serious deforestation and soil erosion in the surrounding Lake Azuei increased immediately mountainous catchments surrounding the lakes after the earthquake, these changes would have has occurred since the 1970s. Deforested and been due to temporary alterations in the water eroded catchments retain much less water table rather than to a permanent shift in the than healthy catchments. As a result, the water tectonic situation itself. There is also no recent that falls as rains flows more quickly to the change in the groundwater exit flow status, as there catchment end points – the lakes, rather than have not been any recent major drainage works. recalculating in the mountains via evaporation Instead the rise is probably due to increased river from soils after rainfall and evapo-transpiration water, groundwater and sediment flows into the (tree respiration). lakes with no corresponding change in exit flows/ evaporation. In summary, increased inputs but • Short term increases in rainfall – 2004, 2005 and static outputs result in rising water levels. 2008 all saw major hurricane and tropical storm strikes on Haiti. The 2008 storms in particular There are at least four potential causes for the struck the Southern Peninsula and caused interpreted increased input flows: heavy flooding in southern Haiti. It is possible © UNEP It is clear from this picture of the mountains above Lakes Azuei and Enriquillo that farmers have been working these steep hillsides without any form of erosion control and as a consequence the land is severely degraded. 78 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  that the rise in lake levels is in response to recent Joca Dam as one of the projects in which these and temporary increases in rainfall. funds can be used.264 Potential other dams on the Dominican side include: Recodo Dam, Monte • Medium to long term changes in rainfall pat- Grande Dam, El Tamarindo Dam, and Río Sanate terns – A second rainfall theory under review by Dam.265 Other potential dams are the Don Miguel scientists studying Lac Enriquillo is that regional Dam, Arroyo Capotillo Dam, Jobo Viajaca Dam, climate change is driving a long term increase and Laguna Saladillo Dam.266 in rainfall or change in rainfall patterns in this specific region of the island.261 There are only a few water extraction points on • Historical sediment inflows from land degrada- the transboundary rivers. On the Massacre River, tion – A large scale influx of sediment over the for example, the Dominicans have four water last decades may have reduced the volume extraction locations, while the Haitians have none. of the reservoir and so increased the lake water The Haitians use some water upstream, but no levels. irrigation schemes exist on the Haitian side.267 Based on the above interpretation, both countries There is no bi-national mechanism in place that have a major problem with Lac Azuei. At the very would deal with issues related to water sharing and least, this issue warrants technical monitoring and future dam construction. Given the extremely high further analysis to inform an appropriate response, dependence of Haiti on the Artibonite River, this is including engineering solutions to reduce inflow a potentially a serious issue. and eventual drainage. A precautionary approach would also assume that lake levels will continue to rise. 6.6 Transboundary dams and water extraction At present the issues of transboundary dams are limited to the Artibonite catchment in Haiti. The Peligre Dam in the Artibonite catchment provides domestic water and irrigation to over 3.5 million people, 30-50% of Haiti’s current electrical capacity (installed capacity of 47 Megawatts), and is the only large dam in Haiti. Downstream, the Artibonite valley is the country’s main production centre for rice and staples, with more than 34,500 ha of irrigated land. Over the last few decades a very large volume of silt has been deposited in the Peligre Reservoir. That sedimentation is due to land degradation in the upper catchment. The water storage capacity has as a result decreased by 53% between 1972 and 2010 and its capacity to produce energy has also been reduced.262 Discussions are ongoing about building a dam on the Rio Joca, one of the main tributaries of the Artibonite River. Dominican authorities see it as part of an integrated vision for the development of the border region.263 Law No. 128-01, which authorizes the issuance of up to USD 500 million in government bonds, mentions the building of the Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 79 7 Coastal and marine and Dominican authorities. At the same time it is a key opportunity for co-operation, as described resources by the example of the cooperation between the fishermen associations in Pedernales (Dominican 7.1 Introduction Republic) and Anse-à-Pitre (Haiti), in case study 6. Dominicans and Haitians living in the coastal areas The five main issues that were identified are: are interdependent: Haitians buy fishing gear and fuel oil for their boats from the Dominican • Illegal transboundary fishing and overfishing. Republic and also sell a part of their catch across • Mangrove cutting for wood and creation of the border268. Haitians and Dominican also both salt pans. infringe on a daily basis on respective territorial • Marine protected areas & biodiversity. waters. Haitians generally fish close inshore, whilst Dominicans fish both inshore and further offshore. • Transboundary trade in marine species. • Contamination of estuaries, coastal lagoons, With 1,700 km of sea coast and 22,000 ha of inland and the sea. waters, fishing is an important activity for many households in Haiti, with 50,000 people working either full time or part time within this sector.269 7.3 Illegal transboundary fishing The sector is not, however, well developed and and overfishing confronts major constraints such as low quality equipments, lack of the infrastructure needed for The main source of marine territorial tensions processing, conservation and commercialization, between the two countries identified in both as well as insufficient credit sources.270 the north and the south were Haitian fishermen crossing illegally into fishing areas belonging to the Artisanal fishing is a sector that largely has been Dominican Republic, and Dominican fishermen an underestimated source of livelihood in the entering Haitian waters in better boats with which south-east department of Haiti. Close to 3,300 they can fish further offshore than their Haitian families are involved in this activity, and artisanal counterparts, creating tensions and frustrations fishing provide a direct livelihood to 20,000 persons, among fishermen on both sides of the border. with an additional 10,000 involved indirectly in this Haitian fishermen are frustrated about not being sector.271 From an economic standpoint, artisanal able to address the problem of Dominican fisher- fishing creates an annual turnover of more than men coming in on Haitian waters and fishing with 200 million gourdes (approximately EUR 5 million).272 better equipment. While Dominican fishermen in Pedernales (in the south), and government officials The fishing sector in the Dominican Republic is in Montecristi (in the north) on the other hand comprised of approximately 8,400 fishermen, and raised the common problem of Haitian fishermen 3,300 boats, of which 98% are artisanal. Annual conducting illegal fishing that depletes the fish production amounts to 11,000 tonnes, putting pres- stocks, and catching protected species (including sure on the marine and coastal fishing resources turtles) on the Dominican side of the border.275 of the Dominican Republic. This yearly production is not sufficient to fulfill national demand, requiring The northern coastal border area also suffers from the import of approximately 34,000 tonnes of problems in relation to unclear delimitations of the seafood every year.273 As fishing makes a minimal maritime border between the two countries. The contribution to GDP (0.5%), fisheries receive little border of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is not institutional and economic support.274 clearly defined so it is not obvious at what point a boat has crossed the border. The delimitation 7.2 Key issues of territorial seas is much clearer in the south and both sides know when they are fishing outside their Coastal and marine resources are issues of serious territorial waters. transboundary concern, creating clashes and tensions between communities on both sides of Overfishing practices on both sides of the border the border, as well as between Haitian fishermen were also observed among Haitian fishermen in 80 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone both the north and the south coasts of the border The fish catches are considerably better in the south zone. The fish stock is reportedly decreasing in where some fishermen reported that they could size and volume. Haitian fishermen are taking earn a living just from fishing, while in the north they smaller and smaller fish by reducing the mesh had to engage in additional livelihood practices size of their nets. When engaging in such harmful as well – mainly farming, charcoal making, small practices on the Dominican side of the border, trade or salt production. One reason why the fish this is a particular concern among Dominican stocks are more plentiful in the south may be the fishermen, creating tensions between Haitian fact that the Jaragua national park exists close fishermen and Dominican authorities.276 All the to the Dominican side of the border, providing a fishermen interviewed by the assessment team on protected area for fish stocks to rejuvenate. both the Haitian and Dominican side of the border mentioned a decrease in the number of fish, and There is no government surveillance or enforce- most fishermen interviewed in the border region ment with respect to coastal and marine resource have also noticed that the size of fish has reduced. management in Haitian territorial waters, which UNEP work in this field has consistently noted low means fishermen from both countries operate catches and a predominance of juvenile fish freely on the Haitian side of the border. netted by Haitian shoreline and inshore fishermen. Such practices, when used over time, lead to the Dominican fishermen generally cross the Haitian destruction of breeding stock and overfishing of marine border to fish pelagic (deep water) species the existing marine resources. that are under exploited in Haiti. These include © UNEP Fishermen have reduced the mesh size of their nets and overfished in general, all of which has resulted in smaller and smaller catches. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 81 tuna, sea bream, yellowtail, hake, marlin, and side of the Pedernales watershed between the swordfish. This includes the placement of semi- city of Pedernales and Cabo Rojo. permanent DCPs (Dispositif de Consentration de Poissons – a type of off-shore fishing structure) in The already degraded mangroves of the border Haitian waters for their own use.277 area are under further threat from people felling them for fuel and clearing to make way for salt The many Haitians, who cross the border to fish, run production. Those threats are serious in Haiti 278 the risk of being caught by the Dominican coast but less so in the Dominican Republic, where guard or police. If they are caught, especially if the majority of the damage is historical and the conducting illegal activities, such as fine netting authorities are actively protecting the remaining or catching protected species, their fish and in mangrove stands. some cases their equipment, are confiscated, or they are imprisoned for days. In Haiti, the main threat to the mangrove is cutting for use as fuel wood. There are even 7.4 Mangrove cutting semi-commercial fuel wood operations that supply and salt production bakeries and laundries in Cap Haïtien. Although both mangrove cutters and fishermen live in the Mangroves are important nurseries for fish and same communities, fishermen do not generally marine life that protect the coastline from erosion participate in the cutting of mangroves – they say and trap sediment. They are relatively abundant that they know that it is detrimental to their fishing on the north coast of Hispaniola, including in the livelihood. border area. There are very few mangroves along the southern coast of the border zone, but there Artisanal salt production takes place on the Haitian are large numbers further west on the Dominican side of the border area. Only limited quantities of © UNEP Salt is being produced on an industrial scale in areas once occupied by mangroves. Here large salt flats can be seen close to the city of Montecristi on the Dominican side of the border. 82 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Satellite image 7. Mangroves are known to protect the coastline from erosion and to provide important nurseries for fish and marine life, but they are still under threat not only from people felling them for firewood, but also from artisans looking to clear them to make way for salt production facilities, as can be seen here, close to the Haitian town of Jacquesil. I Haiti Dominican Republic Salt-pan M a n g ro v e Saltpan Ü Jacquesil Salt-pan Meters 0 140 280 420 560 700 Source: GoogleEarth 2010 UNEP - 2013 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 83  © UNEP Mangroves are being cut to be sold as firewood in Haitian cities relatively poor quality salt are produced due to important mangrove and wildlife habitats, and the the basic technology used. Some villages such as mangroves close to Montecristi attract income Jackzyl and Caracol received some support to dig from tourism. The productivity of this ecosystem salt lagoons from a WFP project, but communities is crucial for fishing livelihoods on both sides of mentioned that additional support would still be the border. The main remaining threat to the needed to improve production. Further support mangroves in this area is illegal mangrove cutting to boost Haitian salt production is, however, not by Haitian day visitors and immigrants. recommended by this study, due to the very det- rimental effects it has on the mangrove cover and 7.5 Marine protected areas fish stocks. In addition artisanal salt production will and biodiversity not produce salt that can compete in the market place with the quality and amounts harvested in At present only the Dominican Republic has marine industrial salt production. protected areas, including national parks in both the northern and southern border regions. Early In the Dominican Republic, approximately half of discussions are ongoing to develop a very large the mangroves that originally grew in the border Haitian marine protected area centered around area have long since been removed and the the Bay of Caracol. space they once occupied is now taken up by salt production fields, some of which still operate In the nor th, the marine resources on the on an industrial scale. Dominican side are protected in part by Mon- tecristi National Park, which includes both land One protected area in the Dominican Republic – and marine areas. A key part of this park is the the Wildlife Sanctuary Laguna Saladilla – preserves complex of seven islands (Siete Hermanos), which 84 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone is important for biodiversity conservation in the The border zone’s marine and coastal biodiversity Caribbean and part of the Atlantic as they host can be found in four main ecosystems: 1) the large scale breeding grounds for marine birds insular shelf, where there are a great variety of (mainly gannets and boobies from the Sulidae endemic species of corals and marine grass- family). The protection of the surrounding marine lands, and where the species that hold significant areas, however, seems to be effective only during economic interest for fisheries are concentrated. the six month bird breeding season during which 2) Mangroves and coastal lagoons, which are the Dominican Republic National Park authorities considered to be among the most important actively patrol the islands. ecosystem groups for the reproduction of species of economic interest. 