Haiti's deforestation caused by 200 years of sanctions

When dealing with Haiti on la isla Hispanola (named after Espania by Conquistador Cristobal Colon) we need to begin pre-European invasion when the island was populated by Taino people and covered with lush forest..

"When Columbus arrived in Haiti, seventy-five percent of the land was covered with deep forests. In 1923 during the occupation, a study commissioned by the U.S. government found that 60 percent of Haitian land was covered with forest. In 1994,when American troops reappeared in Haiti, it was reported that less than 3 percent of the land was still covered with forest. The Haitian government and foreign agencies have estimated that four percent of the land is covered by forest and only 30 percent is suitable for farming. In a span of 431 years, from 1492 to 1923, Haiti had only lost fifteen percent of its forests of 1492. However, from 1923 to the present, a span of only 75 years, Haiti has lost fifty-six percent of its forests. Table 3 is an indication of the devastation of Haiti's forest.

Table 3. Forests Devastation 1492: Arrival of Columbus 75% (covered with forests)
1923: The Occupation 60% (covered with forests)
1994: Arrival of UN Troops 3% (covered with forests)
Net Loss: 1492-1923 15%
Net Loss: 1923-1994: 56%


Environmentalists have noted that Haiti's deforestation started in the early 1900's in order to cope with the pressure to export natural rubber. In the 1950's and 1960's under the Duvalier regime, the problem worsened as thousands of acres were destroyed under the guise of providing no shelter for the enemies of the State. In the process, a country that was once thickly wooded is almost without trees.

Haiti's population of 7 million is growing at a rate of over 2 percent annually, and is expected to double by 2025. Given this growth rate and if there is no end to the cutting down of trees, it is clear that the land will not be able to support the population. Recently, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), noted that 6 percent of the country's land is completely stripped of arable soil. This means that nothing can grow or develop from the land, and worse yet, that large percentage of land may not be capable of supporting life ever again. "

We also need to mention the initial debt Haiti paid to former French plantation slave owners after Haiti declared independence in 1804;

"It is now well known that the primary source of Haiti’s chronic impoverishment is the reparations it was forced to pay to the former plantation owners who left following the 1804 revolution. Some of the white descendants of the former plantation owners, who now live in New Orleans, still have the indemnity coupons issued by France. So in fact, at least part of the reparations paid by Haiti went toward the development of the United States.

In 1825 Haiti was forced to borrow 24 million francs from private French banks to begin paying off the crippling indemnity debt. Haiti only acknowledged this debt in exchange for French recognition of her independence, a principle that would continue to characterize Haiti’s international relationships."

also;

"Haiti is "the most IMPOVERISHED country in the Western Hemisphere, while the United States and France, among others have ENRICHED themselves at her expense at gun point throughout her history. From the imposition of an arbitrary debt for REPARATIONS to FRENCH SLAVE PLANTATION OWNERS to the looting of Haiti's national treasury by the American Navy just prior to the 1915 U.S. occupation; to the imposition of the corvée and the murder of several thousand Haitian peasants who resisted the corvée; to the bombing and complete burning of several Haitian villages by civilizing occupation forces; to the LARGE-SCALE DEFORESTATION of Haiti's countryside for the mining of bauxite, the wartime exploitation of rubber, and the processing of sisal and other commercial interests (such deforestation being easily imputed later to the complete ignorance, lack of intelligence, and poor survival instincts of the "primitive African peasants"); to expanded financial and military support given to a long line of favorite dictators who promptly reinvested such debt-contributing funds in foreign instruments on foreign soil; to the ERADICATION of the creole pigs in exchange for nothing; to the lowering of tariffs on imported goods and the establishment of Free Trade Zones; to the austerity programs of the International Monetary Fund and the poverty-inducing generosity of U.S.A.I.D.; to the service of "the debt" accumulated through all of the above and the withholding of contracted funds for democratization purposes. Yes, indeed, Haiti is "the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere"..., "

What seems to be the case is that the European colonial powers (mainly USA and France) could not bear to see the Black Republic of Haiti succeed. Their entire economy was based on slavery of African people, since Haiti was the first place to become independant from slavery, it was therefore treated harshest by former slaveowners. Economic sanctions and debts made life an unbearable struggle to survive for the Haitian population, eventually leading to the deforestation as subsistence farming shifted to export crops like rubber..

The hillside forests initially sheltered the first runaway African slaves and provided them with sustainance and shelter from the slaveowners and their dogs (similar to American southern swamps). People wouldn't want to decimate the forests that helped their ancestors attain freedom, the deforestation was a result of economic coercion from the decades of sanctions..

Aristide's idea of liberation theology also included the ancestral (Yoruba) African spirituality of voudun (voodoo) as a legitimate religion for Haiti. Voudun inspired the beginning of the Haitian revolution against the French slaveowners. In voudun trees and nature are seen as sacred, treated with honor and respect. There is no clear line of distinction between the people and their surroundings, all is connected. Restoration of the forests was another goal of Aristide, accompanying this would be restoration of the ancestral spirits (loas)..

As someone of German ancestry i can only say i am ashamed by the actions of other Germans who joined the French and American colonialists in their economic/military campaign against Haiti. We ourselves are a lost people attempting to reclaim our ancestral nature based spirituality lost during conversion to Christianity (Holy Roman Empire). When we lost our nature based spirituality we replaced it with Christian colonial imperialism. This is not a side issue, it relates to the cruel motivation and arrogance of the European colonialist, from Haiti to Iraq. We are living with a distorted imperialistic world view that disconnects us from other people and also trees, rivers, birds, etc..

European colonial thinking is on a sinking ship of sickness. Problem is we have our tentacles wrapped around everyone else on Earth and if we go down, we're dragging down many other people/trees/birds/etc. in the process..

Rebirth of Yoruba African spirituality on Haiti may help solve the problem of European colonialist sickness..



All material in quotes from the websites below;

http://haitiforever.com/windowsonhaiti/w030901.shtml

http://www.american.edu/TED/haiti.htm

http://www.american.edu/TED/haitiart.htm