POTTY TALK FOR THE GREATER GOOD
(NPR) - By Joanne Silberner
How do you get people interested in the difference something as simple as a toilet can make for health?
If you're the head of the World Toilet Organization (yes, there is one) (http://www.worldtoilet.org/), or the author of a page-turner about sanitation, or you're part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, you talk toilets up. A lot.
And, it turns out, if you're in Seattle, which considers itself the home for new ideas on global health, talking about poop and toilets will pack an 842-seat theater on a Friday night.
Around the world, 2.6 billion people make do without access to clean facilities. Diarrhea — spread by exposure to germs in feces — is the second-leading cause of death in children under 5.
More people in the world have access to cellphones than to decent toilets.
Among advocates for better sanitation, the only question is whether to play it straight or joke about the john. Pretty much everyone gives in to humor.
The evening started with a Gates Foundation video that held all the giggle-words. Kaka (that's how they spell it). Doodoo. Crap. I could go on, but if you've graduated from kindergarten, you know how the rest goes.
Then came journalist Rose George, author of The Big Necessity. "Let's talk poop," she said right off the bat. "We all do it. We all think about it. We just don't talk about it, and that's really dangerous."
Poop is a "very good weapon of mass destruction," she said. A mere gram can hold 10 million viruses. A higher consciousness would lead to more effort to improve sanitation around the world, she said. She credits toilets with adding 20 years to the average lifespan.
During the intermission, there was a line at the women's room. Overheard: the usual discussion of whether to storm the men's room. A strident young woman pointed out, with no trace of humor, that limited toilet access at this event was "inappropriate."
Even so, it's hard to complain after hearing Rose George describe a Mumbai slum where there is a grand total of 10 toilets for 40,000 people.
After George came Singapore businessman Jack Sim, founder and head of the World Toilet Organization and the king of potty talk. His group sponsors World Toilet Day.
Sim's big idea is to make the toilet a way to keep up with the Joneses, so that people in poor countries will want to build and use their own toilets. For some, it will be a whole new way of doing things.
Sim strode onto the stage looking like he was at a TedX conference — Space Age microphone snaked around his head, a big smile on his face and a giant video screen behind him.
Sim grew up poor in Singapore, made money in construction and took on public toilets "as a hobby," he says. He's got a three-part plan: use humor to break the taboo about toilet talk, make toilets sexy, and get massive media coverage.
One way to get people in poor villages to want toilets is to give one to the wife of the village chief, knowing she'll brag about it. "Jealousy is a very strong marketing tool," he said.
His parting plea: go out tonight and tell your friends about toilets.
After the two talks, a couple of folks from the Gates Foundation came on stage to talk about ways to reinvent the toilet, such as making solar powered toilets, toilets that create cooking fuel, etc., etc.
Chris Williams of Gates took the humor option. Earning hisses from the audience, he said, "We now have the makings of a movement."
Showing posts with label Articles - Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Articles - Environment. Show all posts
Sunday, June 17, 2012
ARTICLE - INNOVATIVE AID - WATER
INNOVATIVE AID, OR HOW TO GET DRINKING WATER FROM A POLLUTED STREAM
(Guardian.co.uk) - By Paige McClanahan
From using sunlight to purify water, to foam houses that can withstand gales, new technologies are helping sharpen responses to humanitarian disasters around the world
In 1994, the Rwandan genocide triggered a huge influx of refugees into what was then eastern Zaire. Within 30 days, between 50,000 and 70,000 people – about 10% of the total refugee population – died of waterborne diseases, cholera and dysentery among them.
Those deaths did not need to happen, says Nathan Jones, who works for Hydration Technology Innovations. What those refugees needed was reliable – and immediate – access to clean water, and Jones says his company has the technology that can deliver it.
Their invention is called the HydroPack http://www.htiwater.com/divisions/humanitarian/about.html), and it has already been used in disaster situations across four continents. When empty, the 4in by 6in pouch looks like a paper-thin bit of plastic, but drop it into a water source – anything from a swimming pool to a rubbish-infested stream – and in eight to 12 hours you'll have 500 millilitres of water that is safe to drink. With its bright colouring and the little straw that comes attached, a swollen HydroPack looks surprisingly like a juice box, minus the glossy packaging.
The HydroPack works by forward osmosis, the same process by which plant roots extract water from the ground, and the water that ends up inside exceeds the clean-water guidelines set out by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The packs are fortified with sugar and salt to aid absorption, as well as flavouring to increase the appeal.
About 15,000 of the packs, which can be airdropped, were distributed in flood-ravaged western Kenya this year. They were also used in the aftermath of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile in 2010, as well as after the tsunami in Japan last year.
"It's a real paradigm shift in how you approach that initial phase [of disaster relief]," says Jones, adding that aid agencies and NGOs have long relied on chemical tablets, or even flown-in bottled water, to provide safe drinking water in emergency situations. "Bottled water is frequently used, but it comes with a really heavy cost, both financial in terms of the transport of it, but environmentally as well."
The HydroPack is just one of a number of new technologies that are helping the international community sharpen its response to humanitarian emergencies around the world. Jones and other innovators had the chance to sell their products to procurement experts during "pitch tank" sessions at the Aid & International Development Forum (http://www.aidforumonline.org/ ) , which was held last week in Washington.
The private sector is key to keeping aid agencies on their toes, says Maura O'Neill, the chief innovation officer at USAid. "Increasingly, we are co-creating solutions [with private companies] around a big, difficult development problem," she says. "A main part of their business objectives are overlapping increasingly with our development outcomes."
Other innovations that got an airing include Puralytics, a technology that uses sunlight to purify water, and pop-up greenhouses from a company called Got Produce? Its 300 square metre greenhouses, which double as water purification systems, can produce fruit and vegetables in only 30 days, operating completely off the grid.
Gigacrete, a Las Vegas-based company, makes easy-to-construct foam houses that can withstand winds of more than 300km/h, and the Leading Edge Group, which produces a brick-making machine that can churn out nearly a thousand blocks an hour, with clay-bearing dirt as the only input. Losberger, a German company, presented its hi-tech inflatable shelters that can be used to house hospitals in the field.
USAid is hoping to promote more of these kinds of advances through its Development Innovation Ventures fund, a government programme that operates like a venture capital fund for new ideas in development. So far, says O'Neill of USAid, the programme has received more than 1,200 applications and funded two-dozen projects, with many more in the pipeline. Any group or individual can apply for a grant, she says, whether they're based in the US or overseas.
The fund, which was launched in 2010 and is known as DIV, gave out its first grants last year. DIV divides its grantees into three stages: stage one projects are still in the proof-of-concept phase, and get up to $100,000; stage two projects are ready to scale up across an entire country, and receive up to $1m; while stage three projects are poised to have a multinational impact, and can get as much as $15m over several years.
The programme aims to fund "solutions that are several times more cost effective than current practice", USAid says on its website, and it is looking for innovations that can quickly be brought to scale: "We recognise that development breakthroughs can come from anywhere – a lab in a university, a local person who has deep contextual knowledge, or a passionate entrepreneur. Perhaps it will come from you."
(Guardian.co.uk) - By Paige McClanahan
From using sunlight to purify water, to foam houses that can withstand gales, new technologies are helping sharpen responses to humanitarian disasters around the world
In 1994, the Rwandan genocide triggered a huge influx of refugees into what was then eastern Zaire. Within 30 days, between 50,000 and 70,000 people – about 10% of the total refugee population – died of waterborne diseases, cholera and dysentery among them.
Those deaths did not need to happen, says Nathan Jones, who works for Hydration Technology Innovations. What those refugees needed was reliable – and immediate – access to clean water, and Jones says his company has the technology that can deliver it.
Their invention is called the HydroPack http://www.htiwater.com/divisions/humanitarian/about.html), and it has already been used in disaster situations across four continents. When empty, the 4in by 6in pouch looks like a paper-thin bit of plastic, but drop it into a water source – anything from a swimming pool to a rubbish-infested stream – and in eight to 12 hours you'll have 500 millilitres of water that is safe to drink. With its bright colouring and the little straw that comes attached, a swollen HydroPack looks surprisingly like a juice box, minus the glossy packaging.
The HydroPack works by forward osmosis, the same process by which plant roots extract water from the ground, and the water that ends up inside exceeds the clean-water guidelines set out by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The packs are fortified with sugar and salt to aid absorption, as well as flavouring to increase the appeal.
About 15,000 of the packs, which can be airdropped, were distributed in flood-ravaged western Kenya this year. They were also used in the aftermath of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile in 2010, as well as after the tsunami in Japan last year.
"It's a real paradigm shift in how you approach that initial phase [of disaster relief]," says Jones, adding that aid agencies and NGOs have long relied on chemical tablets, or even flown-in bottled water, to provide safe drinking water in emergency situations. "Bottled water is frequently used, but it comes with a really heavy cost, both financial in terms of the transport of it, but environmentally as well."
The HydroPack is just one of a number of new technologies that are helping the international community sharpen its response to humanitarian emergencies around the world. Jones and other innovators had the chance to sell their products to procurement experts during "pitch tank" sessions at the Aid & International Development Forum (http://www.aidforumonline.org/ ) , which was held last week in Washington.
The private sector is key to keeping aid agencies on their toes, says Maura O'Neill, the chief innovation officer at USAid. "Increasingly, we are co-creating solutions [with private companies] around a big, difficult development problem," she says. "A main part of their business objectives are overlapping increasingly with our development outcomes."
Other innovations that got an airing include Puralytics, a technology that uses sunlight to purify water, and pop-up greenhouses from a company called Got Produce? Its 300 square metre greenhouses, which double as water purification systems, can produce fruit and vegetables in only 30 days, operating completely off the grid.
Gigacrete, a Las Vegas-based company, makes easy-to-construct foam houses that can withstand winds of more than 300km/h, and the Leading Edge Group, which produces a brick-making machine that can churn out nearly a thousand blocks an hour, with clay-bearing dirt as the only input. Losberger, a German company, presented its hi-tech inflatable shelters that can be used to house hospitals in the field.
USAid is hoping to promote more of these kinds of advances through its Development Innovation Ventures fund, a government programme that operates like a venture capital fund for new ideas in development. So far, says O'Neill of USAid, the programme has received more than 1,200 applications and funded two-dozen projects, with many more in the pipeline. Any group or individual can apply for a grant, she says, whether they're based in the US or overseas.
The fund, which was launched in 2010 and is known as DIV, gave out its first grants last year. DIV divides its grantees into three stages: stage one projects are still in the proof-of-concept phase, and get up to $100,000; stage two projects are ready to scale up across an entire country, and receive up to $1m; while stage three projects are poised to have a multinational impact, and can get as much as $15m over several years.
The programme aims to fund "solutions that are several times more cost effective than current practice", USAid says on its website, and it is looking for innovations that can quickly be brought to scale: "We recognise that development breakthroughs can come from anywhere – a lab in a university, a local person who has deep contextual knowledge, or a passionate entrepreneur. Perhaps it will come from you."
Friday, June 15, 2012
ARTICLE - ELECTICITY PROTEST - CURTIS, MARO
ELECTRICAL SITUATION IN CURTIS AND MARO
(Haiti Libre) -
Early Thursday morning, several dozen residents of two localities in Petit Goâve: Curtis and Maro, erected barricades on Rte. National #2, paralyzing traffic a good part of the morning, until the intervention of the National Police, which allowed the resumption of traffic for the numerous immobilized vehicles.
Residents demanded the restoration of electricity.They have been without for many days after an alleged failure of a transformer,... and the electrification of other areas. The protesters shouted hostile remarks against the Director of Electricity of Haiti, whom they accuse of lying to them many times, and asked Deputy Thimoléon to respect his campaign promise, bringing electricity to Curtis and Maro...
The inhabitants of these two localities, threaten to strike again, if their demands are not met, noting that they already have electricity pylons... Other peripheral areas of the city, such as Rue Benoit and Ti Guinnin, also is asking for electricity, and promised to take to the streets soon, if nothing moves.