3) Beaches, which are important not only for tourism but also because species – such as turtles and marine birds – nest there. Some of the beach zones in the northern part of the border area include islets that are of critical regional importance for bird reproduc- tion. 4) Rocky coastal cliffs, which are also very important for bird reproduction. 7.6 Transboundary trade in marine species Trade in marine species across the border is important and a clear opportunity for increased cooperation in the border zone. Dominican fishmongers are for example present in the Haitian market of Anse-à-Pitre, buying much of the large fish and high-value species (lobster, crab, lambis) to resell them on the Dominican market. In October 2007, from 500 to 1000 pounds of fish were exported from Anse-à-Pitre daily. Haitian fishermen buying ice and fuel in Pedernales also sell their products in the Dominican Republic. Dominicans also cross the Haitian border to sell the fish they cannot sell in the Dominican Republic because they are too small to be permitted to be sold in the Dominican © UNEP Republic.279 A fisherman in the Haitian border city of Anse- à-Pitre showing his catch. Fishermen reap the Formal transboundar y cooperation on this benefits of having a marine protected area close by transboundary trade is relatively limited and this is on the Dominican side of the border that acts as a currently causing problems. One particular issue breeding ground. noted in both the north and south was the lack of formal/state sanctioned dispute mediation In the south, the Dominican Jaragua Land and mechanisms. Marine National Park, is situated close to the bor- der. Anecdotal evidence from fishermen on both Against this generally negative background, there sides of the border is that this protected area may are however, some cooperation exceptions and be having a major positive impact on fishing yields. success stories. The most significant of these is the Marine parks with no-take zones act as sanctuaries transboundary cooperation between Haitian and for fish to breed and grow, guaranteeing a steady Dominican fisheries associations on the southern supply of mature fish to regional fisheries. coast, as can be seen in case study 6. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 85  Case study 6. Cooperation between fishermen associations On the Haitian side, a capacity building project started in 2007 has supported the development of 40 fisheries associations in the South East Department, which collectively cover 90% of the fishing population 280. The association closest to the border is APPA (Asosyasyon pechè pou pwoteksyon ak anviwonman Anse a Pit), based in Anse-à-Pitre. The association consists of 100 fishermen and owns five fishing boats, one trammel fishing net, as well as a generator and batteries in order to fish at night. To be able to use this equipment and benefit from support and assistance in case of equipment damage or illness/death in the family, each member has to give 5% of the income coming from their catch to the association. On the Dominican side of the border, in Pedernales, the fishermen association “Asociation Pescadores Agustin Munoz”, has existed for 12 years, and today has 100 members. This association today works in close cooperation with its Haitian counterpart, and has formalized the cooperation between Haitian and Dominican fishermen to include transfer of information and knowledge of fishing techniques. The cooperation between the fishermen associations have also resulted in the banning of the sale of the smallest size fishes on the bi-national market, and on-going work on trying to increase the mesh size used in fishing nets. The Dominican association has, furthermore, worked as a contact and dispute resolution mechanism between Haitian fishermen and Dominican authorities, if for example a Haitian fishing boat has been seized by Dominican authorities. This formal agreement between the two associations is reported to have improved relations between Haitian and Dominican fishermen considerably.281 Fishermen’s associations on both sides of the border in the cities of Pedernales and Anse-à-Pitre work together on issues related to sharing of best practice and © UNEP fishing techniques, dispute resolution and trade.energy. 7.7 Contamination of estuaries, sewage. However, the water ways also suffer as coastal lagoons, and the sea phosphorated detergents, fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides drain into them from cleared and Most of the pollution in the border zone’s coasts irrigated, agricultural land, as well as from runoff and estuaries comes in the form of household after fires or tree felling. waste from cities. Ouanaminthe, Dajabon, and Montecristi are the most significant in the northern The mining developments that are anticipated in coastal zone; Pedernales and Anse-à-Pitre are the border zone could represent a chemical threat, the most significant cities in the southern coastal particularly if the use of chemicals in extraction zone. Similarly Lakes Azuei and Enriquillo are pol- processes remains unregulated. Special attention luted – via the watersheds that drain into them – by must be given to the organometallic compounds the inhabitants of cities and villages, and by the of mercury, which are used to mine gold, and are traders and customers at the binational markets. highly toxic when swallowed or inhaled. The condition of the lakes is a lot worse than that of the rivers or the coast for the simple reason that the Whatever the future holds for chemical pollutants, lakes do not drain, causing a sustained increase the contaminants that currently flow from the in contamination. border zone out into the ocean, are damaging the reproductive capacity of crustaceans and Water pollution in the border zone is essentially fish and so reducing the supply of seafood on the organic and is usually domestic or industrial island. 86 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 8 Environmental aspects 8.3 Bi-national markets and of trade, employment their environmental aspects and industry A large number of self-employed Haitians as well as family enterprises trade actively on the Dominican 8.1 Introduction side of the border area on a day trading basis while still living in Haiti. A substantial portion of this trade Transboundary trade and labour migration are takes place in the 14 bi-national markets that have key livelihoods for Haitians in the border area and been established throughout the border zone. The are also important to the Dominican border com- largest of these markets is the bi-national market of munity, partly because the Dominican agricultural Ouanaminthe-Dajabon, that is further described sector is now largely dependent upon cheap in case study 7. Haitian immigrant labour. Overall this trade is considered to be a very positive Transboundar y trade and labour migration activity that should be further encouraged. At between the two countries is currently a relatively the same time, measures are also needed to peaceful and mutually beneficial process, but combat and discourage the trade in illegal and it also provokes discrimination, environmental damaging goods, such as charcoal, subsidized degradation and significant tensions at both the fertilizer and banned chemicals, as well as the local and the national level. negative environmental aspect of the markets. Involve the UNEP Green customs initiative to train There is currently very limited industry in the border customs and enforcement officers on the control zone. This will change however if the recent pro- of trade in environmentally sensitive commodities. gress in exploration for gold and silver leads to the opening of large mines in the region, and when the The current state and placement of the bi-national development of an Industrial Park in the Northeast markets are a source of concern. They are currently department of Haiti that was inaugurated in not having the necessary infrastructure or organ- October 2012, continues. Such operations will ized in a way that would provide the possibility of provide economic opportunities, while also having controlling them, resulting in the markets being environmental impacts to be managed in the sources of pollution to the local waterways and areas where operations are taking place. the environment. Goods are, furthermore, often being sold in unhygienic conditions, increasing When looking at employment opportunities in the the risk of disease. border area it is also worth remembering the jobs in reforestation and watershed management that In relation to the trade of natural resources, the UNEP have been created under the auspices of the regional office of Latin America and the Caribbean various bi-national initiatives that have already has an on-going initiative called “Green Customs been mentioned (MPP project, the Caribbean Initiative” (GCI). The objectives of the initiative Biological Corridor, the Artibonite project, etc.). are “to enhance the capacity of customs and other relevant enforcement personnel to monitor and facilitate the legal trade and to detect and 8.2 Key Issues prevent illegal trade in environmentally-sensitive commodities”.282 The key trade, employment and industry issues identified in the border zone are: The Dominican Republic already has a dedicated • Bi-national markets and their environmental Green Customs Unit, but nevertheless the assess- aspects. ment team identified a need in both countries to improve the ways in which they control the • Rural population increase and transboundary trade in environmentally sensitive commodities. migration. Both countries could enhance the training and • Environmental aspects of mining and industrial equipment given to officials working at the development. border and keep the traders and members of the Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 87 private sector better informed. Customs personnel makes them easy targets for thieves, and dishonest working in both Ouanaminthe (Haiti) and Dajabon soldiers and custom officials. Haitians have no (Dominican Republic) listed the following areas right to complain, once they have crossed the that require tighter regulation: charcoal, chemicals border, and no authorities to turn to for help, as (agropesticides, hazardous wastes), plastic and no such authority exists on the Haitian side.283 The other solid waste. main complaints of the Haitian population, when visiting the bi-national markets on the Dominican Another acute political problem to address involves side include:284 the legal and policy vacuum regarding the status, • Arbitrary fees demanded by customs and obligations and rights of the Haitian traders operat- military officials. ing in Dominican territory and the inequity, abuse and corruption associated with their presence. In • High taxes demanded for places in the market, short, Haitian traders often are or feel mistreated in the case of Belladère. and exploited by Dominican authorities and by • Confiscation and theft of Haitian merchandise. elements of the Dominican business community. • Verbal and physical abuse, as well as unofficial During market days merchants and buyers from collection of taxes by soldiers and customs authorities. both countries are to be allowed to enter the marketplace on equal terms. 12 of the 14 markets • Un-paid debts by Dominicans who buy Haitian are, however, located on Dominican territory, merchandise on credit, and the inability of creating some problems for Haitian merchants, Haitians to get Dominican authorities to act who carry both money and merchandise. This on their behalf. © UNEP Bi-national markets provide an opportunity for small scale farmers to sell their produce to inhabitants on both sides of the border. A major problem, however, exist in respect to the lack of rights of Haitian merchants once they have crossed the border into the Dominican Republic. 88 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  Case study 7. Cross-border trade in the market of Ouanaminthe – Dajabón In parallel with the formal trade between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, informal transactions between the two countries have become increasingly important in recent years and attract merchants of both nationalities to several of the bi-national markets. Studies conducted in 2001 estimated the value of official agricultural trade between the two countries to USD 10 million per year and the informal agricultural trade to USD 40-60 million.285 Of the 14 bi-national markets along the border, the market of Dajabón – Ouanaminthe is the main place for informal trade between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.286 This particular market also represents 56% of the total value of Haitian informal exports to the Dominican Republic.287 Between 2004 and 2005 over USD 5 million worth of products passed from Haiti to the Dominican Republic through this market.288 The market is located mainly on Dominican territory and operates twice a week. Each market day, Dominican border officials allow Haitian producers, sellers and consumers to cross the border without controlling their identification. Inside the market, a space is reserved for Haitian merchants, who pay a certain sum for each square meter they use.289 The goods exchanged there are mostly agricultural produce. Mainly bananas, eggs, onions, shallots and mirlitons are sold by Dominicans to Haitians. Haitians sell mostly rice, green beans and garlic, but also seasonal products such as avocado, grenadia and bitter orange, to the Dominican Republic. De spite be ing by far the large st market, Dajabón – Ouanaminthe is not specialized in the trade of animals, except for poultry. More than 50% of the trade in livestock (such as goat, beef and pork) happens in Hato Viejo. 37% of it happens in Tilory, and 11% of it in Capotille. In 2001, exports of animals represented 11% of the value of total exports from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.290 The bi-national market of Ouanaminthe- © UNEP Dajabon is the largest of the 14 bi-national markets. 8.4 Rural population increase At the same time, Haitian migrant labour strongly and transboundary migration supports the Dominican economy through low-cost labour, while it provides livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, which also is supporting Rural overcrowding, severe forms of environmental the Haitian economy through remittances. The degradation, and lack of livelihood options on the largest single problem for Haitian migrant workers Haitian side of the border are driving transboundary in the Dominican Republic is mistreatment and migration towards the Dominican Republic. The exploitation by their Dominican employers. This is management and treatment of Haitian migrants particularly acute for illegal migrants, who make in the Dominican Republic is a high profile up the majority of working migrants since the post transboundary issue. After the earthquake the earthquake surge of 2010. Problems noted include number of Haitians living in the Dominican a failure to pay salaries, poor work and living Republic increased by 15%. Haitian migrants conditions, forced expulsions, and intimidation. now represent approximately 10% of the entire Dominican population.291 The use of detrimental It is a particular problem in the border area. The practices by the migrants, like those which have Dominican side of the area has a high population caused much of the environmental degradation of Haitian agricultural laborers and the border posts in Haiti, such as soil erosion and productivity losses, themselves are flashpoints for abuse and conflict. are now damaging areas on the Dominican side Haitians returning home after a period of illegal of the border. work in the Dominican Republic are frequently both Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 89 carrying money, and missing their documentation, perceived, increase in the incidence of robbery which makes them highly vulnerable to theft and and violent crimes committed by Haitians.293 extortion. Haitians are mainly employed to work in jobs The combination of having no rights on the that Dominicans do not want to do themselves. Dominican side and, in the absence of effective Nevertheless, the most frequently articulated state institutions, no recourse to justice on the Dominican fear about the Haitians concerns the Haitian side, migrant labourers are left with little or “takeover” of many economic niches, including no opportunity for redress. not only rural agricultural field labour, but also urban construction sites.294 For the Dominicans liv- On the Dominican side, there is a general view ing in the border area, the Haitian presence within that many of the problems encountered, both various sectors is a valuable and valued source of social and environmental, originate from the field labourers who will work for lower wages then Haitian side of the border, nurturing mistrust towards Dominicans. However, local and national media Haitians. Dominican complaints and fears about often portray this labour force as an “invasion” Haitians can be summarized in two categories: (albeit sometimes “peaceful invasion”),295 which delinquency and intimidating behavior, and fear risks increasing the tensions between Haitians and of economic and demographic “invasion”. 