Above: the Macaya mountain range (Photo: UNEP)
By the Caribbean Journal staff
Haiti will receive a $9 million grant from the Inter-American Development Bank to help carry out a land management programme at the country’s Macaya National Park.
The park is the site of one of Haiti’s largest remaining forests. The country has suffered deeply from deforestation over the decades, losing about 98 percent of its forest cover.
That has led to a series of initiatives from Haiti President Michel Martelly to help combat the scourge of deforestation, from planting new seedlings to making new forest growth the theme of this year’s Carnival of Flowers in Port-au-Prince.
Deforestation poses a number of threats, particularly the hastening of soil erosion.
The new funding from the IDB will go toward strengthening the Macaya National Park’s surveillance corps and its management, and will help reforest approximately 1,500 hectares of land.
The IDB is currently financing projects adding up to more than $200 million in Haiti’s agriculture sector.