(Haiti Libre) -
Early Thursday morning, several dozen residents of two localities in Petit Goâve: Curtis and Maro, erected barricades on Rte. National #2, paralyzing traffic a good part of the morning, until the intervention of the National Police, which allowed the resumption of traffic for the numerous immobilized vehicles.
Residents demanded the restoration of electricity.They have been without for many days after an alleged failure of a transformer,... and the electrification of other areas. The protesters shouted hostile remarks against the Director of Electricity of Haiti, whom they accuse of lying to them many times, and asked Deputy Thimoléon to respect his campaign promise, bringing electricity to Curtis and Maro...
The inhabitants of these two localities, threaten to strike again, if their demands are not met, noting that they already have electricity pylons... Other peripheral areas of the city, such as Rue Benoit and Ti Guinnin, also is asking for electricity, and promised to take to the streets soon, if nothing moves.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
ARTICLE - ELECTRIFICATION OF FLEURENCEAU
ELECTRIFICATION OF THE MUNICPALITY OF FLEURENCEAU
(Haiti Libre) -
Electrification work in the remote town of Fleurenceau [10,000 inhabitants], 6th communal section of Saint Marc [Lower Artibonite] have been launched three weeks ago, which will allow the connection of 1,500 houses to the public grid. Achieved by the Association "Mobilisation pour le Développement de Morne Fort par Fleurenceau" (MDMOFF) in partnership with the Electricity of Haiti (EDH), this work is funded by MINUSTAH through its Quick Impact Project (QIP) at a cost of over U.S. $42,000.
According to Anténor Lorméus, the General Coordinator of MDMOFF, access to electricity will enable people "to cope with the lack of security at nightfall, will encourage the study of children at night, encourage refrigerated trades, and will help pump water for domestic consumption."
Besides raising awareness of local residents and the establishment of a Management Committee for the electricity, in partnership with EDH, this will connect the families concerned to the network using meters to facilitate the collection of monthly bills .... the inhabitants of Fleurenceau will participate alongside technicians of EDH responsible for the technical work, in the laying of 48 wooden poles for a distance of 2.5 km. The total project duration is estimated as 3 months.
(Haiti Libre) -
Electrification work in the remote town of Fleurenceau [10,000 inhabitants], 6th communal section of Saint Marc [Lower Artibonite] have been launched three weeks ago, which will allow the connection of 1,500 houses to the public grid. Achieved by the Association "Mobilisation pour le Développement de Morne Fort par Fleurenceau" (MDMOFF) in partnership with the Electricity of Haiti (EDH), this work is funded by MINUSTAH through its Quick Impact Project (QIP) at a cost of over U.S. $42,000.
According to Anténor Lorméus, the General Coordinator of MDMOFF, access to electricity will enable people "to cope with the lack of security at nightfall, will encourage the study of children at night, encourage refrigerated trades, and will help pump water for domestic consumption."
Besides raising awareness of local residents and the establishment of a Management Committee for the electricity, in partnership with EDH, this will connect the families concerned to the network using meters to facilitate the collection of monthly bills .... the inhabitants of Fleurenceau will participate alongside technicians of EDH responsible for the technical work, in the laying of 48 wooden poles for a distance of 2.5 km. The total project duration is estimated as 3 months.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
ARTICLE - AFTERSHOCK - QUAKE & HISPANIOLA
AFTERSHOCK: HOW HAITI'S QUAKE HIT THE WHOLE OF HISPANIOLA
(The Independent) - By Ian Burrell
Two years on from the disaster that shook the Caribbean state, its eastern neighbour, the Dominican Republic, fears a new wave of illegal immigrants could hurt its booming economy
The flooded Malpasse border crossing between Haiti and the Dominican Republic has become a disturbing symbol of how the two nations that share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola are standing on the brink of chaos as they struggle with the pressures of deteriorating natural and social conditions.
Passport control on the Haitian side has become inundated by the rising waters of Lake Azuei and travellers entering the building must follow a stepping stone path of breeze blocks to keep their feet dry as they have their documents stamped. The Dominican side is like a scene from the Wild West, as travellers arrive on the backs of ageing motorcycles to be surrounded by gangs of jobless youths pleading to carry their bags in wheelbarrows through puddles to the customs office.
The bare road, which two years ago was repaired by Japanese engineers as part of Haiti's post-earthquake relief, has been submerged by the lake. The lorries and coaches that cross from the Dominican Republic must cope with waters that reach their wheel arches.
The Haitian President, Michel Martelly, a former popular singer known as "Sweet Micky", celebrated his first year in office this month but his position has become a precarious one. Heavily criticised by the Haitian media for his perceived lack of political experience, he has become increasingly isolated after losing his Prime Minister, Garry Conille, who resigned in February after a political power struggle.
Last week in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, thousands of former soldiers marched through the streets in their fatigues, demanding that Haiti establish an army for the first time since it was disbanded by the former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995 after a series of abuses. Mr Martelly has given the old soldiers hope by appointing a Defence Minister, Rodolphe Joasil, but the demonstrations provoked violence and more than 50 arrests.
These uneasy scenes are being monitored by the often young and inexperienced United Nations soldiers from Brazil, Bolivia and Bangladesh who patrol the city in troop carriers with their weapons at the ready. At the Malpasse crossing point, off-duty soldiers in Brazilian football shirts head for rest, recuperation and the company of local girls in the beach resorts of the Dominican Republic.
The Haitian unrest was not what Dominicans wanted to see on the eve of their own national elections, which took place on Sunday; an alcohol ban was imposed to reduce the prospects of violence on the streets of the capital, Santo Domingo. Local newspapers appealed for calm while also reporting fears that the situation in Port-au-Prince could provoke a fresh exodus of illegal Haitian immigrants across the fragile border that cuts through the island from north to south.
Those who have left impoverished Haiti for the more favourable economic conditions on the other side of the island complain of discrimination, and Haitian descendants who were born on the Dominican side of the border are habitually denied citizenship rights. In turn, the Dominicans fear further migration will destabilise a country that has become one of the Caribbean's fastest-growing economies and the No 1 tourist destination in the region, its all-inclusive coastal resorts attracting large numbers of European and North American beach-worshippers.
Last weekend's Dominican elections were a close-run thing and the threat of meltdown was recognised by the moderate winning candidate, Danilo Medina, who embraced the slogan "The best change is safe change". Mr Medina's Dominican Liberation Party took 51 per cent of the vote compared with the more radical Dominican Revolutionary Party, which took 47 per cent. Hipolito "Papa" Mejia, leader of the latter party, questioned the validity of the outcome and claimed it was "the result of manipulation and abuse of power". But Mr Medina promised a brighter future, telling supporters: "With this victory I want to unite the Dominican Republic."
When the Haitian earthquake struck in January 2010, the Dominicans were the first people to come to their neighbour's assistance and aid lorries poured through the ramshackle border post at Malpasse. But more than two years on, large numbers of Haitians are still living under tarpaulin. In the district of Pétion-Ville on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, thousands are still camped on the site of a former golf course. The mass of tents and portable toilets resembles the scene of an outdoor music festival. The homeless population is gradually falling and along the main highways are signs of new houses being built from piles of breeze blocks. But as one Haitian remarked: "We have no production. I wonder whether there is another country on earth like Haiti."
In the hillside Pétionville neighbourhood of Morne Lazare, where all but four buildings were reduced to rubble by the earthquake, Rea Dol provides a refuge for 664 pupils in a community school that she opened for poor children in 2002, funded by the Society of Providence United for the Economic Development of Pétionville, a grass-roots social organisation. Ms Dol lost 28 children and two teachers in the disaster and described how her charges still run into the street in panic at the sound of loud traffic noises. Most of the homes around the school are patched-up temporary dwellings and Ms Dol is critical of the failure of the Haitian government, the United Nations and the many non-governmental organisations to improve conditions in her country.
Even so, on the day the old soldiers marched in Port-au-Prince, other Haitians were celebrating in different fashion the Day of the Flag national holiday, which marks the moment in 1803 when the Haitian revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines symbolically tore the white segment from the French tricolour. In the clean mountainous air of rural Thoman, in the east of the country, dozens of local youths in matching red T-shirts recognised the holiday with a motorcycle procession, which their fellow villagers greeted enthusiastically by waving national flags. On both sides of Hispaniola, a sense of national pride and hope endures.
Hispaniola: A divided island
Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492, and within a few years the Spanish had established a settlement on the Caribbean island. In 1697, Spain ceded the west to France. The country we now know as Haiti was founded in 1804 when the former colony's African slaves overthrew their French oppressors and established the world's first black republic. In 1822, Haitian forces marched east and took over the entire island. The Dominican Republic finally became independent in 1844 after a 22-year occupation.
(The Independent) - By Ian Burrell
Two years on from the disaster that shook the Caribbean state, its eastern neighbour, the Dominican Republic, fears a new wave of illegal immigrants could hurt its booming economy
The flooded Malpasse border crossing between Haiti and the Dominican Republic has become a disturbing symbol of how the two nations that share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola are standing on the brink of chaos as they struggle with the pressures of deteriorating natural and social conditions.
Passport control on the Haitian side has become inundated by the rising waters of Lake Azuei and travellers entering the building must follow a stepping stone path of breeze blocks to keep their feet dry as they have their documents stamped. The Dominican side is like a scene from the Wild West, as travellers arrive on the backs of ageing motorcycles to be surrounded by gangs of jobless youths pleading to carry their bags in wheelbarrows through puddles to the customs office.
The bare road, which two years ago was repaired by Japanese engineers as part of Haiti's post-earthquake relief, has been submerged by the lake. The lorries and coaches that cross from the Dominican Republic must cope with waters that reach their wheel arches.
The Haitian President, Michel Martelly, a former popular singer known as "Sweet Micky", celebrated his first year in office this month but his position has become a precarious one. Heavily criticised by the Haitian media for his perceived lack of political experience, he has become increasingly isolated after losing his Prime Minister, Garry Conille, who resigned in February after a political power struggle.
Last week in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, thousands of former soldiers marched through the streets in their fatigues, demanding that Haiti establish an army for the first time since it was disbanded by the former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995 after a series of abuses. Mr Martelly has given the old soldiers hope by appointing a Defence Minister, Rodolphe Joasil, but the demonstrations provoked violence and more than 50 arrests.
These uneasy scenes are being monitored by the often young and inexperienced United Nations soldiers from Brazil, Bolivia and Bangladesh who patrol the city in troop carriers with their weapons at the ready. At the Malpasse crossing point, off-duty soldiers in Brazilian football shirts head for rest, recuperation and the company of local girls in the beach resorts of the Dominican Republic.
The Haitian unrest was not what Dominicans wanted to see on the eve of their own national elections, which took place on Sunday; an alcohol ban was imposed to reduce the prospects of violence on the streets of the capital, Santo Domingo. Local newspapers appealed for calm while also reporting fears that the situation in Port-au-Prince could provoke a fresh exodus of illegal Haitian immigrants across the fragile border that cuts through the island from north to south.
Those who have left impoverished Haiti for the more favourable economic conditions on the other side of the island complain of discrimination, and Haitian descendants who were born on the Dominican side of the border are habitually denied citizenship rights. In turn, the Dominicans fear further migration will destabilise a country that has become one of the Caribbean's fastest-growing economies and the No 1 tourist destination in the region, its all-inclusive coastal resorts attracting large numbers of European and North American beach-worshippers.
Last weekend's Dominican elections were a close-run thing and the threat of meltdown was recognised by the moderate winning candidate, Danilo Medina, who embraced the slogan "The best change is safe change". Mr Medina's Dominican Liberation Party took 51 per cent of the vote compared with the more radical Dominican Revolutionary Party, which took 47 per cent. Hipolito "Papa" Mejia, leader of the latter party, questioned the validity of the outcome and claimed it was "the result of manipulation and abuse of power". But Mr Medina promised a brighter future, telling supporters: "With this victory I want to unite the Dominican Republic."