292 Dominicans. Dominican authorities also complain Since the earthquake, there has been an influx about the lack of Haitian authorities. Haitians of unemployed Haitians and a real, rather than who have committed crimes in the Dominican © UNEP Many Haitians – or people born in the Dominican Republic but of Haitian descent – live in rural parts of the Dominican side of the border zone. Many of them are uneducated and live in poverty, such as this woman in the Pedernales watershed, who has four children, none of whom attend a school. 90 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Evidence that Dominicans are leaving the border zone and moving to the cities can be seen in some areas in the border zone: like this vacant house in the small Dominican border town of Mencia in the Pedernales Watershed. Republic, they point out, can escape justice simply many places around the world where mining has by returning to Haiti. caused environmental damage and social unrest. Indeed, political unrest led to the closure of Haiti’s Since the outbreak of cholera in Haiti in 2010, last copper mine in the early 1970’s.296, 297 Despite the Dominican authorities have taken a more these caveats, if economical, environmental and hostile approach towards Haitians in the border, social concerns are handled correctly, mineral and established more border controls. As a exploitation can bring much needed revenues to consequence Haitians find it harder to cross the the country, and create job opportunities for both border, even when they are looking to trade in skilled and unskilled labour. the bi-national markets or to access medical care. Mining is an important potential issue for the border area because the geology of interest runs 8.5 Environmental aspects of mining east-west and the formations that contain gold and industrial development and other minerals on the Dominican side, are also present on the Haitian side. Mining companies Despite expert confirmation of the presence active in the Dominican Republic, such as Eurasian of deposits of precious and base metals on Minerals, claim that Haiti has mineral potential Hispaniola, mining has previously not been a key similar to that of the Dominican Republic.298 source of income for either country. This is about to change because recently, the price of precious Mining activities in the Dominican Republic have metals has increased and a large gold mine greatly increased since 2010. The main minerals has opened in the Dominican Republic. Mining concerned are gold, copper (the exploration of may well present both countries not only with which is concentrated in the Eastern Cordillera and opportunities, but also with risks. There are, after all, the Central Cordillera) and nickel (mainly in the belt Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 91 between these two cordilleras), but the island also and probable reserves at the site are estimated has some bauxite deposits used for the production at 117 million ounces of silver, and 157,881 tons of aluminium.299 of copper, with current market values of USD 3.7 billion and USD 1.2 billion respectively. The Pueblo At the time of writing, the export of minerals is more Viejo mine is a good example of stakeholder important to the Dominican economy than that of cooperation – including the Dominican Federation sugar, coffee, cacao or tobacco combined, and of Municipalities, financing entities, NGO’s and the is second only in importance to goods from the local communities, – working together to create free trade zones.300 Barrick Gold is in the process workable solutions to issues related to the new of opening the Pueblo Viejo gold mine. It will mine.302 be situated about 150 km from the border and will afford access to an estimated 20.4 million There has already been some exploitation of ounces of gold, which has a current market value bauxite reserves in the Pedernales watershed close of approximately USD 34 billion.301 It is expected to to the border. These operations, which exploited be the fourth largest gold mine in the world, with raw bauxite and exported it to North America for production estimated at approximately one million processing, closed down approximately four years ounces of gold per year mined during the first five ago, but are expected to start up again in the years of production. In addition to gold, the proven near future.303 © UNEP Bauxite – the raw material for aluminum – was mined in the Dominican Republic, adjacent to the Sierra de Bahoruco national park and close to the border with Haiti, until four years ago. With raw material prices on the rise, operations are likely to resume in the near future. 92 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  ! ^ Map 11. Mining exploration and exploitation licensees close to the border in the Dominican Republic and Haiti I 20°N Atlantic Ocean 72°W 71°W Cuba Haiti Dominican Republic Monte-Cristi Port-au-Prince Santo Domingo ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ ! ^ P ! Ri oY Puerto Pl ! ^ o ! ^ q ue del N Cap-Haïtien ! P o rt e [ · Fort- ! ^ Liberté . Massacr !C Riv ! P ! ^ !C ! ^ CC !! !C e Dajabón Mao C ! Ouanaminthe ! P ! ! ^ bin P ! a yu ! ^ Santiago Gonaives e Gu otill ! P C ap R ivi ao ! ^ èr e ! ^ oM C an Ri ot Ri v ièr e Libon Riv. Guaya m ouc ca Jo R io P ! ! ^ Hinche te ci n o i To on rtib R io ! ^ A Ri v. v. Ri Ar ! ^ 19°N ! ^ t ib on o ite ic on R io Y ab Elías Piña P ! ! RI Belladère O M San Juan Rio S AC P ! R iv AS an J . F er à ua Cheval IA n ! ^ PORT-AU- PRINCE [ · ! ^ Jimaní Su r Neiba l P ! de ! P ue Azua Ri Yaq ! P v. o Bl an Ri c he s ale Jacmel rn ! P Pede [ Barahona · Ri v. P ! L ib e n Ro n binso Legend Caribbean Ni al t z o !C Datum: WGS 84 Potential mining sites in Haiti Sea UTM Zone 18N where exploration is taking place ! P Pedernales Anse-à-Pitre ! 18°N Mine exploration and exploitation in ! ^ Dominican Republic Metal exploration (granted) [ · Sources: MINUSTAH Metal exploitation (granted) UN Cartographic Section Non-metal exploitation (granted) Non-metalic exploration (being processed) 0 10 20 Km Non-metalic exploitation (being processed) UNEP The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement by the United Nations. - 2012 UNEP 2013. ! ^ ! ^ Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 93 ! ^ Mineral exploration is starting in Haiti.304 Several 2012, the government of Haiti, the Inter-American exploration and development licenses have Development Bank, the U.S. State Department and already been signed, including: the Clinton Foundation inaugurated the Caracol Industrial Park (CIP) – a modern manufacturing • the exploitation of silver-gold deposits in Morne facility of 246 ha in northern Haiti close to the Grand Bois and Morne Bossa. border with the Dominican Republic. • the exploration and exploitation of a gold deposit in Failles. The CIP is a USD 300 million project, designed to promote investment, to increase the availability • the exploration and exploitation of copper of electricity, and to create jobs in the region. As deposits in Douvray and Blondin. with other large scale industrial developments, • the prospection for copper and gold in the environmental and social impact assessments regions of Mémé and Casséus. should be taken into consideration, in order to avoid potential negative effects to the surrounding The first environmental provisions related to environment and livelihoods, as well as to ensure mining in Haiti were established in 1974, obliging the support of the local population. the beneficiary of a mining claim to protect the environment or face sanctions. These provisions are still in force in the form of the “Code Minier” today. The potential issues linked to the start of large scale mining in the border zone include: • Displacement of communities and associated unrest. • An explosion of damaging and unregulated artisanal mining. • Environmental damage as a result of harmful processes or leakage of residues from the mining process. • Uncontrolled local migration to mining sites, “boom towns” with associated social and environmental issues. • Land grabbing and property speculation. When new mining concessions are granted, several issues related to natural resources govern- ance should be taken into consideration: • land tenure. • transparency and accountability. • public participation in the decision-making process. • sharing of mining revenues. • the capacity of the relevant authorities to review the environmental impact assessments of any proposed investments. Industrial development is another issue that provides both an opportunity, as well as risks for the border zone if not handled correctly. In October 94 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Part 3 Analysing trends and causes 9 Strategic Analysis The results and implications of the analysis are summarized as follows: 9.1 Purpose and methodology Key issues: Serious instability risks are noted on both sides of the border, but the situation is very The purpose of the strategic analysis exercise was asymmetric. Local issues noted on the Haitian to assist in the development of workable solutions side are largely representative of national scale to the many identified key issues. The analysis has issues. In sharp contrast, many of the issues on three main components: the Dominican side are largely caused by or 1. Comparative analysis of the listed key issues associated with an overspill of Haitian population and opportunities. into Dominican territory. Despite being politically sensitive this finding is undeniable. 2. Identification and assessment of underlying driving forces. Scale: The issues span all scales: from local to 3. Assessment of the potential shocks and stress- bi-national, with most issues being at least depart- es (environmental, disasters, market, social mental in scale. This indicates that very focused etc.). investments are needed for selected hotspots and very large scale investments will be needed to address the multiple department, national and 9.2 Issue comparative analysis bi-national scale issues. Table 2 below provides a basic comparative Evidence base: The strength of the evidence analysis of the list of key issues identified in Part II. base is generally relatively strong, with some small It is acknowledged that the comparative analysis but clear gaps. This indicates that overall there is is qualitative and therefore cannot be used to only a limited need for further research and data conduct a quantitative ranking and determine collection on most issues. The evidence base the potential magnitude of the risk. However, is generally sufficient to enable the design of the analysis does provide useful indications for solutions, and investments in practical action. The prioritization and solution development. flooding from Lake Azuei is a notable exception to that statement. For each key issue, the table identifies the scale, the strength of the evidence base, the current trend Trends: The overall trend noted is ongoing slow and level of predictability, and the associated level decline, with one issue, the flooding of Lake Azuei of instability risk. and Lake Enriquillo, noted as worsening rapidly. Triangulation of collected qualitative data was Trend predictability: Most trends appear relatively used to reach the findings presented in Table 2. predictable, with strong evidence of an ongoing The various sources used during the assessment slow decline stretching back for up to 30 years; process formed the evidence base for the identi- possibly more. Migration trends are less stable and fied key issues. When this data, collected from predictable. various sources was cross-examined, and when multiple sources pointed in the same direction Instability risk: Several of the key issues present the specific trends and instability risks could be a short term high bi-national instability risk. The identified, as described in chapter 1.3. tensions as well as violent conflicts reported to the Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 95 Table 2. Key issues identified in the report Key Issue Scale Evidence base Trend Trend Short term Predictability binational instability risk Agriculture Land degradation Binational Strong Slow Negative High Low Transboundary agriculture Binational Strong Slow Negative Medium Medium Land tenure Haiti biased Strong Stable High High Forestry and protected area management Forest clearance and forest fires Binational Strong Slow Negative Medium Medium Uncontrolled transboundary charcoal Dominican Strong Slow Negative Medium High trade local to Departmental Collection of Fuel wood Binational Strong Slow Negative Medium Medium Protected area management Binational Strong Slow Negative Medium High and biodiversity Reforestation Binational Strong Positive Medium None Water resources and flooding Transboundary river flooding Binational local Strong Stable High Low – 2 hotspots Water scarcity, access and pollution Binational local Moderate Slow Negative Medium Low Lake Azuei and Lac Enriquillo flooding Binational local Weak Rapid Negative Low High (instability) Transboundary dams and water Binational Weak No Evidence No Evidence Medium extraction Coastal and marine resources Illegal transboundary– and overfishing Binational Strong Stable High High Mangrove cutting for wood and Binational local Strong Slow Negative Low Low creation of salt pans hotspots Marine protected areas DR local Strong No Evidence No Evidence Medium and biodiversity hotspots Trade in marine species Binational Strong Positive Low Low Contamination Binational Weak No Evidence No Evidence Low Environmental aspects of trade, employment and industry Bi-national markets and their Binational Strong No Evidence No Evidence High environmental aspects Rural population increase and Binational Strong No Evidence No Evidence High transboundary migration Environmental aspects of mining Binational Moderate No Evidence No Evidence Medium and industrial development 96 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone assessment team are all small scale, essentially 2. Environmental degradation, in particular on the clashes between individuals and smaller groups. Haitian side of the border. On their own, they have a relatively low risk of 3. Weak governance. escalation at the local level. The main risk of escalation comes from such cases inflaming 4. Haiti-Dominican Republic economic and existing tensions at the national level, triggering resource inequalities. wider conflict perhaps driven by the media or escalated for political motives. This risk should Table 3 summarizes how the identified key issues not be under-estimated, as perceived injustices are linked to the four identified underlying driving in individual cases can have powerful triggering forces. effects where tensions are already high, even if the two situations are otherwise unrelated. 1) Haitian poverty, food insecurity and under-development These are considered to be the core driving The most serious economic risk is presented by forces for virtually all of the issues noted. The the flooding of Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo, as driving forces manifest themselves particularly this has in the past closed the border temporarily when looking at the high dependence on and may do so again, with serious economic subsistence agriculture combined with high consequences to Haiti and significant but lesser population growth in the area and underde- impacts on the Dominican Republic. This is not velopment in the energy sector. an instability risk per se, on the contrary the crisis would probably force co-operation between the Maintaining an adequate and sustainable two countries. Nonetheless an extended closure livelihood from subsistence farming is a chal- of the Malpas border would be very economically lenge in all countries: in Haiti it is now close to damaging for Haiti and this damage might in turn impossible. This is due to a combination of: a) trigger instability. very high rural population density (estimated at over 250/km2) with a population that is growing Positive developments: There are some clear posi- much faster than the average of the country, tive trends, including reforestation programmes, resulting in very small land holdings; b) moder- transboundary cooperation and increased bi- ate to low quality soils, that have been further national trade in the border zone. The most positive degraded as a result of man-made activities; aspect of the Dominican-initiated reforestation and c) insufficient agricultural investments and activities, including the Frontera Verde / MPP inputs. The net result is that rural families cannot initiative, is that it builds on a model of reforestation generate an adequate livelihood or grow that has been tested and proven to work over a sufficient food from their own landholdings. number of years in the Dominican Republic. In Without education and other employment addition, many of the identified transboundary opportunities, artisanal farming families are cooperation and trade initiatives are owned and caught in a poverty and food insecurity led by local people, and are cost-effective and so trap. it should be economically viable to support and This combination of land shortages, poverty improve them without depending on aid. and labor surplus generates a large and mobile rural labour force. The people in that 9.3 Identification of underlying labour force have negligible capital and are continually looking for livelihood opportunities driving forces away from their own landholdings – both in Haiti and across the border. In the border The 20 identified key issues do not have 20 different zone, the available jobs are all relatively causes. On the contrary, the many different issues unskilled, low paid, highly insecure, and often are considered to be linked to or manifestations of environmentally destructive. The list of them only four closely interlinked driving forces: includes sharecropping, farm laboring, coastal 1. Haitian poverty, food insecurity and under- fishing, fuel wood harvesting and charcoal development. production. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 97 Table 3 Summary of how key issues are linked to the identified underlying driving forces Underlying Driving Forces Category Issues Haitian Environmental Weak Haiti-DR poverty, food Degradation Governance Economic insecurity, and and underdevelopment Resource Inequalities Agriculture Land degradation X X X Transboundary agriculture X X X X Land tenure X X X X Forestry and protected area management Forest clearance & forest fires X X X X Uncontrolled transboundary charcoal X X X X trade Collection of fuel wood X X X Protected area X X X X management&biodiversity Reforestation x x Water resources and flooding Transboundary river flooding X Water scarcity, access and pollution X X X X Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo X flooding Transboundary dams and water x extraction Coastal and marine resources Illegal transboundary– and X X X X overfishing Mangrove cutting for wood and X X creation of salt pans Marine protected areas & X X biodiversity Trade in marine species x X Contamination x x Environmental aspects of Trade, Employment and Industry Bi-national markets and their X X X environmental aspects Rural population increase and X X X X transboundary migration Environmental aspects of mining & x x industrial development 98 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP Extreme poverty is a key driving force leading to unsustainable practices and further environmental degradation. It is important to note the scale of this mobile border will have only limited impact if the issues labour force and the source region. With noted on both sides are driven by the mobile unemployment in Haiti estimated to be in labor pool drawn from all over rural Haiti. the order of 41% or four million people,305 the 2) Haitian environmental degradation potential mobile rural labour pool searching for alternatives is crudely estimated to be well The three most important forms of environmen- over one million. tal degradation are: deforestation, soil erosion and marine environmental degradation. Finally, population grow th needs to be factored into any proposed solution. The cur- Environmental degradation on the Haitian side rent estimated growth rate of the population of the border zone already has had three sub- of Haiti is 1.3% per annum, with a projected stantial material impacts: a) it has dramatically growth of 25% over the next 20 years, reaching lowered the productivity of farming and forestry a population of 12.5 million by 2030.306 The land; b) increased the severity of river flood growth rate in the border zone is much higher peaks; and c) has decreased the fish stocks than this, between 3-4 %, in most areas along in the coastal waters. Lowered productivity the border zone. It is clear that the artisanal has fed into the problems of artisanal farmers farming population on the Haitian side of the further exacerbating rural poverty and unskilled border zone has already surpassed sustain- labour mobility. The increased flooding has able numbers, so all future growth adds to the already impacted the towns of Fonds Verrettes, mobile labour pool. Jimani and Pedernales / Anse-à-Pitre. This large and growing mobile labour force has Deforestation and devegetation of sloping critical implications for solution development. land is a primary cause of much of the prob- For example, targeted investment in livelihood lem. The deforestation process is not complete creation in Haitian communities close to the anywhere in the border zone, however it is Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 99  © UNEP A charcoal kiln made from the last few pieces of wood to be found on a barren hillside in the central parts of the border zone is a sad example of extreme environmental degradation. much further advanced in a much larger area market through a combination of governance on the Haitian side of the border. Deforestation and provision of a better alternative in the form linked to the illegal charcoal business is a of LPG: this is yet to happen in Haiti. major issue for the Dominican Republic. The The critical point about charcoal in the border deforestation and devegetation, combined zone is that it is a net exporter and local with soil tilling and overgrazing has resulted in demand is not significant. Essentially it is the soil erosion, which is the direct cause of the charcoal demand in Port-au-Prince that drives farming productivity losses and increase in the entire charcoal economy. This has critical flood peaks. The irreversibility of soil erosion is implications for solution development – the a major factor for solution development – it is energy demand issue cannot be solved in already too late for much of the Haitian side the border zone. Suppressing the supply in of the border zone and it is vital that the same the ongoing presence of strong demand is degree of loss is not extended further – on not considered a viable solution on its own. either side of the border. 3) Weak governance The underdevelopment of the energy sector This is a truly crosscutting issue, affecting all in Haiti drives the charcoal business in both parts of economy and society. This is an issue Haiti and the Dominican Republic and all of for both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, but its consequences. Charcoal produced by much more acute for Haiti. artisanal means is highly inefficient, expensive and environmentally destructive. The Domini- On the Haitian side of the border, weak govern- can Republic has successfully moved beyond ance is manifested as an effective absence artisanal charcoal for its domestic energy of the state, and financial destitution where 100 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  it is present. The Haitian population simply 4) Haiti-Dominican Republic economic and cannot turn to the state for justice or adequate resource inequalities services. As a result the population both It is the inequality of economic opportunities suffers and is not adequately controlled on and of the remaining natural resources that common interest issues such as environmental underlies many of the more complex issues protection. In the border zone on the Haitian noted in the Haiti – Dominican Republic border side there is effectively zero environmental zone. governance. The natural resources remaining in the On the Dominican side, the legislative frame- Dominican Republic side of the border zone work and institutional capacity in the Domini- (agricultural soils and forests) were originally the can Republic are overall more than adequate same as that of Haiti, but are now generally and the presence of the state is visible far superior due to a complex mix of factors, throughout the border zone. Parts of the border including environmental degradation on the zone are, however, impacted by governance Haitian side and improved governance on the lapses in the form of petty corruption. This not Dominican side. only enables the illegal charcoal industry to thrive – despite its very clear illegality – but The Dominican side also provides much also increases the risk and damages the more employment opportunities, as well as Dominican environment. A second issue uncultivated land than the Haitian side of is local under-resourcing of enforcement. the border. Additionally, as the border zone The Dominican Government has allocated is not a high opportunity economic region insufficient staff and funds, for example, to for Dominican citizens, and development adequately address deforestation on private elsewhere in the Dominican Republic has land and in protected areas in the border generated many non-farming business and zone. employment opportunities, there has been © UNEP Entering the Haitian border town of Belladère. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 101  a marked out-migration of the Dominican epidemic. Several of the border zone issues have population from rural areas and a major reduc- the potential to be affected negatively by such tion in artisanal farming of marginal land by shocks and acute stresses. Dominican Republic citizens. This out-migration has opened up vacant agriculture land on the Collectively incidents including both disasters, con- Dominican Republic side of the border zone flicts, epidemics and economic and social unrest that attracts in-migration of Haitian farmers. are labeled shocks. Given that this assessment has established that there is a large scale, slow decline Multiple factors have combined to cause sig- in progress and the environment is and continues nificant infiltration/worker migration of Haitian to be degraded, then the potential for tipping citizens into the Dominican Republic side of points within that context needs to be established. the border zone. These include a large and Tipping points are incidents and events that result growing mobile Haitian unskilled labor force, in a material worsening of pre-existing problems relatively lax border controls, reduced and and trends, resulting passing critical thresholds damaged natural resources on the Haitian beyond which the system is governed by new side, significant remaining natural resources processes and structures. For example, a forest fire on the Dominican side, and out-migration of in an already partly deforested mountainous area Dominican citizens from the Dominican side is a shock, and will result in a rapid drop in forest of the border. cover and extensive bare soil, resulting in turn in a tipping point for accelerated and irreversible soil 9.4 Shocks erosion in specific areas. National or regional growth or decline is not always Table 4 lists and describes the key identified a smooth process. It is also tightly linked to the potential shocks, that may potentially affect the resilience of the state, its population and related Haiti-Dominican Republic border zone livelihoods to be able to respond to vulnerabilities, such as absorb economic, social and political In respect to the first incident listed in Table 4 disturbances, as well as anticipate and recover “Hurricane and river flooding”, climate change is from natural hazards, climate variability and envi- likely to further worsen the situation in the long run. ronmental degradation. Decline in particular can A model predicting the effect of anthropogenic be abrupt, as it was in Haiti after the 2008 floods, warming on the frequency of Atlantic hurricanes the 2010 earthquake and during the cholera found that the incidence of Category 4 and 5 Table 4. Key potential shocks identified Shock Likelihood – frequency Principal impacts Scale Hurricane and river flooding High – every 5 years or less Economic and environmental Departmental-binational destruction Earthquake Low – every 50-200 years Economic destruction + broad Departmental-binational impacts Cholera outbreak High – cholera is now endemic Social and economic & political inc. Departmental-binational in Haiti. border closures Haiti internal political instability High – Annual frequency or Social, economic & political inc. National – riots higher since 1990 border closures Violent conflict between Haitian High – small scale incidents Social with potential for political Binational – localized and Dominican Republic citizens occur annually at least escalation Large scale forest fires Moderate – every 2-20 years Social, economic and environmental Local Drought High – every 5 years or less Social, economic and environmental Binational 102 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Atlantic storms will double in the next century.307 Nevertheless this forecast is not universally accepted, as the debate continues regarding the links between climate change and the frequency and average energy of hurricanes in the Caribbean. Other forecasts with relation to climate change are increased temperatures and increased rainfall variability and intensity.308, 309, 310 This, in turn will all have a negative impact on rain fed agriculture, the mainstay of the economy of the border zone. In summary, there is a high potential for some sort of shock in the border zone on at least an annual basis, although it is impossible to predict the location, scale and intensity. Over a period of 20 years, for example, this level of vulnera- bility translates into a near certainty for several shocks, both minor and major. This has critical implications for forecasting and development planning – essentially any forecasts and plans for the border zone need to take into account the vulnerability and resilience levels of the local population, as well as the high probabil- ity for shocks that will affect the current situation negatively. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 103 Part 4 The way forward 10. Findings and fed agriculture, the mainstay of the economy of the border zone. The forecast therefore is for Recommendations climate change to worsen the current situation in the long term. 10.1 Key findings • Several issues related to the environment and Key findings of this study are listed below. There the use of natural resources present a short is strong evidence of the ongoing vulnerability of term high instability risk in the relations between the region to slow decline, as well as to shocks the populations of the two countries. These that may rapidly accelerate that decline thereby include illegal charcoal trade; illegal farming degrading the stability and development status and cutting of trees on Dominican land and of the border zone. inside Dominican Republic protected areas; unclear marine territorial delimitation and illegal • Several of the noted problems in the border transboundary fishing; and flooding of land and zone, such as deforestation and soil erosion, infrastructure due to the rapid rise of lake Azuei are very large scale and have been developing and lake Enriquillo. for several generations. Degradation in the worst parts of the Haitian border zone is almost • On the opportunity side, important progress has completely irreversible, due to a near total loss already been achieved by a limited number of vegetation cover and productive topsoil of ad hoc local and national initiatives, such across wide areas. Based on observed trends, as the Frontera Verde tree planting brigades, including the use of detrimental practices commune level bi-national cooperation and similar to those which have caused much of the cooperation between livelihood associations degradation in Haiti, soil erosion and productiv- on both sides of the border. Sustainable ity losses are forecast to increase significantly in agricultural programmes such as agroforestry, the Dominican side of the border zone. and associated trade also represent a large opportunity for poverty reduction in the border • The three direct causes of land degradation region.312 However it was well noted that most of in the border zone are the same as for the these commendable efforts are at continual risk rest of Haiti and for parts of the Dominican of reversal and even collapse due to financial Republic: a near total absence of erosion shortfalls or a lack of political or institutional control measures for cleared land on slopes; support. land clearing for agriculture, including the use • The 20 key issues identified in the border have of fire (slash-and-burn agriculture); and tree four main underlying driving forces: Haitian pov- cutting for energy – both charcoal and fuel erty, food insecurity and underdevelopment; wood. Illegal charcoal trade or slash and burn environmental degradation; weak governance; agriculture occurring across the border is nearly and Haiti-Dominican Republic economic and always made possible by alliances between resource inequalities. Most of these driving Dominicans and Haitians. forces are national in scale. This means that • Climate change could increase the frequency it would not be viable to only develop stand and average energy of hurricanes in the Carib- alone environmental or local solutions – instead bean, a situation that would leave Haiti and an integrated and larger scale approach is the Dominican Republic even more vulnerable often needed. For example rural food insecurity than they are at present.311 Other forecasts and extreme poverty are in part driving the with relation to climate change are increased unsustainable slash and burn agricultural prac- temperatures and increased rainfall variability, tices on the Haitian side and the associated which would have a negative impact on rain massive soil erosion and deforestation. Similarly, 104 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  © UNEP A charcoal kiln burning inside the forest on the Dominican side of the border seen from the vantage point of a denuded hillside on the Haitian side of the border, a couple of km outside of the Dominican town of Pedro Santana. local charcoal demand is not significant in the actions that it provokes. The analysis indicates border zone. It is the demand in Port-au-Prince both a difficult situation at present and worse to which is driving the whole charcoal economy, come in the absence of successful interventions calling for a national scale solution on energy. for the issues noted. There is a solid economic Finally, land tenure and tenant farming are rationale for early interventions: acting now may major obstacles, farmers understandably are avoid damaging instability and also much more prepared to invest only in land they either expensive interventions at a later date. own or can confidently control for longer periods. It is acknowledged however that economic and other resources are limited in both countries. The Most solutions would need to be bi-national or at extent of feasible international assistance is also least bi-nationally agreed, due to the very high relatively limited compared to the scale of the inter-connectivity of populations and issues across issues noted. Hence selection of an appropriate the border. strategy for response and prioritization will be key. Finally, the responsibility for many issues is shared, 10.2 Preface to the recommendations however recommendations are more effective if they are clearly assigned to specific parties The value and impact of this assessment is in each government with the mandate for their completely dependent upon the follow up implementation. The international community is Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 105 requested to help provide resources and build recommendations target well known existing capacity. Haitian specific issues, with the main emphasis on selection of investments that will also help In this context, the recommendations are pre- resolve issues in the border zone. sented in two parts: There are no recommendations for national level • Border zone: Detailed recommendations for investments for Dominican Government alone – all the border zone only and that apply either relevant recommendations are bi-national. This to both governments or require very close is because all proposed recommendations for cooperation between the Governments to be the Dominican government will have substantive implemented successfully or avoid generating implications for the large population of Haitian unnecessary conflicts. These recommenda- citizens visiting, living and working in the Dominican tions are targeted at issues that are very much Republic – and therefore the Government of Haiti border specific and/or represent the spillover must be engaged. of Haitian national issues into Dominican territory. The target audience for these recommendations • Haitian national level: Detailed recom- consists of policy makers and planners in the two mendations for national level investments governments and the international community for the Government of Haiti only. These supporting those governments. The detailed Table 5. Summary of the key recommendations, duration and cost estimates. The table also contains the prioritization of the recommendations, as detailed by the Haitian and Dominican government counterparts (I being the highest priority and III the lowest). Recommendations Description Schedule Cost/year Priority Priority (years) (M USD) (Haiti) (Dominican Republic) Bi-National Border Zone Recommendations Practical Action 1 Protecting and increasing the Continue support to bi-national 5+ 2 I I vegetation cover reforestation efforts 2 Sustainable agricultural Reform and develop the artisanal development and small scale agricultural sector 5 3 II I in the border zone 3 Transboundary river flood risk Invest in flood containment and reduction land use planning for affected 2 5 III II Dominican and Haitian townships 4 Improve sustainability of Support and improve conditions transboundary trade and bi- of existing bi-national markets to 3 8 III III national markets, while reducing promote sustainable trade their environmental impacts 5 Border zone economic Encourage the transition from development and diversification subsistence agriculture to MSME 5+ 5 II I led local economic development 6 Address pollution of Address the problem of solid transboundary rivers and bacteoroligical waste 3 2 III II contamination in transboundary rivers 106 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Table 5. Summary of the key recommendations, duration and cost estimates. (continued) Recommendations Description Schedule Cost/year Priority Priority (years) (M USD) (Haiti) (Dominican Republic) Improving Cooperation and Governance 7 Improve existing transboundary Build on, and expand, existing cooperation mechanisms that cooperation mechanisms and deal with environmental issues platforms. Emphasize information 5+ 2 II III and transboundary watersheds sharing and building the capacity of the Haitian government to work on bi-national projects. 8 Environmental governance and Increase enforcement of regulation and control of the Dominican and Haitian laws 5+ 5 I I charcoal trade and other forest related to forest conservation and products protected areas 9 Strengthen the management of Take steps to reduce the ongoing marine and coastal resources in decline of the marine and coastal 5+ 2 III II the border zone environment Research and Analysis 10 Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo Research the causes for the rise flooding analysis of the sea level in Lakes Azuei and 2 0,5 I III Enriquillo Haitian National Level Investment Recommendations 1 Improving governance in rural Increase the presence of the state as per nat. as per nat. areas in rural areas, while ensuring the strategic plan strategic plan II involvement of local stakeholders 2 Non-agricultural economic Provide alternatives to subsistence as per nat. as per nat. II development and diversification agriculture strategic plan strategic plan 3 Replace charcoal with LPG in Implement an integrated as per nat. as per nat. urban centres programme to replace the use of strategic plan strategic plan charcoal and study the potential II impacts a ban on the charcoal trade will have in Haiti 4 Sustainable agricultural Promote sustainable agricultural as per nat. as per nat. II development and reforestation practices and tree planting strategic plan strategic plan recommendations include estimates of the costs also to any other proposed interventions in the generated and of the schedules. In addition they border zone. nominate the owners of the recommendations, that is to say the parties responsible for their Table 5 summarizes the key recommendations sug- implementation. Donors and UN agencies can gested by this report. The recommendations have support either governments, but are not recom- been developed based on the analysis laid out in mendation owners. The recommendations are the previous chapters, in order to present informed followed by a proposed overall response strategy. suggestions for actions by the two governments This strategy can be applied to prioritizing both and their international partners. If implemented, the detailed recommendations provided and the recommendations are anticipated to: Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 107  © UNEP Children playing outside their home in the small town of Meillac by the Massacre River in the north of the island. • reduce chronic poverty and hunger in the 10.3 Bi-national border zone border zone, while promoting more sustainable recommendations livelihood practices and enhancing the resil- ience of the population to shocks and stresses. Introduction • preserve peaceful relations between the two The bi-national and border zone recommen- countries through increased national and local dations listed below apply either to both govern- level bilateral cooperation while reducing ments or require very close cooperation between tensions over border zone issues. the governments to be implemented. Although many of the underlying problems these recom- • contribute in a small but useful manner to the mendations set out to address are originating, national scale sustainable development and or are more severe on the Haitian side of the stability of both countries. border, it is in the interest of both countries to invest in their implementation, and to further invest in The recommendations aim to address the an integrated strategy for managing the border identified key issues and underlying driving forces zone. that affect the situation in the border zone. Annex IV summarizes how the 14 recommendations The recommendations are in line with the detailed in this chapter set out to address the objectives set out in the Haitian Strategic Plan for identified underlying driving forces. For an analysis the Development of Haiti: Emerging Country by on how the key issues identified are linked to the 2030, as well as the Law No. 1-12 on the National underlying driving forces, please refer to table 3 Development Strategy of the Dominican Republic in chapter 9.3. 2030.313, 314 108 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Ten recommendations are provided under three 9. Strengthen the management of marine and themes. The individual recommendations are coastal resources in the border zone. designed for minimal overlap in budget and Research and analysis implementation, however there are many strong linkages and synergies – the whole is larger than 10. Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo flooding analysis. the sum of its parts. Practical action Practical action 1. Protecting and increasing the vegetation 1. Protecting and increasing the vegetation cover. cover: Continue to financially and politically 2. Sustainable agricultural development. support the bi-national reforestation efforts. Reform efforts as needed to improve Haitian 3. Transboundary river flood risk reduction. and Dominican Government ownership, while 4. Improve the sustainability of transboundary ensuring a participatory approach among trade and the bi-national markets, while affected communities. Increase technical reducing their environmental impacts. assistance to improve the quality, consistency and sustainability of the re-forestation efforts 5. Border zone economic development and and implement a more strategic re-forestation diversification. program. 6. Address pollution of transboundary rivers. Design & scope Improving cooperation and governance a. Focus re-forestation activities to areas most 7. Improve existing transboundary cooperation vulnerable and erosion prone (steep slopes etc) mechanisms that deal with environmental rather than just where land is available. issues and transboundary watersheds. b. Expand the species list targeted for reforestation 8. Environmental governance and regulation to respond to local demand and provide self and control of the charcoal trade and other sustaining livelihood options through strategic forest products. planting of various species of trees (fruit trees, © UNEP Plant nurseries that have been set up in the border zone furnish the re-forestation brigades with saplings. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 109  honey production etc.) and the creation of Re-forestation brigades have also shown to be communal tree nurseries. able to increase awareness on more sustainable c. Expand the species listed for reforestation to practices within the communities where they work, include trees suitable for fuel wood collection, while the on-going MPP project has proven to be and also charcoal production in some Haitian a good platform for transboundary cooperation areas. on the ministerial level between the two countries. d. Include contracts with the landowners to ensure Cost: US$ 2 million per annum survival of planted trees and sustainability. Also Schedule: 5 years+ continue to support re-forestation activities with Responsibility: Ministry of Environment Haiti. Ministry technical assistance, including technicians of Environment and Natural Resources Dominican visiting the sites on a regular basis. Republic. e. Extend the scope of work beyond reforestation to include installation of erosion control fea- 2. S ustainable agricultural development: tures with integrated revegetation. Examples Reform and develop the artisanal and small include contour lines of elephant grass and scale agricultural sector in the border zone to bamboo planting integrated with rock gully improve sustainability and livelihoods. plug installations. Design & scope f. Include the most vulnerable population in the a. Train farmers in sustainable practices and work of the brigades in reforestation, and take crops that are suitable for the various locations into consideration the periodic vulnerability and climates existing along the border zone. of the population. This includes removing the Examples including fruit tree grafting and plant- requirement of having to be able to offer at least ing, agroforestry, improved seeds, seed storage, 1.25 carreau of land for the project, in order to crop rotation, fertilizer use and drip irrigation. be able to become a member of a brigade, as it is removing a critical number of needy b. Supplement technical support with logistical households to this cash for work project, as well and financial support for widely disseminated as households that are likely to be engaged in small scale investments such as fruit seedlings, charcoal production. improved seeds, fertilizer, seed bins, drip irriga- tion equipment. g. Schedule short term employment interventions if possible for when there is the greatest need. c. Introduce agricultural micro-credit. For example energy, water and food insecurity d. Address the issue of land tenure in the isolated occur specific times of the year, when alterna- parts of the border zone on the Dominican tive solutions are mostly needed. side (Elias Piña province) where this still is a h. The cooperation and exchange of information key problem. (Haitian land tenure is a national between the various international reforestation scale priority). and rehabilitation projects on-going in the border e. Strengthen the capacity of farmer organizations zone should be increased, in order to avoid to enable spreading of best practice, pooled overlap and increase the value for money spent. support, shorter supply chains between the i. P rioritize upper catchment reforestation for producers and end customers and economies transboundary catchments to cap existing flood of scale in implementing the introduced reforms risks (see below). and improvements. Rationale f. S trengthen the capacity of communities to Land degradation is a major issue in the border better utilize organic waste. region and deforestation is ongoing. Increased g. Enforce a ban on the use of slash and burn forest cover can arrest further degradation. agriculture whilst presenting viable alternatives. Labour intensive reforestation projects can provide short-term alternative livelihood opportunities and Rationale thereby decrease pressure on illegal transbound- At present artisanal and small scale agriculture ary deforestation and charcoal production. in the border zone (both sides of the border) is 110 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone both environmentally damaging and limited Responsibility: National Emergency Commis- in productivity. Moving beyond the destructive sion and the National Water Resource Institute cycle of slash and burn agriculture requires long of the Dominican Republic. Haitian Ministry of term and technically intensive investment in both Environment. practical support and changing mindsets. 4. Improve the sustainability of transbound- Cost: US$ 3 million per annum ary trade and the bi-national markets, Schedule: 5 years while reducing their environmental impacts: Support the existing bi-national Responsibility: Ministry of Agriculture Natural markets while providing better structures and Resources and Rural Development Haiti. Ministry opportunities for fair, profitable and more of Agriculture and Ministry of Environment in the sustainable trade between the two countries. Dominican Republic. Design & scope 3. Transboundary river flood risk reduction: a. Re-design the current structures of the bi- Invest in flood containment and land use national markets and re-build new ones on planning for affected Dominican and Haitian neutral ground, which would lead to equal townships on a long term worst case scenario treatment, as well as reduce the pollution of nearby watercourses, and improve the hygienic Design & scope conditions of facilities thereby reducing the risk a. Map and control the downstream areas of high of bacterial contamination. flood risk zones. This will need to extend to formal demarcation of zones, relocation of housing b. Improve the negotiating power of small-scale and prohibition of further development. farmers through support of the formation of farming cooperatives. b. Invest in improved/flood-resilient critical roads c. S top the illegal/grey transboundary trade in and bridges in the flood zones. environmentally sensitive goods, as well as c. Invest in flood containment infrastructure: subsidized products targeted for use in one gabions and revetments, to channel the country only (fertilizer, rice). floodwaters past towns and high value areas d. Involve the UNEP Green Customs Initiative to and infrastructure. train customs and enforcement officers on the d. Invest in better understanding the causes of control of trade in environmentally sensitive the floods and in establishing functioning early commodities. warning systems for communities at risk. Rationale Rationale The bi-national markets are the largest and most The flash floods which have previously damaged important sites of border zone petty trade. Their selected Dominican and Haitian towns (Jimani, impact is overall positive but they need reform Fonds Verrets, Pedernales, Anse-à-Pitre) in the and in some cases rebuilding, to reduce their border zone are linked to severe and mostly environmental impacts, improve equality, and irreversible degradation of the catchments in reduce conflict. Improved policing of transbound- Haitian territory. These risks must therefore be ary trading in general (both at the markets and considered permanent and not reducible via the main freight border crossings) is needed to low-cost upstream interventions. Further degrada- suppress trade of subsidized and environmentally tion of the watersheds may be partly controlled harmful goods. by reforestation, so these catchments should be Cost: US$ 8 million per annum targeted as priority for the Frontera Verde initiative. Schedule: 3 years Note that though this is a major issue faced by towns in both countries, it is only a transboundary Responsibility: Ministry of Industry & Commerce, issue in selected cases. Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources, municipalities, and the General Directorate of Cost: US$ 5 million per annum Customs in the Dominican Republic. Ministries of Schedule: 2 years Commerce and Interior in Haiti. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 111 5. B order zone economic development Responsibility: Ministries of Industry & Commerce, and diversification: Encourage the transition Tourism, Environment & Natural Resources, and from subsistence agriculture and illegal and municipalities in the Dominican Republic. Haitian damaging activities to micro–, small– and Ministries of Commerce and Industry, Interior and medium sized enterprises (MSME) led local Local Authorities, and Tourism. economic development in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, commerce and tourism. 6. A ddress pollution of transboundary rivers: Reduce the amount of solid and Design & scope bacteriological waste in transboundary rivers a. Extend existing successful technical assistance and phase down the threat to public health and microcredit schemes into the border zone. posed by waterborne diseases. Initially target the large unmet demand for microcredit from existing under – capitalized Design & scope MSMEs. a. A meliorate the bi-national governance structures that deal with transboundary water- b. Link assistance to environmentally sustain- sheds. able livelihood options, such as agroforestry, sustainable fisheries, agricultural processing b. Conduct basic measuring and assessments of and eco-tourism. the water quality, type of contamination and main sources of pollution in the transboundary c. Link assistance to disadvantaged and at risk rivers groups, such as women, youth and com- munities partly dependent upon illegal or c. Focus on municipal management of solid transboundary activities. waste and bacteriological contamination d. Invest in tourism in the border zone for the target d. Invest in basic waste management education market of international tourist day and short within communities bordering the water courses term trippers from the Dominican Republic. in both rural and urban areas. Potential attractions include historical sites, e. P rov id e the neces sa r y wa s te ha nd ling mangroves, reef and wreck diving, music and infrastructure. handicrafts. Establish transboundary links to ensure a coherent package and adequate Rationale care of tourists whilst in Haiti. Water pollution is a widespread problem in transboundary rivers. It is endemic to both countries Rationale due to their inadequate waste management, At present there are no large scale manufacturing sanitation and wastewater treatment. The pollution enterprises in the border zone and relatively limited in these rivers comes from households, villages and potential for them being established in the future, cities, and is such that the water spreads disease given the current emphasis on the Caracol region. and is unsuitable for domestic use in many areas, The border zone local economy is therefore cur- especially downstream. rently dependent upon MSMEs, petty trade and unsustainable subsistence livelihoods. Boosting Cost: US$ 2 million per annum MSMEs and the service economy is a proven route Schedule: 3 years for economic development and drawing local populations away from unsustainable livelihoods. Responsibilit y: Ministries of Environment & Field reconnaissance, interviews and household Natural Resources, Public Health and Welfare, surveys all found that a lack of small scale capital municipalities, National Institute of Potable Water is currently one of the greatest obstacles for MSMEs and Sewage in the Dominican Republic. Ministry in both countries in the border zone. The border of Environment and Ministry of Public Health and zone has niche tourism potential, which at present Population of Haiti. is completely unexploited. Cost: US$ 5 million per annum Schedule: 5 years+ 112 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Improving cooperation and governance e. Create dedicated policing, conflict resolution and information exchange mechanisms at 7. Improve existing transboundary co- the different levels, from national to local, operation mechanisms that deal with including cooperation between authorities of environmental issues and transboundary both countries to resolve disputes and combat watersheds: Build on the mechanisms and cross-border illegal activities and crimes. platforms for cooperation that already exist on f. E nsure any large scale mining, energy or various levels, to create a functioning network water resource projects with the potential for of cooperation, both across the border, as well transboundary impacts are integrated into as between the local and national levels. The the agenda of the high level cooperation overall cooperation framework, under which mechanisms. the other mechanisms should exist, should on the highest level be chaired by the presidents g. P romote open exchange of information of the two nations, in order to ensure necessary and the development of joint projects on political will and allocation of resources. the bi-national level. This includes improving the management of transboundary natural Design & scope resources: fish stocks, forests and water. a. Use the findings and recommendations of this study to inform on-going initiatives under the Rationale Joint Dominican-Haitian Bilateral Commission Transboundary/bi-national co-operation struc- (“Commission mixte binational haitiano- tures already exist on various levels, but lack dominicaine”), including the memorandum resources for effective implementation. Existing of understanding between the ministries of mechanisms include the Joint Dominican-Haitian planning, the memorandum of understanding Bilateral Commission, the border development on border security, the Bolivarian fund for agencies, the Haitian parliamentary commission solidarity with Haiti, as well as the memo- for the border, bi-national projects implemented randum of understanding on cross-border by international organizations, associations transportation. of mayors in the border zone and informal cooperation between community leaders and b. Strengthen the Haitians’ capacity to interact livelihood groups. These various mechanisms on an equal level with their Dominican and structures represent good cooperation/ counterparts on national and community level conflict resolution platforms which should be cooperation mechanisms, ranging from the further strengthened and institutionalized, as they bi-national commission to community level are perceived positively by stakeholders in both mayors associations. This process would involve countries. improving information sharing and technical training and sourcing of operational funds. However, all stakeholders point out the lack of bal- ance between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, c. Emphasize information sharing between the where most of the Haitian structures currently lack two countries, as well as information sharing human, financial and technical capacities and to and coordination between on-going and some extent suffer from a lack of political weight future projects in the border zone. and backing. In addition, the flow and exchange d. Formalize and support the existing local level of information on the border landscape is still informal transboundary cooperation mecha- insufficient, be it across the border or from the nisms, and that currently to a large extent is local to the national level in Haiti. based on interpersonal relationships, to ensure Cost: USD 2 million per annum the long-term survival of such successful initiatives. This would include the bi-national Schedule: 5 years+ commune/mayors forums and partnerships Responsibility: Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the between livelihood groups from both sides Dominican Republic and in Haiti. of the border (associations of fishermen and beekeepers etc). Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 113 8. Environmental governance and regula- political support for protected area manage- tion and control of the charcoal trade ment. Suppressing the transboundary charcoal and other forest products: Increase trade will most likely result in some level of unrest enforcement of Dominican and Haitian law on among the large number of Haitians who rely protected areas and forest conservation. on charcoal for their daily energy needs. The impacts of such a suppression is therefore to be Design & scope well understood and mitigating actions are to be a. Better protect forests and national parks and considered. reserves in or near the border in the Dominican Republic against illegal settlements, agricultural Cost: US$ 5 million per annum clearing and charcoal production. Schedule: 5 years+ b. For regulation and control of the charcoal trade, Responsibility: Ministry of Environment and Natural focus on the Dominican side of the border zone Resources in the Dominican Republic. Ministries of near Lake Azuei. Aim for long term full suppression Interior – both countries. of the trade rather than episodic crackdowns. This includes confronting the problem of Domini- 9. Strengthen the management of marine can landowners involved in the production and and coastal resources in the border zone: complicity of government and border officials Slow the decline of the marine and coastal who allow the trade to take place. environment in the border zone by preventing encroachment and stopping practices that c. Create buffer zones surrounding the protected degrade the environment. areas Design & scope d. Strengthen provincial (Dominican Republic) and a. Build a conflict resolution mechanism pertaining departmental (Haiti) offices of the Ministries of to the transboundary use and trade of fish and environment. other marine resources by creating thematic e. Develop plans to control conflict, avoid human dialogue tables between relevant actors at the rights violations and deal with transboundary local level, as well as by organizing a formal issues in the course of enforcement. coordination platform at a high political level. The latter should be tasked with managing f. Investigate the possible impacts of any sanctions conflict, resources, and territory delimitation, against – or indeed the total suppression of – the and should actively seek the participation charcoal trade. Of particular importance