When the Haitian earthquake struck in January 2010, the Dominicans were the first people to come to their neighbour's assistance and aid lorries poured through the ramshackle border post at Malpasse. But more than two years on, large numbers of Haitians are still living under tarpaulin. In the district of Pétion-Ville on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, thousands are still camped on the site of a former golf course. The mass of tents and portable toilets resembles the scene of an outdoor music festival. The homeless population is gradually falling and along the main highways are signs of new houses being built from piles of breeze blocks. But as one Haitian remarked: "We have no production. I wonder whether there is another country on earth like Haiti."
In the hillside Pétionville neighbourhood of Morne Lazare, where all but four buildings were reduced to rubble by the earthquake, Rea Dol provides a refuge for 664 pupils in a community school that she opened for poor children in 2002, funded by the Society of Providence United for the Economic Development of Pétionville, a grass-roots social organisation. Ms Dol lost 28 children and two teachers in the disaster and described how her charges still run into the street in panic at the sound of loud traffic noises. Most of the homes around the school are patched-up temporary dwellings and Ms Dol is critical of the failure of the Haitian government, the United Nations and the many non-governmental organisations to improve conditions in her country.
Even so, on the day the old soldiers marched in Port-au-Prince, other Haitians were celebrating in different fashion the Day of the Flag national holiday, which marks the moment in 1803 when the Haitian revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines symbolically tore the white segment from the French tricolour. In the clean mountainous air of rural Thoman, in the east of the country, dozens of local youths in matching red T-shirts recognised the holiday with a motorcycle procession, which their fellow villagers greeted enthusiastically by waving national flags. On both sides of Hispaniola, a sense of national pride and hope endures.
Hispaniola: A divided island
Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola in 1492, and within a few years the Spanish had established a settlement on the Caribbean island. In 1697, Spain ceded the west to France. The country we now know as Haiti was founded in 1804 when the former colony's African slaves overthrew their French oppressors and established the world's first black republic. In 1822, Haitian forces marched east and took over the entire island. The Dominican Republic finally became independent in 1844 after a 22-year occupation.
ARTICLE - COUNTING NEMO
COUNTING NEMO: A DEEP LOOK AT THE AQUARIUM TRADE
(New York Times) - By Josie Garthwaite
Coral reef fish imported to the United States for saltwater aquariums are more diverse yet less numerous than previously thought, a new study suggests.
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, found that fishes comprising 1,802 species from 125 families were imported into the United States over a yearlong study period. Previous estimates of diversity based on government import forms were 22 percent lower.
Yet only about 11 million individual marine fish were imported, not the 15 million indicated on declaration forms.
It’s the “onesies and twosies,” the species found in only a few tanks, that are most interesting, Andrew Rhyne, the lead researcher and a marine biologist at Roger Williams University and the New England Aquarium, remarked in a telephone interview.
Nonetheless, 52 percent of the fish imported during the study period were from only 20 species, the study found. And damsels and anemone fishes from the Pomacentridae family made up half of the top 20 species and about three-quarters of the individuals.
The international trade in colorful marine organisms from coral reefs has become big business over the past 15 years. New lighting and filtration technology enabled hobbyists to set up saltwater aquariums at home, and the popular 2003 movie “Finding Nemo” buoyed demand for clownfish. According to the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, one million of the world’s 1.5 million aquarium hobbyists live in the United States, and Americans buy more than half of all marine aquarium fish sold globally.
Until now, little has been known about these imports. To gather hard data, Dr. Rhyne recruited a team of students to examine more than 8,000 shipment declarations and corresponding invoices provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Fish and Wildlife Service dating from May 2004 to May 2005.
The researchers spent 6,000 hours entering the relevant information into a database. The least legible invoices, often either handwritten or sent as low-resolution faxes, were entered manually, and a customized scanning program was used for the high-quality copies.
The invoices showed that while 40 countries export marine tropical fish to the United States, two countries — the Philippines and Indonesia— accounted for more than 86 percent of the trade. Sri Lanka and Haiti were the third- and fourth-largest exporters to the United States, respectively, although the data predates the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 316,000 people and left Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in rubble.
Haiti is the only Caribbean country that has not established a marine protected area where fishing is restricted. Last year, the nonprofit organization Reef Check called the country’s coral reefs, once a destination for scuba divers and long fished for food, “the most overfished in the world.” Dr. Rhyne said that Haiti has been largely overlooked as a major source of ornamental marine fish in the global trade.
The invoices revealed that 1,802 reef fish species from 125 families were imported that year. Previous estimates based on government import forms were significantly lower: just 1,472 species from 50 families. However, the invoice records also suggested the total volume of fish had been significantly overestimated on declaration forms (at 15 million, versus the 11 million reflected on the invoices).
“We were pretty stunned by the error rate on those declarations,” Dr. Rhyne said. “Lots of things were being called marine fish that are not marine fish, like goldfish from Thailand. It looked like Singapore and Thailand were shipping a lot of marine fish to the United States, which they’re not. They’re shipping a lot of freshwater fish.”
In fact, only 52 percent of commercial invoices matched the government import forms.
The error rate may not be as alarming as it seems, Dr. Rhyne said. Fish and Wildilife inspectors do have the invoices in hand at the point of inspection, he said. The discrepancies really only matter when scientists use the government database to analyze the trade, he explained.
Still, the study raises flags on how ornamental marine fish imports are monitored and assessed. “I think the reason you see the errors is there’s no reason for that number to be accurate — unless they’re just following good business practices,” Dr. Rhyne said. “There’s virtually no regulations on fish right now on what’s coming in.”
The need for reliable import data is only increasing, the researchers write, as coastal managers seek to reduce risks from the introduction of diseases and invasive species. The current system maintained by the Fish and Wildlife Service tracks shipments based on the requirements set under the international treaty known as Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
The database maintained by the service helps regulators determine the budget and staffing levels needed at various ports to inspect and document the incoming shipments.
Yet endangered species make up only a small portion of the market. The millions of fish that are not listed under Cites are entered into the system with only a general code for Marine Tropical Fish. As a result, Dr. Rhyne said, the system is a poor source of data on the trade of biodiverse wildlife.
Most of the fish imported for saltwater aquariums are small, numerous and widely distributed tropical species, Dr. Rhyne said. Yet the invoices show that imports for hobbyist aquariums also include some troubling species, for example, fish that can grow to six to eight feet in length as adults.
“They’re being sold as small fish as juveniles,” he said. But then, it may turn out that the fish is a giant grouper. “Really, they probably don’t belong in the hobby,” Dr. Rhyne said.
(New York Times) - By Josie Garthwaite
Coral reef fish imported to the United States for saltwater aquariums are more diverse yet less numerous than previously thought, a new study suggests.
The study, published in the journal PLOS One, found that fishes comprising 1,802 species from 125 families were imported into the United States over a yearlong study period. Previous estimates of diversity based on government import forms were 22 percent lower.
Yet only about 11 million individual marine fish were imported, not the 15 million indicated on declaration forms.
It’s the “onesies and twosies,” the species found in only a few tanks, that are most interesting, Andrew Rhyne, the lead researcher and a marine biologist at Roger Williams University and the New England Aquarium, remarked in a telephone interview.
Nonetheless, 52 percent of the fish imported during the study period were from only 20 species, the study found. And damsels and anemone fishes from the Pomacentridae family made up half of the top 20 species and about three-quarters of the individuals.
The international trade in colorful marine organisms from coral reefs has become big business over the past 15 years. New lighting and filtration technology enabled hobbyists to set up saltwater aquariums at home, and the popular 2003 movie “Finding Nemo” buoyed demand for clownfish. According to the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, one million of the world’s 1.5 million aquarium hobbyists live in the United States, and Americans buy more than half of all marine aquarium fish sold globally.
Until now, little has been known about these imports. To gather hard data, Dr. Rhyne recruited a team of students to examine more than 8,000 shipment declarations and corresponding invoices provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Fish and Wildlife Service dating from May 2004 to May 2005.
The researchers spent 6,000 hours entering the relevant information into a database. The least legible invoices, often either handwritten or sent as low-resolution faxes, were entered manually, and a customized scanning program was used for the high-quality copies.
The invoices showed that while 40 countries export marine tropical fish to the United States, two countries — the Philippines and Indonesia— accounted for more than 86 percent of the trade. Sri Lanka and Haiti were the third- and fourth-largest exporters to the United States, respectively, although the data predates the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed an estimated 316,000 people and left Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in rubble.
Haiti is the only Caribbean country that has not established a marine protected area where fishing is restricted. Last year, the nonprofit organization Reef Check called the country’s coral reefs, once a destination for scuba divers and long fished for food, “the most overfished in the world.” Dr. Rhyne said that Haiti has been largely overlooked as a major source of ornamental marine fish in the global trade.
The invoices revealed that 1,802 reef fish species from 125 families were imported that year. Previous estimates based on government import forms were significantly lower: just 1,472 species from 50 families. However, the invoice records also suggested the total volume of fish had been significantly overestimated on declaration forms (at 15 million, versus the 11 million reflected on the invoices).
“We were pretty stunned by the error rate on those declarations,” Dr. Rhyne said. “Lots of things were being called marine fish that are not marine fish, like goldfish from Thailand. It looked like Singapore and Thailand were shipping a lot of marine fish to the United States, which they’re not. They’re shipping a lot of freshwater fish.”
In fact, only 52 percent of commercial invoices matched the government import forms.
The error rate may not be as alarming as it seems, Dr. Rhyne said. Fish and Wildilife inspectors do have the invoices in hand at the point of inspection, he said. The discrepancies really only matter when scientists use the government database to analyze the trade, he explained.
Still, the study raises flags on how ornamental marine fish imports are monitored and assessed. “I think the reason you see the errors is there’s no reason for that number to be accurate — unless they’re just following good business practices,” Dr. Rhyne said. “There’s virtually no regulations on fish right now on what’s coming in.”
The need for reliable import data is only increasing, the researchers write, as coastal managers seek to reduce risks from the introduction of diseases and invasive species. The current system maintained by the Fish and Wildlife Service tracks shipments based on the requirements set under the international treaty known as Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
The database maintained by the service helps regulators determine the budget and staffing levels needed at various ports to inspect and document the incoming shipments.
Yet endangered species make up only a small portion of the market. The millions of fish that are not listed under Cites are entered into the system with only a general code for Marine Tropical Fish. As a result, Dr. Rhyne said, the system is a poor source of data on the trade of biodiverse wildlife.
Most of the fish imported for saltwater aquariums are small, numerous and widely distributed tropical species, Dr. Rhyne said. Yet the invoices show that imports for hobbyist aquariums also include some troubling species, for example, fish that can grow to six to eight feet in length as adults.
“They’re being sold as small fish as juveniles,” he said. But then, it may turn out that the fish is a giant grouper. “Really, they probably don’t belong in the hobby,” Dr. Rhyne said.
ARTICLE - PROJECT GREEN BORDER - 1 YR.
PROJECT GREEN BORDER ONE YEAR LATER...
(Haiti Libre) -
Along the border shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, one year after the launch of an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with both countries, more than 300 hectares of land, equivalent to 740 football fields, have been reforested.
Ministers of the environment of the two neighbouring countries that share the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, and UNDP officials gathered recently in Cap Haitien, northern Haiti, to commend the additional results, including the creation of 450 jobs and three community centres where plants are grown to usable sizes to help further reforest the two countries’ borders. Six hundred families have benefitted in 12 rural communities in both countries.
The Green Border Project, is a four-year binational project implemented by UNDP, the United Nations Environment Programme and World Food Programme to reduce high levels of natural disaster risk for local inhabitants along the border that runs through several rivers and watersheds.
"Together we can recover the vegetation, together we can reduce poverty and risks at the border", said Victor Manuel Garcia Santana, Vice-Minister of Land and Water for the Ministry of Environment of the Dominican Republic.
Centuries of man-made deforestation have reduced forest cover to about two percent in Haiti and 21 percent in the Dominican Republic. Haiti’s wildlife habitats have been destroyed or seriously damaged with 25 to 30 watersheds largely degraded or altered.