is the of government authorithies, private sector, question of what consequences such measures fishermen associations etc. would have for the Haitian population, much of which is dependant on charcoal for daily energy, b. Reinforce the relevant directions in the Haitian and some of which relies on the charcoal trade ministries, such as the Direction of Fisheries in for subsistence. Consider options to reduce the the MARNDR, which is understaffed throughout, risk of unrest during period of transition from including at the departmental level. charcoal to more sustainable sources of energy. c. Enforce existing – and create new – protected Rationale marine areas in which functioning fishing bans The Dominican Republic has adequate laws for are in place, so as to slow or halt the depletion the management of protected areas and soil and of fish stocks while remaining mindful of the forestry conservation, however they are not being economical health of the communities that adequately enforced in the border zone, and rely on those stocks. Establish such protected serious degradation is ongoing. Major complica- areas in collaboration with fishermen associa- tions in this task are widespread rural poverty and tions, in order to ensure buy-in and successful underemployment, corruption and the presence implementation of the protected areas. and involvement of large numbers of Haitian legal d. Ban the cutting of mangroves for the establish- and illegal immigrants. ment of new salt pans On the Haitian side, protected areas also suffer e. Provide incentives for switching from the use of from a lack of necessary funds, resources and mangrove as firewood to other energy sources 114 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone f. C reate and formalize fishing agreements b. Only develop recommendations for large scale between the two countries, where money is investments once the root causes and options exchanged for access to fishing areas. are established with reasonable certainty. g. Develop the capacity of public sector institutions Rationale and local organizations for the conservation The lakes have been steadily rising – up to one and the management of coastal and marine meter per year since 2004 – for reasons that resources. are still largely unknown. The rise has caused a number of problems. Since 2008, the main h. Promote the environmental sanitation of the transboundary route between Port-au-Prince and coastal zone and develop its tourism potential. Santo Domingo has been gradually submerged i. Restore degraded coastal areas through refor- on both the Haitian and Dominican sides, and estation with endemic, native and/or naturalized agricultural land has been flooded on both sides coastal-marine species. of the border. Rationale Cost: US$ 0.5 million per annum – for the assess- The marine and coastal environment is being ment only degraded, mainly by overfishing, unsustainable Schedule: 2 years fishing practices, the cutting of mangroves for Responsibility: Ministry of Environment in Haiti. firewood, contamination, and salt production. Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in Both Haitians and Dominicans infringe on one the Dominican Republic. another’s territorial waters daily. Haitians generally fish close inshore, whilst Dominicans fish both inshore and further offshore. While coastal and 10.4 Haitian national level investment marine resources provide excellent opportunities recommendations for income generation and cooperation of a The recommendations specifically for Haiti are not transboundary nature, these resources are also new, rather they are concerned with reinforcement issues of serious transboundary concern, creating and endorsement, as well as the prioritization of clashes and tensions between communities on existing initiatives at the Haitian national level, both sides of the border, as well as between Haitian specifically the Haitian Strategic Plan for the fishermen and Dominican authorities. Development of Haiti: Emerging Country by 2030 Cost: US$ 3 million per annum (Plan stratégique de développement d’Haïti: Pays émergent en 2030 – hereafter referred as the Schedule: 5 years+ “strategic plan”).315 This strategic plan is, as it should Responsibility: Ministry of Environment and be, very ambitious and broad reaching, however Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural financing its implementation and prioritization is Development in Haiti. Ministry of Environment and an ongoing issue. Natural Resources in the Dominican Republic. In this context, Haitian national level investment recommendations are limited to the four top priorities most relevant to the border zone: Research and analysis 1. Improving governance in rural areas 10. Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo flooding 2. Non-agricultural economic development and analysis: Undertake a hydrological data diversification collection and analysis study on the causes of the rise in the level of Lakes Azuei and Enriquillo 3. Replace charcoal with LPG in urban centres and its potential to keep rising. 4. Sustainable agricultural development and Design & scope reforestation a. Start immediately with installation of a basic A cross-cutting theme for all recommendations is level monitoring system and follow up with to shift the development model towards a “green more detailed analysis of the lake and its economy”, enabling development whilst stabilizing catchments. and conserving the remaining natural resources. Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 115 1. Improving governance and community be insufficient given the current population density participation in rural areas: Increasing and ongoing growth rates. Large scale employ- the presence and role of the state in rural ment needs to be created elsewhere in Haiti, in areas, while ensuring the involvement of local urban zones more suitable for a manufacturing authorities, community leaders and civil society, and service economy. covering a broad range of responsibilities Cost, schedule and responsibility: As per the including social services, policing, customs, Strategic Plan. town administration, agricultural and business development and environmental protection. 3. Replace charcoal with LPG: Implement an integrated programme of regulatory reform, Design & Scope: incentives and enforcement rapidly to replace a. As per the strategic plan. Relevant paragraphs the use of charcoal for cooking with LPG, to refer to in the Haitian Strategic Plan for the supplemented by other alternative energy Development of Haiti are Programme 4.4 options (including renewables) and improved (Modernize the administration) and Programme electrification of the country. The programme 4.5 (Decentralize the administration). would focus on urban centres and Port-au- Rationale: The very limited presence and influ- Prince in particular. ence of the Haitian state in rural areas was noted Design & Scope throughout the assessment and weak governance a. As per the strategic plan. Relevant paragraphs was noted as a root cause behind a wide range to refer to in the Haitian Strategic Plan for the of issues. There is no substitute for the presence of Development of Haiti is programme 1.2 (envi- a functioning and supportive state. The emphasis ronmentally sound practices), and in particular on this recommendation is to extend the state sub-programme 1.2.4 that deals with the use presence out to rural areas, with prioritization on of wood and charcoal for energy use and the growth poles and sensitive areas such as the need for an intervention plan supporting a border. change towards the use of LPG gas, as well as Cost, schedule and responsibility: As per the programme 1.6 (increase the electrification of Strategic Plan. the country). 2. N on-agricultural economic development b. S treamline with other on-going initiatives or and diversification: Providing viable alterna- initiatives that are commencing, such as the tives to subsistence agriculture through large The Bolivarian Fund for Solidarity with Haiti scale development of the manufacturing and that is targeted to include the buying and service sectors, particularly in the main urban disbursement of 2 million gas canisters and centres. gas cookers to households in need in Haiti, and strengthening of the Haitian national electricity Design & Scope: grid. a. As per the strategic plan. Relevant paragraphs to refer to in the Haitian Strategic Plan for c. Invest in catalyzing long term large scale and the Development of Haiti are, among other, economically sustainable growth of the LPG Programme 1.4 (renovate urban areas), Pro- market rather than short term grant based gramme 2.4 (invest in industrial development), injections of materials or unsustainable gas Programme 2.5 (modernize the service sector price subsidies. and make it more dynamic), Programme 2.6 d. Collaborate with the private sector on distribu- (support the development of the tourism sector), tion networks etc. and Programme 2.7 (take advantage of existing mineral and energy resources). e. Collaborate with Dominican authorities to learn what has worked, and what has not, based on Rationale: The Haitian side of the border zone has their experiences in implementing a similar clearly already exceeded its sustainable holding scheme. capacity based on subsistence livelihoods. Agricultural and MSME development has the f. Once a system is in place in main urban centers, potential to slightly ameliorate this issue, but will expand to rural areas. 116 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone g. In the long term, aim for various alternative Responsibility: Haiti Ministry of Environment and energy options, including increased electrifica- Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and tion through hydro and wind power. Rural Development, Inter-ministerial committee for territorial management (CIAT). Rationale The over-dependence of Haiti on charcoal for cooking has been long recognized as a national scale problem. It is now a significant 10.5 Implementation and financing bi-national problem as well. Supply oriented of the recommendations solutions such as reforestation and protected area management cannot succeed without The recommended strategy for responding to the parallel demand reduction. At present the most many issues noted in this report is as follows: viable alternative to charcoal for cooking is LPG, 1. Once priorities have been agreed by the two which already has a small market share in Haiti governments and partner organizations to this and dominates the cooking energy market in the assessment, and endorsed by the issuing of Dominican Republic. The Haitian Government has this report, the focus should be on financing, already developed a national strategy paper and detailed design and then implementation of short term action plan for LPG expansion, but it is practical action. The analysis indicates high yet to be implemented. levels of certainty for most issues and trends – further research and analysis is only warranted Cost, schedule and responsibility: In line with the in a limited number of cases. strategic plan. 2. For pragmatic financial reasons, both govern- 4. Sustainable agricultural development and ments should be realistic in terms of what can re-forestation: Implement the Haiti 2010 and should be achieved within the border National Plan for Agriculture, with a particular zone. Very large amounts of funding could in emphasis on sustainability. Replace the unsus- theory completely fix many of the issues noted, tainable cultivation of slash-and-burn, annual however this would unduly drain resources away crops on steep slopes and degraded land with from other national scale priorities. Communi- tree planting, with a particular emphasis on ties and civil society should also play a key role agroforestry and energy cropping. Integrate in the implementation on the ground. erosion control measures into all agricultural landscapes. Extract greater value from remaining 3. Divide the necessary investments into two types, viable land with improved inputs and techniques both addressing the key issues and underlying and investments in agricultural value chain driving forces identified in this study: development. A. M ultiple tightly targeted national and Design and Scope: bi-national investments in the border zone. These investments are recommended in a. A s per the 2010 National Plan, as well as some detail in this report. programme 1.2 (environmentally sound B. Up to 5 tightly targeted single theme and practices) and 2.2 (modernize and make major investments at the national level for agricultural practices and livestock keeping Haiti, which, if fully successful, will also extend more dynamic). to resolving many issues in the border. These Rationale: Agriculture is still the mainstay of the investments should be drawn from existing Haitian economy so there is major scope for Government owned national plans and so are improvement, simply by broadly applying existing referenced but not detailed in this report. proven techniques. The need for reforestation and 4. Adopt a conflict-sensitive approach to contain land tenure reform is also clear. National capacity the risks of destabilization associated with in reforestation is already extensive, with insufficient interventions, in order not to exacerbate funding and land tenure being the main obstacles pre-existing tensions or create new ones. This at present. includes interventions to address issues such Cost and schedule: In line with the strategic as illegal charcoal production and illegal plan. fishing in Dominican and Haitian territory, as Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 117  well as encroachment onto Dominican territory Prerequisites for implementation by illegal Haitian migrants to access natural resources and better economic opportunities. The majority of recommendations presented here have two prerequisites for implementation: 5. Anticipate and manage the highly political implications of several of the recommenda- 1. Integration into government policy and strong tions. Note that several of the longer term bi-national cooperation. These recommendations solutions will have difficulties at the start of have been jointly developed and approved by the implementation. Work proactively to control United Nations and the two governments. political opportunism and avoid the rise of damaging antagonism between communities. The chances of implementation however will be 6. Integrate monitoring of the follow up of all of the greatly improved if each owner fully adopts their recommendations into the terms of reference specific list of recommendations and acts to of an existing bilateral working group of ministers integrate them into existing national budget and and/or senior government officials. Ensure communication processes and plans. The recom- clear single point ownership and leadership of mendations requiring bi-national implementation specific recommendation or actions. should be further implemented under the auspices of the joint bi-national commission and included in 7. International donors should address the issues budget and communication processes and plans noted on a whole island basis, and provide of both countries. funding for bi-national initiatives contributing to an integrated approach, rather than only 2. All of the recommendations require financing providing financing for one of the countries. and some also require technical assistance. The 8. Given the existing strong national ownership support of the international community will be of the issues and the long duration of the needed for partial financing and implementation recommendations international development of these recommendations. Only partial financing agencies should focus on the provision of is requested as it is important that government upfront technical assistance and capacity ownership of the recommendations is clear – and building to enable long term independent this is best demonstrated by commitment of some implementation of the recommendations by of their own resources, however limited they may be. a combination of the two governments and local organizations. The United Nations and its partners stand ready to support the Governments of Haiti and the