"The idea is to achieve socially equitable development at the border [...] The reforestation activities function in this context as a form of compensation for ecosystem services, a form of social justice that helps rural inhabitants benefit from green jobs, to work for the welfare of their community, and better management of natural resources of their country," declared the Haitian Minister of the Environment, Joseph Ronald Toussaint.
The project focuses on reforestation, local training, and campaign (education campaigns in schools, training partners, creation of tools for monitoring, and control of deforestation, among other measures), the demonstration of sustainable alternatives, and the consolidation of bi-national cooperation.
The Green Border Project has also sparked micro family businesses on the Haiti-Dominican Republic border. The project has been helping family owned cassava bakeries, which produce cakes and other baked goods made from the native cassava, or yucca—root, using eco-friendly energy efficient practices.
The project also boosts the production of fruit and forest species (pine, cedar, pinus, citrus trees, cashew nuts, among others) in the Haitian municipality of Dosmond, where more than 400,000 seedlings and around 10 new species have been produced. Green Border is primarily funded by the Norwegian government with around US$2.5 million in funding.
(Haiti Libre) -
Along the border shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, one year after the launch of an initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) with both countries, more than 300 hectares of land, equivalent to 740 football fields, have been reforested.
Ministers of the environment of the two neighbouring countries that share the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, and UNDP officials gathered recently in Cap Haitien, northern Haiti, to commend the additional results, including the creation of 450 jobs and three community centres where plants are grown to usable sizes to help further reforest the two countries’ borders. Six hundred families have benefitted in 12 rural communities in both countries.
The Green Border Project, is a four-year binational project implemented by UNDP, the United Nations Environment Programme and World Food Programme to reduce high levels of natural disaster risk for local inhabitants along the border that runs through several rivers and watersheds.
"Together we can recover the vegetation, together we can reduce poverty and risks at the border", said Victor Manuel Garcia Santana, Vice-Minister of Land and Water for the Ministry of Environment of the Dominican Republic.
Centuries of man-made deforestation have reduced forest cover to about two percent in Haiti and 21 percent in the Dominican Republic. Haiti’s wildlife habitats have been destroyed or seriously damaged with 25 to 30 watersheds largely degraded or altered.
"The idea is to achieve socially equitable development at the border [...] The reforestation activities function in this context as a form of compensation for ecosystem services, a form of social justice that helps rural inhabitants benefit from green jobs, to work for the welfare of their community, and better management of natural resources of their country," declared the Haitian Minister of the Environment, Joseph Ronald Toussaint.
The project focuses on reforestation, local training, and campaign (education campaigns in schools, training partners, creation of tools for monitoring, and control of deforestation, among other measures), the demonstration of sustainable alternatives, and the consolidation of bi-national cooperation.
The Green Border Project has also sparked micro family businesses on the Haiti-Dominican Republic border. The project has been helping family owned cassava bakeries, which produce cakes and other baked goods made from the native cassava, or yucca—root, using eco-friendly energy efficient practices.
The project also boosts the production of fruit and forest species (pine, cedar, pinus, citrus trees, cashew nuts, among others) in the Haitian municipality of Dosmond, where more than 400,000 seedlings and around 10 new species have been produced. Green Border is primarily funded by the Norwegian government with around US$2.5 million in funding.
ARTICLE - SITUATION AT EDH
THE SITUATION AT EDH
(Haiti Libre) -
At the second Council of Government, held on Wednesday, June 6 at the Primature, the engineer Garry Valdemar, Director General of Electricity of Haiti (EDH) presented a state of the situation, and emphasized the necessity for the Haitian government, to find an effective formula to encourage subscribers to pay their bills regularly. He announced new projects to improve the power grid, damaged by natural and human factors.
"...it is necessary that we enter enough money to make the maintenance operations, and the development of grid. The metropolitan network that we have was renovated in the mid-80's [...], which means that we currently have poles that are rotten, cables that are not in good condition, this is what makes a supply that can never be continuous [...] we do not have the capacity to transmit electricity to transport it and distribute it properly...
[...] At the production level, we have a project to rehabilitate Péligre. We have already signed the contract, but the work has not started yet. Work will probably start in September [...] the firm Alstom-Comelex who won the tender is making administrative formalities with the lenders [...] they are making a recruitment for the site also.
I talked to you of the rehabilitation of 3 circuits that are at the level of Pétion ville [...] on the other hand, there are major problems at Carrefour [an EDH plant], which has a group of 10 Mw down. We have disbursed the funds and repairs are currently underway. By August, we think we will have back 6 Mw of power on the grid..."
(Haiti Libre) -
At the second Council of Government, held on Wednesday, June 6 at the Primature, the engineer Garry Valdemar, Director General of Electricity of Haiti (EDH) presented a state of the situation, and emphasized the necessity for the Haitian government, to find an effective formula to encourage subscribers to pay their bills regularly. He announced new projects to improve the power grid, damaged by natural and human factors.
"...it is necessary that we enter enough money to make the maintenance operations, and the development of grid. The metropolitan network that we have was renovated in the mid-80's [...], which means that we currently have poles that are rotten, cables that are not in good condition, this is what makes a supply that can never be continuous [...] we do not have the capacity to transmit electricity to transport it and distribute it properly...
[...] At the production level, we have a project to rehabilitate Péligre. We have already signed the contract, but the work has not started yet. Work will probably start in September [...] the firm Alstom-Comelex who won the tender is making administrative formalities with the lenders [...] they are making a recruitment for the site also.
I talked to you of the rehabilitation of 3 circuits that are at the level of Pétion ville [...] on the other hand, there are major problems at Carrefour [an EDH plant], which has a group of 10 Mw down. We have disbursed the funds and repairs are currently underway. By August, we think we will have back 6 Mw of power on the grid..."
Friday, June 8, 2012
ARTICLE - LEOGANE - SOLAR LIGHTS
SOLAR ENERGY ILLUMINATES THE NIGHTS IN LEOGANE
(Haiti Libre) -
As part of the follow-up in the decentralization program, "Katye Pa'm Poze" implemented by Me Thierry Mayard-Paul, the Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities; a dozen solar street lights were installed in the town of Léogâne, on Wednesday. This approach met the grievances of the people gathered at the "Community Café" made on Friday, March 30, 2012.
Four strategic sites have been selected for the installation of this first series of streetlights: The entry "Bienvenue " of the city, Place Sainte Rose, The "Route Neuf" Station, and the Market of Darbonne. Each location is equipped with at least two streetlights equipped with burglar alarms, and with a rechargeable battery powered by solar energy for a life of four years. Citizen security is a priority of the Ministry of Interior. The night lighting of public spaces will facilitate the activities of the inhabitants of the area, giving a better look at the city, and reduce the rate of insecurity in the region.
The program "Katye Pa'm Poze" launched since March 2012 by the Minister of the Interior, wants to be the real engine of national development, and of the decentralization. This achievement in Léogâne, is the first in a series of actions that will be undertaken together with the people of various communities across the country. KPP gives voice to the people to accompany the central power in decision making.
(Haiti Libre) -
As part of the follow-up in the decentralization program, "Katye Pa'm Poze" implemented by Me Thierry Mayard-Paul, the Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities; a dozen solar street lights were installed in the town of Léogâne, on Wednesday. This approach met the grievances of the people gathered at the "Community Café" made on Friday, March 30, 2012.
Four strategic sites have been selected for the installation of this first series of streetlights: The entry "Bienvenue " of the city, Place Sainte Rose, The "Route Neuf" Station, and the Market of Darbonne. Each location is equipped with at least two streetlights equipped with burglar alarms, and with a rechargeable battery powered by solar energy for a life of four years. Citizen security is a priority of the Ministry of Interior. The night lighting of public spaces will facilitate the activities of the inhabitants of the area, giving a better look at the city, and reduce the rate of insecurity in the region.
The program "Katye Pa'm Poze" launched since March 2012 by the Minister of the Interior, wants to be the real engine of national development, and of the decentralization. This achievement in Léogâne, is the first in a series of actions that will be undertaken together with the people of various communities across the country. KPP gives voice to the people to accompany the central power in decision making.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
ARTICLE - SAMOAN BREADFRUIT IN CARIBBEAN
SAMOAN BREADFRUIT MAKES A SPLASH IN THE CARIBBEAN
(IPS) - By Jon Letman
KAUAI, Hawaii - Can a single species of tree significantly reduce hunger, unemployment and deforestation in the tropics? Researchers and scientists behind a surge in breadfruit activity think so.
Over the last decade, a handful of nonprofits and NGOs have accelerated efforts to test, grow and distribute breadfruit trees with the idea that this versatile, nutritious, fast-growing member of the mulberry family has enormous untapped potential to improve food security and local ecosystems.
Breadfruit proponents from Hawaii to British Columbia, the U.S. Midwest, Central America and Europe have stepped up efforts to expand the tree's presence in the Caribbean.
Breadfruit, a staple in the Pacific Islands for thousands of years, has been popular in the Caribbean for over 200 years. What's different about the trees being introduced today is that they are a Samoan variety called Ma'afala (mah-ah-fala), previously unknown in this part of the world.
Ma'afala was selected as optimal for mass propagation and distribution because it has the highest protein and mineral nutrition (iron, potassium, zinc) of 94 varieties studied, and is widely considered one of the tastiest of varieties. All the Ma'afala grown and distributed in the Caribbean today originates from the collection at the Breadfruit Institute (http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/ ), part of the Hawaii-based National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Breadfruit Institute director Dr. Diane Ragone, who manages the world's largest and most diverse breadfruit collection on Maui and Kauai islands, partners with Dr. Susan Murch, a chemistry professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Okanagan.
Ragone began collecting breadfruit varieties for conservation and research in the mid-1980s and has worked with Murch to develop micro- propagation protocols for elite varieties that are then mass- propagated by U.S.-Germany-based Global Breadfruit. The tiny Ma'afala trees are then purchased by organisations which introduce the plants where they are most needed ― in places like Jamaica, Honduras and Haiti.
More jobs, cleaner water and better food
One organisation encouraging the growth and consumption of Ma'afala is the Agro-forestry Regional Nursery (ARN) Foundation of Haiti. ARN works on the premise that local food security, employment and healthy watersheds and forests are interrelated.
With the capacity to grow one million trees per year, the foundation aims to improve the condition of Haiti's watersheds, nine out of 10 of which ARN co-founder James Kishlar says are polluted by humans and animals and the effects of deforestation. Including breadfruit as part of a suite of food-producing trees like mango, avocado, citrus and banana has environmental benefits while providing much-needed food and jobs.
By adding Ma'afala to Haiti's crop base, ARN aims to increase agricultural diversity and extend fruit-bearing periods since different varieties produce throughout the year.
"Diversity is what we're trying to get back to, not monoculture," says Kishlar.
Another nonprofit distributing Ma'afala is the Chicago-based Trees That Feed Foundation (TTFF) (http://www.treesthatfeed.org/ ), which is distributing breadfruit trees to school, hospitals, orphanages and for use in public spaces in Jamaica.
TTFF works closely with the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture, which receives the tiny trees upon arrival in the country and transports them to a nursery where they are grown out before being distributing to independent farmers who can receive up to 25 trees at no cost.
In Haiti, TTFF has formed an alliance with a Port-au-Prince orphanage which is growing trees in a nursery until they are large enough to be given to partners. Since 2009, Trees That Feed has shipped over 12,000 Ma'afala trees, almost 3,000 to Haiti in this year alone.
As more trees bear fruit, founder and chairperson Mary McLaughlin expects commercial farmers who can afford them to purchase trees and help increase interest and demand.
But breadfruit, which is easy to grow and remarkably prolific - a single tree can easily yield 200 kg or more of food a year - has a short shelf life. Mature fruit must be consumed quickly and during fruit season there can be a glut.
Gluten-free without the glut
One way to address this is by drying and milling breadfruit for flour which is gluten-free and can be preserved for later use in secondary, value-added food products.
The flour, which has a shelf-life measured in years, can be used for breads, cakes, porridges, and other baked goods, says Dr. Camille George, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas' (UST) School of Engineering. George is also a board member with Compatible Technology International (CTI), a Minnesota-based nonprofit that designs and distributes simple technologies that can be used to fight hunger in remote and rural communities.
Currently UST and CTI are distributing their own breadfruit processing equipment for producing flour in Haiti and elsewhere. George says, "I'm trying to come up with new, innovative ideas of how to engineer for the majority of the world that really has been neglected by mainstream engineering."
Trees That Feed has begun purchasing grinders and shredders designed by CTI and will help establish "factories in a box" that can be set up almost anywhere.
"We feel very strongly at Trees That Feed that we have to lead the way in every aspect," McLaughlin says. "We are generating excitement, making people want to plant breadfruit trees, helping feed people, create jobs and benefit the environment."
By advancing interest in and use of breadfruit flour, McLaughlin says, there's more need for harvesting breadfruit and growing more trees. She sees a bright future for breadfruit in the Caribbean.
So does UBC's Murch who thinks breadfruit is already beyond a tipping point. With the in-vitro Ma'afala breadfruit on the market and being circulated around the world (in 2011 one thousand Ma'afala saplings were hand-delivered to Ghana), the number of trees, the desirability of growing those trees, and a broader awareness of breadfruit as an under-utilised crop, not just in the Caribbean, but around the tropical world, is accelerating greatly.
A second Samoan breadfruit variety - Ulu fiti - has already gone through virus screening and field testing protocols with memorandums of understanding established between interested parties. Next comes distribution and educating the public about the environmental, social, dietary and culinary benefits of growing, eating and selling breadfruit in its various forms.
Greater interest and understanding of the trees, the Breadfruit Institute's Ragone believes, means more breadfruit will be planted in the ground and filling the kitchens and markets throughout the tropical world and that, she says, can only be good.
(IPS) - By Jon Letman
KAUAI, Hawaii - Can a single species of tree significantly reduce hunger, unemployment and deforestation in the tropics? Researchers and scientists behind a surge in breadfruit activity think so.
Over the last decade, a handful of nonprofits and NGOs have accelerated efforts to test, grow and distribute breadfruit trees with the idea that this versatile, nutritious, fast-growing member of the mulberry family has enormous untapped potential to improve food security and local ecosystems.
Breadfruit proponents from Hawaii to British Columbia, the U.S. Midwest, Central America and Europe have stepped up efforts to expand the tree's presence in the Caribbean.
Breadfruit, a staple in the Pacific Islands for thousands of years, has been popular in the Caribbean for over 200 years. What's different about the trees being introduced today is that they are a Samoan variety called Ma'afala (mah-ah-fala), previously unknown in this part of the world.
Ma'afala was selected as optimal for mass propagation and distribution because it has the highest protein and mineral nutrition (iron, potassium, zinc) of 94 varieties studied, and is widely considered one of the tastiest of varieties. All the Ma'afala grown and distributed in the Caribbean today originates from the collection at the Breadfruit Institute (http://ntbg.org/breadfruit/ ), part of the Hawaii-based National Tropical Botanical Garden.
Breadfruit Institute director Dr. Diane Ragone, who manages the world's largest and most diverse breadfruit collection on Maui and Kauai islands, partners with Dr. Susan Murch, a chemistry professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Okanagan.
Ragone began collecting breadfruit varieties for conservation and research in the mid-1980s and has worked with Murch to develop micro- propagation protocols for elite varieties that are then mass- propagated by U.S.-Germany-based Global Breadfruit. The tiny Ma'afala trees are then purchased by organisations which introduce the plants where they are most needed ― in places like Jamaica, Honduras and Haiti.
More jobs, cleaner water and better food
One organisation encouraging the growth and consumption of Ma'afala is the Agro-forestry Regional Nursery (ARN) Foundation of Haiti. ARN works on the premise that local food security, employment and healthy watersheds and forests are interrelated.
With the capacity to grow one million trees per year, the foundation aims to improve the condition of Haiti's watersheds, nine out of 10 of which ARN co-founder James Kishlar says are polluted by humans and animals and the effects of deforestation. Including breadfruit as part of a suite of food-producing trees like mango, avocado, citrus and banana has environmental benefits while providing much-needed food and jobs.
By adding Ma'afala to Haiti's crop base, ARN aims to increase agricultural diversity and extend fruit-bearing periods since different varieties produce throughout the year.
"Diversity is what we're trying to get back to, not monoculture," says Kishlar.
Another nonprofit distributing Ma'afala is the Chicago-based Trees That Feed Foundation (TTFF) (http://www.treesthatfeed.org/ ), which is distributing breadfruit trees to school, hospitals, orphanages and for use in public spaces in Jamaica.
TTFF works closely with the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture, which receives the tiny trees upon arrival in the country and transports them to a nursery where they are grown out before being distributing to independent farmers who can receive up to 25 trees at no cost.
In Haiti, TTFF has formed an alliance with a Port-au-Prince orphanage which is growing trees in a nursery until they are large enough to be given to partners. Since 2009, Trees That Feed has shipped over 12,000 Ma'afala trees, almost 3,000 to Haiti in this year alone.
As more trees bear fruit, founder and chairperson Mary McLaughlin expects commercial farmers who can afford them to purchase trees and help increase interest and demand.
But breadfruit, which is easy to grow and remarkably prolific - a single tree can easily yield 200 kg or more of food a year - has a short shelf life. Mature fruit must be consumed quickly and during fruit season there can be a glut.
Gluten-free without the glut
One way to address this is by drying and milling breadfruit for flour which is gluten-free and can be preserved for later use in secondary, value-added food products.
The flour, which has a shelf-life measured in years, can be used for breads, cakes, porridges, and other baked goods, says Dr. Camille George, an associate professor at the University of St. Thomas' (UST) School of Engineering. George is also a board member with Compatible Technology International (CTI), a Minnesota-based nonprofit that designs and distributes simple technologies that can be used to fight hunger in remote and rural communities.
Currently UST and CTI are distributing their own breadfruit processing equipment for producing flour in Haiti and elsewhere. George says, "I'm trying to come up with new, innovative ideas of how to engineer for the majority of the world that really has been neglected by mainstream engineering."
Trees That Feed has begun purchasing grinders and shredders designed by CTI and will help establish "factories in a box" that can be set up almost anywhere.
"We feel very strongly at Trees That Feed that we have to lead the way in every aspect," McLaughlin says. "We are generating excitement, making people want to plant breadfruit trees, helping feed people, create jobs and benefit the environment."
By advancing interest in and use of breadfruit flour, McLaughlin says, there's more need for harvesting breadfruit and growing more trees. She sees a bright future for breadfruit in the Caribbean.
So does UBC's Murch who thinks breadfruit is already beyond a tipping point. With the in-vitro Ma'afala breadfruit on the market and being circulated around the world (in 2011 one thousand Ma'afala saplings were hand-delivered to Ghana), the number of trees, the desirability of growing those trees, and a broader awareness of breadfruit as an under-utilised crop, not just in the Caribbean, but around the tropical world, is accelerating greatly.
A second Samoan breadfruit variety - Ulu fiti - has already gone through virus screening and field testing protocols with memorandums of understanding established between interested parties. Next comes distribution and educating the public about the environmental, social, dietary and culinary benefits of growing, eating and selling breadfruit in its various forms.
Greater interest and understanding of the trees, the Breadfruit Institute's Ragone believes, means more breadfruit will be planted in the ground and filling the kitchens and markets throughout the tropical world and that, she says, can only be good.
ARTICLE - THE PRESIDENT PLANTS TREES
THE PRESIDENT PLANTS TREES
(Haiti Libre) -
On the occasion of World Environment Day, President Michel Martelly, went, Tuesday, June 5, 2012, to Morne l’Hôpital, at Galet, where he visited a pilot project for the reforestation of gullies, funded by international partners and with support from the Ministry of Environment [estimated U.S.$ 170.000]. By this visit, the Head of State, who makes of this area one of his priorities, wanted to encourage this initiative, which brings an intelligent answer to the crucial problems caused by deforestation.
"...today is World Environment Day; an environment in Haiti, which is deteriorating continuously, because of all the suffering we have in Port-au-Prince, Cité Soleil, Pétion ville, and Tabarre. When it rains, we know what happens... it is environmental degradation that is the cause.
Many people ask the Public Works to come to clean, but that's a false problem. It is a work for firefighters and wasteful. A good work is to start at the source of the problem, as on the hills where people plant things, such as corn on the slopes; ..... this is not recommended. We need forests, and fruit trees. We can understand that for a question of survival, corn is good for them, but if they put lemons that would allow the keeping of land and would also provide a financial contribution.
It is a matter of choice, education, and support. Today, I'm glad they manage, they are puting rocks there, to prevent soil coming down and to prevent water from doing damage; but this is only a part of work at the watershed level.
The second part,.... I came to inaugurate, the planting of trees. Today, we will plant cedars, mangos and lemon trees [...] I ask people to participate in the program [...] we told them that through the program, we will accompany them with fertilizer, and that on their side, they manage, raise awareness, and educate themselves, so that they understand that when they do damage here, they will kill people further down. It's that simple.
So it is to accompany all those who want to do this job, and protect watersheds [...] This project creates jobs, it is a first step [...] There are 27 watersheds like this, on which they are working; already 27...The idea now is to plant on all the watersheds, and to follow this work; [...] monitoring is very important. This is why I promised to return next year. I want to see the trees that we planted this year, be greater next year [...] In September, it is two million trees that we will plant. Today is a symbolic gesture for environment day. We will plant 800, which is minimal compared to our needs... Today there are 1,345 people in the group who are workin [...]
On this World Day of the Environment, it seems to me entirely appropriate to highlight the action initiated by the Organisation Nationale des Jeunes Professionnels pour Sauver Haïti, (ONJPSH) aimed at rehabilitating the Capitaine Louis gully of Morne l'Hôpital. Besides the environmental management, the operation undertaken by the ONJPSH will generate economic benefits, in its implementation phase, and in that of its operation. It opens interesting job prospects in the short, medium and long term for residents of the area," declared President Martelly, welcoming the partners involved in this process.
In terms of results:
Dry wall in floor will form several levels that will reduce water velocity and ensure a better flow rate
The perennial roots of vetiver and bamboo, which will be planted, will retain the soil and will be able to accommodate other herbs and trees
Introduced plantations will expand our production capacity in aromatic essences and provide material to the various transformations in craft and woodwork to which bamboo is suitable.
This is to raise awareness on the importance of pilot projects of reforestation in Haiti and of environmental protection as a means of economic growth and job creation, and as an important measure in order to prevent flooding and erosion.
The President of the Republic believes that such experiences must be multiplied throughout the country, not only to extend our cover and prevent our soil from being lost in the sea, but also to increase our production capacity and utilization of our workforce.
(Haiti Libre) -
On the occasion of World Environment Day, President Michel Martelly, went, Tuesday, June 5, 2012, to Morne l’Hôpital, at Galet, where he visited a pilot project for the reforestation of gullies, funded by international partners and with support from the Ministry of Environment [estimated U.S.$ 170.000]. By this visit, the Head of State, who makes of this area one of his priorities, wanted to encourage this initiative, which brings an intelligent answer to the crucial problems caused by deforestation.
"...today is World Environment Day; an environment in Haiti, which is deteriorating continuously, because of all the suffering we have in Port-au-Prince, Cité Soleil, Pétion ville, and Tabarre. When it rains, we know what happens... it is environmental degradation that is the cause.
Many people ask the Public Works to come to clean, but that's a false problem. It is a work for firefighters and wasteful. A good work is to start at the source of the problem, as on the hills where people plant things, such as corn on the slopes; ..... this is not recommended. We need forests, and fruit trees. We can understand that for a question of survival, corn is good for them, but if they put lemons that would allow the keeping of land and would also provide a financial contribution.