Domini- can Republic on demand to help implement the above recommendations. © UNEP 118 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 119 Annexes Annex I: Report terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Annex II: List of acronyms and abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122 Annex III: Sustainable livelihoods framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Annex IV: Table connecting the recommendations to the driving forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Annex V: References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Annex VI: Acknowledgements and list of contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 120 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Annex I – Report terminology Arguments refer to its definition in the critical think- both acute (short term or episodic) and chronic ing model. Presenting an argument in this context (long term, continuous) in nature. Partly negative refers to presenting a set of facts and premises as issues are also sometimes labeled as challenges reasons for a conclusion. and completely negative issues are commonly labeled as problems. Coping strategies are behavioral efforts that people employ to tolerate, reduce, minimize, Livelihoods are the capabilities, material and or overcome stressful events or shocks. They are social assets, and activities required for a means of short-term responses to specific shocks such as living. It is considered sustainable when it can cope droughts.316 Coping strategies have to be dif- with and recover from stresses and shocks, and ferentiated from adaptive strategies which involve maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets a long-term change in behaviors as a result of a both now and in the future, while not undermining shock or stress.317 These can be related to food, the natural resources base on which it relies.318 water, or energy shocks. Opportunities are identified as favorable or Direct causes are used to explain a specific potentially favorable circumstances or periods, phenomenon, such as the direct causes of land normally presented in the context of potential future actions. In this context, some issues also degradation in the border zone. present opportunities. Driving forces are in this study defined as Shocks are generally unforeseen events (inci- the underlying forces that drive the livelihood dents, disasters, or conflicts) that have profound responses and key issues observed in the border consequences on people’s livelihoods. Examples zone. As an example poverty in Haiti is considered of shocks are droughts, earthquakes, or violent to be a driving force behind Haitian emigration to conflicts. the Dominican Republic. Stresses are conditions that put pressure on The evidence base is the sum of material facts people’s livelihoods. They are of a different degree and other input such as interview opinions, field than shocks both in magnitude (less extreme) and observations and secondary data sources that suddenness (less sudden). provide the substantiation for a particular conclu- sion. The degree of confidence in a particular Themes are different thematic areas in which key conclusion is linked to the evidence base. An issues fall under. Examples of these themes are evidence base can vary both in depth (amount of agriculture, forest resources, freshwater resources information) and uniformity (the level of uncertainty and flooding, and coastal and marine resources. and evidence potentially for and against specific arguments and conclusions). Tipping point is a point at which a system undergoes a fundamental change and becomes Forecasts are decision support tools: they assist governed by new processes and structures, often decision makers in visualizing future conditions or resulting in a material worsening of pre-existing the future status of conditions based on prevalent problems and trends. trends. They help to identifying appropriate prepa- rations or interventions. They are particularly useful Trends are observed or interpreted general direc- in strategic planning where levels of uncertainty tions and tendencies over time for specific issues. are high and data is relatively limited. They can be positive, negative, or stable. Trends can be either quantitative, for example historical Key issues are topics of current concern in the rainfall records, or qualitative and subjective, such border zone and sometimes dispute. They can be as the overall mood of current Haiti-Dominican Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 121 Republic intergovernmental relations compared The term watershed, meaning ‘an area or ridge to the past. The predictability of trends can vary, of land that separates waters flowing to different from high to very low – essentially unpredictable. rivers, basins, or seas or an area or region drained by a river, river system, or other body of water,’ Triangulation of data is a research technique that is here used to refer to the various watersheds in is used in this study to ensure that no conclusion the border zone, as defined in the ‘geographical can be drawn from a single source without cor- scope’ section of the introduction. roboration by others. 122 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Annex II – List of Acronyms and Abbreviations APPA Asosyasyon pechè pou pwoteksyon ak anviwonman Anse a Pit CASEC Conseil d’Administration de la Section Communale CBMM Capacity Building for Migration Management CIAT Inter-ministerial committee for territorial management CIP Caracol Industrial Park CIT Comité Intermunicipal Transfronterizo DCP Dispositif de Concentration de Poissons DGDF General Directorate for Border Development EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GCI Green Customs Initiative GDP Gross domestic product GEF Global Environment Facility GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit INARA Haitian Institute of Agrarian Reform IOM International Organization for Migration LPG Liquefied petroleum gas MARNDR Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development MEA Multilateral environmental agreements MPP Revegetation and transboundary natural resources management project MW Megawatt NGO Non-governmental organization PAE Environmental Action Plan MSME Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNDP ART UNDP Articulation of Territorial and Thematic Networks of Cooperation for Human Development initiative UNEP United Nations Environment Programme WFP World Food Programme Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 123 Annex III – Sustainable livelihoods framework Sustainable livelihoods framework, based on original framework developed by the Department for International Development (DFID).319 Transforming structures Livelihood outcomes Livelihood assets and processes – More income Vulnerability – Human capital – Levels of government – Increased well-being – Shocks – Trends 3 – Natural capital – Financial capital - – Private sector – Laws 3 – Reduced vulnerability – Improved food security – Seasonality – Social capital – Policies – More sustainable use – Physical capital – Culture of natural resource – Institutions base 124 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone  Underlying Driving Forces Level Category # Recommendations Haitian poverty, Environmental Weak Governance Haiti-DR Economic food insecurity, and Degradation and Resource under development Inequalities Binational Border Zone Recommendations Practical Action 1 Protecting and increasing the vegetation cover X X 2 Sustainable agricultural development X X X 3 Transboundary river flood risk reduction X X 4 Improve sustainability of transboundary trade and bi- X X national markets, while reducing their environmental Annex IV – Table connecting the impacts 5 Border zone economic development and diversification X X X X 6 Address pollution of transboundary rivers X X Improving Cooperation and Governance 7 Improve existing transboundary cooperation mechanisms X X X that deal with environmental issues and transboundary watersheds Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 8 Environmental governance and regulation and control of X X the charcoal trade and other forest products 9 Strengthen the management of marine and coastal X X X X resources in the border zone Research and Analysis Lake Azuei and Lake Enriquillo flood analysis recommendations to the driving forces 10 X Haitian National Level Investment Recommendations 1 Improving governance in rural areas X X 2 Non-rural economic development and diversification X X X 3 Replace charcoal with LPG in urban centres X X 125 4 Sustainable agricultural development and reforestation X X X Annex V – References 1. 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Retrieved October 2009 from www.dfid.gov.uk 140 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Annex VI – Acknowledgements Contributors Claudia Adames Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Nicolas Cisneros United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Paul Judex Edouarzin United Nations Environment Programme Haiti Office Belkis Fernandez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Lucile Gingembre (primary author) United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Dennis Hamro-Drotz (primary author) United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Mariot Jean Ministry of Environment, Haiti David Jensen United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Andrew Morton (primary author) United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Lucas de Muelenaere United Nations Environment Programme Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Antonio Perera United Nations Environment Programme Haiti Office Senior Government Officials Contributing to the Document Joseph Ronald Toussaint Ministry of Environment, Haiti Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Patricia Abreu Fernandez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Manuel Serrano Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Max Antoine II Fonds Interministériel pour le Développement Transfrontalier, Haiti Pierre André Gédéon Ministry of Environment, Haiti Interviewed Persons Cornelio Acosta Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Jacobo Acosta Fishermen association “Agustin Munoz” Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 141 Joseph Astrel Ministry of Environment, Haiti Jean Robert Badio Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Haiti Jose Enrique Baez Ureña Quisqueya Verde, Dominican Republic Edna Blanc Civil UNDP, Dominican Republic José Cristino Castillo Ministry of Agriculture, Dominican Republic Ijoassin Clemont Ministry of Trade and Industry, Haiti Robert Crowley Oxfam Artibonite Project Patricia Dore Castillo Joint Dominican-Haitian Bilateral Commission Yves Duplan UNDP Haiti General Florentino General Directorate of Border Development (DGDF), Dominican Republic Rafael Gomez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Fernan Felix Gonzalez Sanchez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Villaire Guerrier MPP project Claude Latendresse Spanish Development Cooperation Agency Lance S. Leverenz Pan American Development Foundation Olga Lobetty Gomez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Jocelyn Louissaint Haitian State University, Faculté d’Agronomie et Medecine Veterinaire Emmanuel Luceny Docemont local authorithies Policarpio Medrano Volquez Export and Investment Center for the Dominican Republic(CEIRD) Rodolfo Meindez Ramirez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Luis Miniel Mayors association, Elias Piña Maria Eugenia Morales UNDP, Dominican Republic Patrick Nicolas Oxfam Artibonite Project Haiti Sergio Novas UN UNDP ART initiative Daniel O’Neil Pan American Development Foundation Julio Ortega Tous Joint Dominican-Haitian Bilateral Commission Rosa Pares UNDP, Dominican Republic Pierre Pelissier Ouanaminthe local authorities Cesar Peralta Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Dominican Republic Mariana Perez DIARENA, Dominican Republic 142 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone Claude Phanor MPP project Martin Rapilly Oxfam Artibonite Project Adelita Romain National Observatory of Poverty and Social Exclusion, Haiti Wilner Romain Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Haiti Claudia Francesca Santos Averez General Directorate of Border Development (DGDF), Dominican Republic Ronel Seran UNDP Haiti Small Grants Programme Miliciades Serra Mencia village elder Arnoux Séverin Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, Haiti Jose Luis Socias General Directorate of Border Development (DGDF), Dominican Republic Enzo di Taranto Office of the UN Secretary General, Dominican Republic Mayor Nelson Urena General Directorate of Border Development (DGDF), Dominican Republic Nicasio Vina Caribbean Biological Corridor, UNEP Socio-Economic Survey Team Paola Kim-Blanco Columbia University, Earth Institute Hilaire Buissereth Haitian State University Manouchka Charlescar Haitian State University Ernst David Haitian State University Jean Carls Dessin Haitian State University Vivener de Verlands Edmond Haitian State University Joseph Graci Gracius Haitian State University Marie Keltelie Hilaire Haitian State University Marrio Hilas Haitian State University Alexandra Morel Columbia University, Earth Institute Joseph Muhlhausen Columbia University, Earth Institute Gemeline Romelus Haitian State University Neecholson Richard Haitian State University Kevin Tschirhart Columbia University, Earth Institute Translators Spanish Cabessa Translations French Johanna Danis Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 143 Cartographic Information Yves Barthelemy OBSCOM Workshop Participants – Haitian Consultations Ernst Abraham Haiti Christian Service (SCH) Serge Baazebeis Ministry of Environment Dwinel Belizaire Ministry of Environment Edna Blanc Civil UNDP, Haiti Manassé Elusma Quisqueya university Pierre André Gédéon Ministry of Environment James Goetz GIZ Etienne Hérard UNDP/UNEP Astrel Joseph Ministry of Environment Jean Max Milien Act Alliance Martine Mathieu Ministry of Environment Fritz Nau Ministry of Environment of Haiti Patrick Nicolas Oxfam Quebec Vilherne Petit-Frère Ministry of Environment of Haiti Claude Phanord Cooperation Suisse Seth Pierre Helvetas Ronald Placius Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nadine Narcisse Ministry of Environment Glerenem Pampan Ministry of Environment Ludner Remarais Bureau of Mine and Energy (BME) Laméry Samuel Ministry of Environment Marie France Sifrin Ministry of Environment Starry Sprenkle Christian Aid Lionel St. Jean Ministry of Environment Martha Syvertsen UNDP Haiti Jean Andre Victor L’Association Haïtienne de Droit de l’Environnement (AHDEN) Workshop Participants – Dominican Consultations Patricia Abreu Fernandez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Cornelio Acosta Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Claudia Adames Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Ana Carolina Beras UNDP, Dominican Republic 144 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone José Cristino Castillo Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Robert Crowley Oxfam Marisol Difo Haiti-Dominican Joint Bilateral Commission Teresa Disla Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Belkis Fernandez Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Glenys Gonzalez Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development Rosa Lamelas GIZ Luc Maille Lefranc UNDP Isabel Martinez UNEP Máximo Peña de León Ministry of Industry and Commerce Manuel Serrano Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Antonia Tapia Center for Export and Investment (CEI-RD) Roberto Vargas UNEP / Caribbean Biological Corridor Editor Joel Dowling Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone 145 146 Haiti – Dominican Republic: Environmental challenges in the border zone www.unep.org/disastersandconflicts  ISBN: 978-92-807-3340-2 Job Number: DEP/1682/SA www.unep.org United Nations Environment Programme P.O. Box 30552 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254 (0)20 762 1234 Fax: +254 (0)20 762 3927 Email: uneppub@unep.org http://unep.org/Haiti/