It is a matter of choice, education, and support. Today, I'm glad they manage, they are puting rocks there, to prevent soil coming down and to prevent water from doing damage; but this is only a part of work at the watershed level.
The second part,.... I came to inaugurate, the planting of trees. Today, we will plant cedars, mangos and lemon trees [...] I ask people to participate in the program [...] we told them that through the program, we will accompany them with fertilizer, and that on their side, they manage, raise awareness, and educate themselves, so that they understand that when they do damage here, they will kill people further down. It's that simple.
So it is to accompany all those who want to do this job, and protect watersheds [...] This project creates jobs, it is a first step [...] There are 27 watersheds like this, on which they are working; already 27...The idea now is to plant on all the watersheds, and to follow this work; [...] monitoring is very important. This is why I promised to return next year. I want to see the trees that we planted this year, be greater next year [...] In September, it is two million trees that we will plant. Today is a symbolic gesture for environment day. We will plant 800, which is minimal compared to our needs... Today there are 1,345 people in the group who are workin [...]
On this World Day of the Environment, it seems to me entirely appropriate to highlight the action initiated by the Organisation Nationale des Jeunes Professionnels pour Sauver Haïti, (ONJPSH) aimed at rehabilitating the Capitaine Louis gully of Morne l'Hôpital. Besides the environmental management, the operation undertaken by the ONJPSH will generate economic benefits, in its implementation phase, and in that of its operation. It opens interesting job prospects in the short, medium and long term for residents of the area," declared President Martelly, welcoming the partners involved in this process.
In terms of results:
Dry wall in floor will form several levels that will reduce water velocity and ensure a better flow rate
The perennial roots of vetiver and bamboo, which will be planted, will retain the soil and will be able to accommodate other herbs and trees
Introduced plantations will expand our production capacity in aromatic essences and provide material to the various transformations in craft and woodwork to which bamboo is suitable.
This is to raise awareness on the importance of pilot projects of reforestation in Haiti and of environmental protection as a means of economic growth and job creation, and as an important measure in order to prevent flooding and erosion.
The President of the Republic believes that such experiences must be multiplied throughout the country, not only to extend our cover and prevent our soil from being lost in the sea, but also to increase our production capacity and utilization of our workforce.
ARTICLE - HAITI'S REFORESTATION DRIVE
HAITI CONTINUES REFORESTATION DRIVE, PLANS TWO MILLION NEW SEEDLINGS
(Caribbean Journal)
-
Haiti President Michel Martelly visited an environmental project Tuesday, promising that Haiti would plant two million seedlings in the country by September.
Martelly was observing a pilot project in Galet involving the reforestation of ravines.
It is part of continued work by the National Organization of Young Professionals to Save Haiti, which has been undertaking environmental management projects in the area.
“Besides environmental management, the operation undertaken by the ONJPSH will provide economic benefits,” Martelly said. “It opens up interesting jobs in the short, medium and long term for residents of the area.”
The environment is one of the so-called five “E”s named as priorities by his administration. Those include education, the environment, employment, energy, and the Rule of Law, which begins in French with an “e.” (etat de droit)
About 800 seedlings were planted Tuesday in Galet. The reforestation project is being funded by some of Haiti’s international partners with support from the country’s Ministry of Environment.
According to the government, 1,345 people have benefited from the treatment of the Capitaine Louis ravine in Morne L’Hopital, at a cost of $178,000.
The plan includes the introduction of perennial roots including vetiver and bamboo, along with the introduction of farms aimed at expanding production capacity in several agricultural fields.
Haiti will also treat 27 watershed areas as part of the environmental management campaign, according to the president.
Haiti President Michel Martelly visited an environmental project Tuesday, promising that Haiti would plant two million seedlings in the country by September.
Martelly was observing a pilot project in Galet involving the reforestation of ravines.
It is part of continued work by the National Organization of Young Professionals to Save Haiti, which has been undertaking environmental management projects in the area.
“Besides environmental management, the operation undertaken by the ONJPSH will provide economic benefits,” Martelly said. “It opens up interesting jobs in the short, medium and long term for residents of the area.”
The environment is one of the so-called five “E”s named as priorities by his administration. Those include education, the environment, employment, energy, and the Rule of Law, which begins in French with an “e.” (etat de droit)
About 800 seedlings were planted Tuesday in Galet. The reforestation project is being funded by some of Haiti’s international partners with support from the country’s Ministry of Environment.
According to the government, 1,345 people have benefited from the treatment of the Capitaine Louis ravine in Morne L’Hopital, at a cost of $178,000.
The plan includes the introduction of perennial roots including vetiver and bamboo, along with the introduction of farms aimed at expanding production capacity in several agricultural fields.
Haiti will also treat 27 watershed areas as part of the environmental management campaign, according to the president.
ARTICLE - D.R. FIGHTS TO SAVE ITS FORESTS
THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC FIGHTS TO SAVE ITS FORESTS
(FOX) - AP
The Dominican Republic is known for lush, tropical beaches, its food and its rich culture.
And for conservation? Not so much.
But now, buoyed by an elusive songbird that makes its way to the Caribbean country each year, the Dominican Republic is embarking on an ambitious conservation effort to preserve what many say is a global biodiversity hotspot that is home to dozens of endangered species.
A reserve is taking shape in a lushly overgrown former cattle ranch measuring about 1,000 acres, at the edge of a deep green forest in the Dominican Republic's rugged northeast. Conservation-minded Dominican and U.S. investors have acquired the plot as a pilot project.
Tentatively known as the Reserva Privada Zorzal, the government sees the reserve as a potential example, showing that such land can be put to better uses than burning down the trees to convert it to pasture, a typical approach in this Caribbean country with only about 40 percent of its forest cover left. Neighboring Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola, has virtually none of its forest standing.
Jesus Moreno, a Dominican businessman whose family is partially funding the reserve, says the portion of the property where most of the trees have already been removed is well-suited to low-intensity, organic agriculture. He plans to grow macadamia trees and cacao, the raw material in chocolate, while allowing the forest to regenerate, in perpetuity, on three-fourths of the holding. The country's environment minister is scheduled to inaugurate the reserve project on June 5.
"I am not trying to make this into a big business and make a lot of money," said Moreno, whose family's ventures also include a nursery that grows macadamia trees and the country's only factory processing the nuts. "We are trying to create a model and break the cycle of destruction."
The concept of setting aside private land for conservation in land trusts or easements is an old one, long in use in the U.S. and elsewhere, but still rare in the Dominican Republic, a largely poor country.
Some private landowners have set aside tracts for ecotourism and nature reserves, and the government has designated more than 130 public reserves. But much of the country's forests face threats from development, agriculture and illegal timber harvesting, carving what remains into ever smaller chunks that leave species isolated and vulnerable.
In practice, the government reserves usually provide protection to endangered species in name only, said Sesar Rodriguez, the executive director of the Dominican Environmental Consortium.
Among those species at risk is the zorzal migratorio, known in English as the Bicknell's thrush. The palm-size, brownish songbird mostly comes out at dusk or dawn and, like many birds, heads south in the winter. It divides its time between the Caribbean islands and mountaintop forests in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada that generally rise above 3,000 feet.
The bird is considered vulnerable, with an estimated fewer than 100,000 in the wild, because it occupies a narrow range of habitat that's under pressure on both sides of its migratory route, said Chris Rimmer, an ornithologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies who is an expert on the Bicknell's thrush and helped establish the reserve. Threats to the species in the U.S. include air pollution and loss of the conifer forest habitat from development and climate change.
It's not a high-profile species likely to spur public passions, and some bird species in the Dominican Republic are under a more dire threat, Rimmer readily acknowledges. But he and others are nonetheless devoted to the Bicknell's thrush, what he calls an "enigmatic" bird.
"It's much bigger than just this one little migratory songbird," Rimmer said. "If we protect it we automatically protect all the other elements of the flora and fauna, many of which are themselves under siege."
The Cordillera Septentrional range, a mist-shrouded cloud forest that shimmers an emerald green in the distance from the former pasture acquired for the reserve, is also considered habitat for vulnerable species such as the Hispaniolan parrot and mammals such as the Hispaniolan solenodon, a nocturnal burrower that resembles a possum with a long snout.
Rimmer, for one, has spent countless hours studying the Bicknell's thrush in the granite mountains of New England and the dense forests of the Dominican Republic, listening for its nasal, swirling call. "It's kind of ethereal, I guess, kind of mysterious," he said of the sound.
He and other researchers noticed that as the Dominican Republic was losing forest, female Bicknell's were being crowded out of their prime habitat by the larger males, depriving them of food they need for the journey back to North America.
He began working with the Dominican Environmental Consortium and others to find a way to expand two areas designated as protected by the government ? the Loma Quita Espuela, which Moreno's father helped found, and the Guaconejo reserves.
This loose-knit group eventually found land owned by the family of an elderly doctor that was just a few miles west of the Loma Quita Espuela reserve, prime habitat for the thrush and near the country's cacao-growing center of San Pedro Macoris, a combination of factors that seemed perfect for a blend of profit and preservation, said Charles Kerchner, an American working as a project manager for the consortium. Part of the land was still an active cattle ranch, the rest already in various stages of regrowth and some had been left untouched for so long that it had become fairly healthy secondary growth forest - not virgin, by any means, but not bad.
Most of the money for Reserva Privada Zorzal came from the Eddy Foundation of Willsboro, New York, and Moreno's family, which previously owned a controlling stake in the Helados Bon chain of ice cream stores in the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti, Kerchner said.
Danneris Santana, a vice minister in the natural resources ministry, said about a dozen new private reserves are in process of getting approval under regulations that were updated last year. Moreno and others involved in the zorzal project say several landowners in the vicinity of their site are close to adopting similar plans.
"While it's great that we are doing (the Zorzal reserve), it's an isolated project and we need others to protect their land as well," Kerchner said.
Much will depend on the economic viability of the effort. Besides the macadamia and cacao, Kerchner said they are looking for other sustainable uses of the surrounding forest, such as honey production and high-end chocolate.
The Dominican Republic is already a producer of organic cacao in the fertile hills around San Francisco de Macoris and has a growing macadamia nut crop, but the country is not a significant global supplier of either commodity. Most of the world's cacao comes from Africa and Indonesia; Hawaii and Australia are the main producers of macadamia nuts.
The backers of the project expect to allow public access but the plans are not yet defined. The property is more than an hour's drive along a bone-jarring road from the nearest town. "To be a sustainable business, we need to get value from this forest," Kerchner said.
(FOX) - AP
The Dominican Republic is known for lush, tropical beaches, its food and its rich culture.
And for conservation? Not so much.
But now, buoyed by an elusive songbird that makes its way to the Caribbean country each year, the Dominican Republic is embarking on an ambitious conservation effort to preserve what many say is a global biodiversity hotspot that is home to dozens of endangered species.
A reserve is taking shape in a lushly overgrown former cattle ranch measuring about 1,000 acres, at the edge of a deep green forest in the Dominican Republic's rugged northeast. Conservation-minded Dominican and U.S. investors have acquired the plot as a pilot project.
Tentatively known as the Reserva Privada Zorzal, the government sees the reserve as a potential example, showing that such land can be put to better uses than burning down the trees to convert it to pasture, a typical approach in this Caribbean country with only about 40 percent of its forest cover left. Neighboring Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola, has virtually none of its forest standing.
Jesus Moreno, a Dominican businessman whose family is partially funding the reserve, says the portion of the property where most of the trees have already been removed is well-suited to low-intensity, organic agriculture. He plans to grow macadamia trees and cacao, the raw material in chocolate, while allowing the forest to regenerate, in perpetuity, on three-fourths of the holding. The country's environment minister is scheduled to inaugurate the reserve project on June 5.
"I am not trying to make this into a big business and make a lot of money," said Moreno, whose family's ventures also include a nursery that grows macadamia trees and the country's only factory processing the nuts. "We are trying to create a model and break the cycle of destruction."
The concept of setting aside private land for conservation in land trusts or easements is an old one, long in use in the U.S. and elsewhere, but still rare in the Dominican Republic, a largely poor country.
Some private landowners have set aside tracts for ecotourism and nature reserves, and the government has designated more than 130 public reserves. But much of the country's forests face threats from development, agriculture and illegal timber harvesting, carving what remains into ever smaller chunks that leave species isolated and vulnerable.
In practice, the government reserves usually provide protection to endangered species in name only, said Sesar Rodriguez, the executive director of the Dominican Environmental Consortium.
Among those species at risk is the zorzal migratorio, known in English as the Bicknell's thrush. The palm-size, brownish songbird mostly comes out at dusk or dawn and, like many birds, heads south in the winter. It divides its time between the Caribbean islands and mountaintop forests in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada that generally rise above 3,000 feet.
The bird is considered vulnerable, with an estimated fewer than 100,000 in the wild, because it occupies a narrow range of habitat that's under pressure on both sides of its migratory route, said Chris Rimmer, an ornithologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies who is an expert on the Bicknell's thrush and helped establish the reserve. Threats to the species in the U.S. include air pollution and loss of the conifer forest habitat from development and climate change.
It's not a high-profile species likely to spur public passions, and some bird species in the Dominican Republic are under a more dire threat, Rimmer readily acknowledges. But he and others are nonetheless devoted to the Bicknell's thrush, what he calls an "enigmatic" bird.
"It's much bigger than just this one little migratory songbird," Rimmer said. "If we protect it we automatically protect all the other elements of the flora and fauna, many of which are themselves under siege."
The Cordillera Septentrional range, a mist-shrouded cloud forest that shimmers an emerald green in the distance from the former pasture acquired for the reserve, is also considered habitat for vulnerable species such as the Hispaniolan parrot and mammals such as the Hispaniolan solenodon, a nocturnal burrower that resembles a possum with a long snout.
Rimmer, for one, has spent countless hours studying the Bicknell's thrush in the granite mountains of New England and the dense forests of the Dominican Republic, listening for its nasal, swirling call. "It's kind of ethereal, I guess, kind of mysterious," he said of the sound.
He and other researchers noticed that as the Dominican Republic was losing forest, female Bicknell's were being crowded out of their prime habitat by the larger males, depriving them of food they need for the journey back to North America.
He began working with the Dominican Environmental Consortium and others to find a way to expand two areas designated as protected by the government ? the Loma Quita Espuela, which Moreno's father helped found, and the Guaconejo reserves.
This loose-knit group eventually found land owned by the family of an elderly doctor that was just a few miles west of the Loma Quita Espuela reserve, prime habitat for the thrush and near the country's cacao-growing center of San Pedro Macoris, a combination of factors that seemed perfect for a blend of profit and preservation, said Charles Kerchner, an American working as a project manager for the consortium. Part of the land was still an active cattle ranch, the rest already in various stages of regrowth and some had been left untouched for so long that it had become fairly healthy secondary growth forest - not virgin, by any means, but not bad.
Most of the money for Reserva Privada Zorzal came from the Eddy Foundation of Willsboro, New York, and Moreno's family, which previously owned a controlling stake in the Helados Bon chain of ice cream stores in the Dominican Republic and neighboring Haiti, Kerchner said.
Danneris Santana, a vice minister in the natural resources ministry, said about a dozen new private reserves are in process of getting approval under regulations that were updated last year. Moreno and others involved in the zorzal project say several landowners in the vicinity of their site are close to adopting similar plans.
"While it's great that we are doing (the Zorzal reserve), it's an isolated project and we need others to protect their land as well," Kerchner said.
Much will depend on the economic viability of the effort. Besides the macadamia and cacao, Kerchner said they are looking for other sustainable uses of the surrounding forest, such as honey production and high-end chocolate.
The Dominican Republic is already a producer of organic cacao in the fertile hills around San Francisco de Macoris and has a growing macadamia nut crop, but the country is not a significant global supplier of either commodity. Most of the world's cacao comes from Africa and Indonesia; Hawaii and Australia are the main producers of macadamia nuts.
The backers of the project expect to allow public access but the plans are not yet defined. The property is more than an hour's drive along a bone-jarring road from the nearest town. "To be a sustainable business, we need to get value from this forest," Kerchner said.
ARTICLE - DEFORESTORATION - SLUMIFICATION
PARTNERS IN DEFORESTATION AND "SLUMIFICATION"
(IPS) - Haiti Grassroots Watch
PORT-AU-PRINCE - More than 100 Haitian families now have new housing, thanks to the support of two non-governmental organisations working on reconstruction following the country's devastating 2010 earthquake.
But the circumstances in which the temporary shelters were provided, and the area where they were constructed, raise serious concerns about the role such organisations play in sustainable development.
On a mountainside slope overlooking the capital, 12 by 18-square- metre wooden homes, referred to as transitional shelters (T- shelters), dot land that used to be filled with vegetation, which is significant for a country where less than two percent of the land is forested.
Known locally as Morne l'Hôpital, the area is covered by a 1963 law and a 1986 decree which stipulate that the zone is specially protected. The Organism for the Oversight and Planning for Morne l'Hôpital (OSAMH) was set up by the government for just this purpose.
The American Red Cross and the United States government funded two of the international agencies which built homes on Morne L'Hôpital, respectively, the French-based ACTED and Irish-based GOAL. These humanitarian non-governmental agencies (NGOs) claim that they did everything by the book.
Others implicated claim differently, including the local authority for the specific area, Raoul Pierre-Louis and OSAMH director Montes Michel. In the end, it is an irresolvable he-said, she-said battle.
What is indisputable is the law which, published in the official government journal on Nov. 6, 1986, states: "Residential construction is not permitted unless permission is obtained from the relevant agencies……It is not permitted to graze cows or goats; to cut wood or bush, to undertake any kind of planting that involves hoeing… or do any kind of burning for whatever reason."
But plots were cleared, trees cut, and foundations prepared for at least 100 of the shelters, if not more.
ACTED director Marianna Franco said that when the idea for T-shelters came along, there was no urban development plan for Port-au-Prince or the surrounding metropolitan area. "There still isn't, so we built T- shelters where we could find space," she said, explaining that every home was built on land where the recipient held a land title.
Pierre-Louis said that the NGOs signed papers that said "shelter", not house. "In any case," he explained, "they are temporary. They need to be moved."
But that seems unlikely. All over the country, T-shelter recipients are busy converting their tiny wooden boxes into permanent homes with concrete walls, extra rooms and other additions.
"When you build a temporary shelter for someone, it is very likely that it will become permanent. We have seen people doing the transformation," a GOAL agent admitted to Pierre-Louis during a telephone call made in the presence of a member of Haiti Grassroots Watch's (HGW) investigative team. "Therefore, we said to ourselves, 'Let's see how we can help these people turn their temporary shelters into permanent homes.'"
OSAMH director Michel said good intentions to control the situation can't compete with a lack of authority or human and financial resources.
"The state can't really intervene (at Morne l'Hôpital) without the accompaniment of the police and representatives of the justice system," Michel said. "It's written in the law,"
But GOAL, which built about 1,000 T-Shelters in the Turgeau area, and at least 100 in the protected area of Morne l'Hôpital, claims it worked with Pierre-Louis as well as with an OSAMH agent, Canez Dellande, who oversaw the NGO's work.
Michel said this was a "total lie".
"We never delegated anyone to work with them," he said. "We could never send an engineer out to set the limits if the NGO didn't first give us a plan that outlined their activity."
Plan or no plan, there's no disputing the fragility of the area, and even one of the funders recognised this. Immediately after the earthquake, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) published a document announcing that the catastrophe had created an opportunity to protect the zone.
"The steeply sloped Morne l'Hôpital benefits, at least theoretically, from its special legal status as a 'public utility,' a protected area off limits to construction," notes the document, which also says USAID partners with OSAMH. "The post-earthquake period provides an unprecedented opportunity to assert control over Morne l'Hôpital as a legally protected zone and prevent new housing construction on fragile slopes."
HGW requested, without success, an interview with USAID's Haiti office to understand why one US agency financed the deforestation of Morne l'Hôpital while another advocated for its protection. No one from USAID, including the director of the region in El Salvador, responded to HGW's request.
Michel admits the government's culpability in failing to protect Morne l'Hôpital, including the ongoing construction by the well-to- do, but says some NGOs have acted irresponsibly.
"We can't stop the NGOs from doing work inside the 2,000 hectares," he said. "But they should follow the law. If we let NGOs come, independent of OSAMH, and help increase the slums on Morne l'Hôpital, well, that is very bad for the country."
Pierre-Louis was even more cynical, saying: "The 'slumification' of Port-au-Prince has just begun."
*Kettie Guerrier and Milo Milfort for Haiti Grassroots Watch.( http://www.haitigrassrootswatch.org/)
This report was made possible with the support of the Fund for Investigative Journalism in Haiti.
http://fijhaitienglish.blogspot.com/
Haiti Grassroots Watch is a partnership of AlterPresse, the Society of the Animation of Social Communication (SAKS), the Network of Women Community Radio Broadcasters (REFRAKA), community radio stations from the Association of Haitian Community Media and students from the Journalism Laboratory at the State University of Haiti.
(IPS) - Haiti Grassroots Watch
PORT-AU-PRINCE - More than 100 Haitian families now have new housing, thanks to the support of two non-governmental organisations working on reconstruction following the country's devastating 2010 earthquake.
But the circumstances in which the temporary shelters were provided, and the area where they were constructed, raise serious concerns about the role such organisations play in sustainable development.
On a mountainside slope overlooking the capital, 12 by 18-square- metre wooden homes, referred to as transitional shelters (T- shelters), dot land that used to be filled with vegetation, which is significant for a country where less than two percent of the land is forested.
Known locally as Morne l'Hôpital, the area is covered by a 1963 law and a 1986 decree which stipulate that the zone is specially protected. The Organism for the Oversight and Planning for Morne l'Hôpital (OSAMH) was set up by the government for just this purpose.
The American Red Cross and the United States government funded two of the international agencies which built homes on Morne L'Hôpital, respectively, the French-based ACTED and Irish-based GOAL. These humanitarian non-governmental agencies (NGOs) claim that they did everything by the book.
Others implicated claim differently, including the local authority for the specific area, Raoul Pierre-Louis and OSAMH director Montes Michel. In the end, it is an irresolvable he-said, she-said battle.
What is indisputable is the law which, published in the official government journal on Nov. 6, 1986, states: "Residential construction is not permitted unless permission is obtained from the relevant agencies……It is not permitted to graze cows or goats; to cut wood or bush, to undertake any kind of planting that involves hoeing… or do any kind of burning for whatever reason."
But plots were cleared, trees cut, and foundations prepared for at least 100 of the shelters, if not more.
ACTED director Marianna Franco said that when the idea for T-shelters came along, there was no urban development plan for Port-au-Prince or the surrounding metropolitan area. "There still isn't, so we built T- shelters where we could find space," she said, explaining that every home was built on land where the recipient held a land title.
Pierre-Louis said that the NGOs signed papers that said "shelter", not house. "In any case," he explained, "they are temporary. They need to be moved."
But that seems unlikely. All over the country, T-shelter recipients are busy converting their tiny wooden boxes into permanent homes with concrete walls, extra rooms and other additions.
"When you build a temporary shelter for someone, it is very likely that it will become permanent. We have seen people doing the transformation," a GOAL agent admitted to Pierre-Louis during a telephone call made in the presence of a member of Haiti Grassroots Watch's (HGW) investigative team. "Therefore, we said to ourselves, 'Let's see how we can help these people turn their temporary shelters into permanent homes.'"
OSAMH director Michel said good intentions to control the situation can't compete with a lack of authority or human and financial resources.
"The state can't really intervene (at Morne l'Hôpital) without the accompaniment of the police and representatives of the justice system," Michel said. "It's written in the law,"
But GOAL, which built about 1,000 T-Shelters in the Turgeau area, and at least 100 in the protected area of Morne l'Hôpital, claims it worked with Pierre-Louis as well as with an OSAMH agent, Canez Dellande, who oversaw the NGO's work.
Michel said this was a "total lie".
"We never delegated anyone to work with them," he said. "We could never send an engineer out to set the limits if the NGO didn't first give us a plan that outlined their activity."
Plan or no plan, there's no disputing the fragility of the area, and even one of the funders recognised this. Immediately after the earthquake, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) published a document announcing that the catastrophe had created an opportunity to protect the zone.
"The steeply sloped Morne l'Hôpital benefits, at least theoretically, from its special legal status as a 'public utility,' a protected area off limits to construction," notes the document, which also says USAID partners with OSAMH. "The post-earthquake period provides an unprecedented opportunity to assert control over Morne l'Hôpital as a legally protected zone and prevent new housing construction on fragile slopes."
HGW requested, without success, an interview with USAID's Haiti office to understand why one US agency financed the deforestation of Morne l'Hôpital while another advocated for its protection. No one from USAID, including the director of the region in El Salvador, responded to HGW's request.
Michel admits the government's culpability in failing to protect Morne l'Hôpital, including the ongoing construction by the well-to- do, but says some NGOs have acted irresponsibly.
"We can't stop the NGOs from doing work inside the 2,000 hectares," he said. "But they should follow the law. If we let NGOs come, independent of OSAMH, and help increase the slums on Morne l'Hôpital, well, that is very bad for the country."
Pierre-Louis was even more cynical, saying: "The 'slumification' of Port-au-Prince has just begun."
*Kettie Guerrier and Milo Milfort for Haiti Grassroots Watch.( http://www.haitigrassrootswatch.org/)
This report was made possible with the support of the Fund for Investigative Journalism in Haiti.
http://fijhaitienglish.blogspot.com/
Haiti Grassroots Watch is a partnership of AlterPresse, the Society of the Animation of Social Communication (SAKS), the Network of Women Community Radio Broadcasters (REFRAKA), community radio stations from the Association of Haitian Community Media and students from the Journalism Laboratory at the State University of Haiti.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
ARTICLE - CONTROVERSY - CARACOL PARK
NEW INDUSTRIAL PARK IN NORTHERN HAITI SPARKS CONTROVERSY
(Miami Herald) - By Jacqueline Charles
Nearly $1 billion in investments in Haiti’s northern corridor is creating fears that the jobs will lead to the creation of slums.
CARACOL -- Braving the heat, Fanilia Prospère took a break from pushing her wheelbarrow of imported used clothing to look around. Then she smiled.
In Haiti, where so many promises of change turn to dust, the evolving landscape was worth the moment of contemplation: warehouse-sized factory shells rising from fertile soil, bulldozers rumbling distantly as they cleared farmland to build hundreds of homes and unemployed young men chattering under a mango tree about the change that was coming to Caracol.
“Caracol is getting another image,” said Prospère, 30, a mother of three. “There are a lot of people who weren’t working, but they are now working. And a lot of people who want to work and who I believe will be soon working.”
For the bucolic but impoverished fishing village on Haiti’s northern coast, the sight of foreign dollars creating new housing and jobs is filled with hope — and worry that the multi-million dollar investments also will spawn the all-too-familiar slums.
“It is almost certain,” said Jilson St. Tilien, as he watched a game of dominoes under the tree. “People need to make a living and they will move here to do so.”
Desperate for any good news after the devastating January 2010 earthquake, the Haitian government signed off on the 600-acre industrial park in this remote rural village without preparing for how the region should eventually look — or absorb the promised jobs. Only now is a zoning plan being developed, but residents and Haiti watchers wonder if it’s coming too late.
Their anxiety is fueled by Haiti’s historically weak institutions and the rush by the international community and Haiti’s leaders to show progress. It is also a reflection of the challenges of working in Haiti where there is continuous friction between need-to-spend foreign aid agencies, which are often perceived as arrogant, and a weak central government.
As a result, Haiti analysts say, projects are often haphazardly started with too little preliminary planning, lopsided consultation and inadequate environmental impact studies.
“The international community has been under immense pressure to show movement and this is the closest they’ve come to have something significantly positive to say about Haiti, investments and jobs,” said Carlo Dade, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s School of International Development and Global Studies. “But on the other hand, this is really one case where there is no excuse for not getting it done right.”
From the start, U.S. and Haitian officials have heaped billboards of praise on the $300 million investment. But it quickly became a target of criticism.
While supporters tout the park and its amenities as a steel and concrete example of rebuilding Haiti after the quake, agriculturalists and environmentalists criticized its location on prime arable land at the mouth of an already endangered marine and mangrove-forest ecosystem.
Others worry that while the park’s job-creation benefits may help to depopulate Haiti’s teeming capital city 82 miles away, it risks replicating the very social and political ills that have plagued sprawling slums like Cité Soleil.
“When you look at the social problems that Cité Soleil poses today, you have to ask, did it have to be that way?” said Michèle Oriol, executive secretary of Haiti’s Inter-ministerial Commission on Territorial Planning, which has objected to the park’s location, and that of a U.S.-financed housing development just off the main commercial corridor.
“The North-Northeast region is today enjoying a concentration of investments. That is a big deal in Haiti,” she said. “But there is a price to be paid. There are a series of measures that need to be taken.”
The U.S. government and Inter-American Development Bank, which are jointly funding the industrial park’s development, say while it is the most visible symbol of post-quake progress, it is only part of the investment that donors are pouring into the northern corridor to spur economic growth. About $1 billion is being invested in agriculture, electricity, health, housing, roads and schools.
“We heard the government after the earthquake when they said, ‘We want to create other regions where people have reasons to stay, and livelihoods that they can pursue.’ Our investments in the north were designed to meet that goal,” said Cheryl Mills, counselor and chief of staff for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has held town hall meetings in Haiti about the park. “This is really for us an opportunity to bring the one thing that people have said most intensively that they need and want. They want jobs.”
Scholar Alex Dupuy, who has written extensively about the failures of Haiti’s cut-and-sew economy, says while the current push to revive Haiti’s garment assembly industry may come with what he calls “side benefits” — roads, port upgrades and a new $45 million power plant, to name a few — the strategy “has absolutely nothing to do with creating a sustainable growth economy in Haiti.”
“It’s about tapping a source of cheap labor,” said Dupuy, a Haiti-born sociology professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. “They did the same thing in Port-au-Prince, which had people leaving the countryside because of the free-trade policies that have devastated the Haitian agriculture sector. So the fear that the region will be flooded is very real.”
Late last year, President Michel Martelly, who inherited the project from the previous administration, agreed to ask the American Institute of Architects to work with the eight local communities affected by the planned development to create a regional master plan.
The plan takes into account not just the park and its 65,000 projected jobs but 5,000 proposed USAID and IDB-financed homes for the corridor; a recently built private high school; and yet-to-open Dominican Republic-financed university in the nearby town of Limonade. Also part of the mix is the potential impact of U.S.-financed regional hospitals’ upgrades, construction of roads and a new seaport in nearby Fort Liberté. A planned Venezuela-financed upgrade to the Cap-Haitien airport is also being considered.
Erica Gees, executive director of AIA’s nonprofit arm, said up to 35 planners and designers have been working on the regional plan, which will need to be adopted by all affected communities. Among the recommendations that will be presented in late June, Gees said, will be infrastructure upgrades in existing communities to absorb the growth. The park is expected to attract up to 300,000 new residents, or five people for every one worker hired. With town populations currently ranging between 1,500 and 25,000 residents, Gees said, residents’ fears are real and legitimate.
“You have a very solid existing social structure. People know each other; they have been farming the same land for generations. There is a real sense of security,” she said. “You want to enhance that by integrating newcomers into each town in a more organic process. By combining urban upgrades and expansion with strategic placement of services and public space, you can ease the impact of rapid growth.”
Oriol’s agency had made similar recommendations in order to help reduce possible conflict with residents and prevent the main commercial corridor from being blocked should unrest occur. Her group was asked by former Prime Minister Garry Conille to intervene after regional parliamentarians, complaining they had been left out of the loop amid meetings between U.S. officials and local mayors, objected to the location and size of the U.S.-planned houses near the main access road.
Conille put the housing on a permanent hold, but Martelly, who didn’t want to delay the housing construction, overruled him.
The U.S. has since modified the housing scheme, increasing the sizes of the houses slightly and pushed the development further off of the street to allow for future expansion of the road. But lawmakers like Pierrogene Davilmar remain unhappy.
“We know the country,” he said, adding that the current location will still wreak havoc and the overall project has been too piecemeal. “These things require a minimum amount of planning.”
One thing that has been well-planned is the engineering of the actual industrial park on former farmland.
Last month, as the first four hurricane and seismic-resistant buildings were completed, hundreds of Haitians were inside laying electricity cables, unpacking boxes and assembling chairs and work stations. All four buildings belong to Korean garment manufacturer Sae-A, a major supplier of U.S. retailers. As the park’s anchor tenant, Sae-A will create 20,000 jobs over four years, and occupy 23 custom buildings, including 12 factories of 120,000 square feet each. Value of Sae-A’s Haiti investment: $74 million.
Among the park’s highlights: the best drainage system in Haiti with man-made lagoons to control flooding; landscaping and paved roads; a police station, clinic, customs office and power station with fossil fuel and solar power; a 46-room wired executive hotel with another one being planned; and a $14 million water treatment facility. Sae-A plans to open Haiti’s first textile fabric mill, which has raised concerns among environmentalists. They point out that an IDB consultant’s report noted there wasn’t enough time to evaluate the potential impact of the garment dyeing on the nearby ecosystem. U.S. officials say the park will meet international standards, and the treated water will be cleaner than the soiled water currently flowing into a nearby river.
“No matter the drawbacks, Caracol, however you look at it, is more than a positive step,” said businessman Rudolph Boulos, a former senator for the northeast region. “The fact that the people have less and less to do — no agriculture, no work. Even with the sea next door, Caracol has become a brothel of the North and Northeast.”
Still, residents have mixed feelings about the coming transformation of this historical region, which gave birth to the country.
“When you aren’t working, you have no other choice but to take what you can,” said Estefan Paul, taking a break from his $5-a-day manual labor job inside one of the new factories.
“The local authorities, they don’t speak up for you. Whatever the foreigners say they are going to do, they accept.”
Haiti Commerce Minister Wilson Laleau said he understands the concerns. But Haiti, he said, has to start somewhere to create jobs.
“The industrial park is not a solution that will resolve all of the problems,” he said. “But it is one of the mechanisms that will help us to find a solution to have money circulated in the region, and that will allow for other activities like tourism and agriculture to develop so that we can develop a middle class. A lot of countries have taken this route.’’
(Miami Herald) - By Jacqueline Charles
Nearly $1 billion in investments in Haiti’s northern corridor is creating fears that the jobs will lead to the creation of slums.
CARACOL -- Braving the heat, Fanilia Prospère took a break from pushing her wheelbarrow of imported used clothing to look around. Then she smiled.
In Haiti, where so many promises of change turn to dust, the evolving landscape was worth the moment of contemplation: warehouse-sized factory shells rising from fertile soil, bulldozers rumbling distantly as they cleared farmland to build hundreds of homes and unemployed young men chattering under a mango tree about the change that was coming to Caracol.
“Caracol is getting another image,” said Prospère, 30, a mother of three. “There are a lot of people who weren’t working, but they are now working. And a lot of people who want to work and who I believe will be soon working.”
For the bucolic but impoverished fishing village on Haiti’s northern coast, the sight of foreign dollars creating new housing and jobs is filled with hope — and worry that the multi-million dollar investments also will spawn the all-too-familiar slums.
“It is almost certain,” said Jilson St. Tilien, as he watched a game of dominoes under the tree. “People need to make a living and they will move here to do so.”
Desperate for any good news after the devastating January 2010 earthquake, the Haitian government signed off on the 600-acre industrial park in this remote rural village without preparing for how the region should eventually look — or absorb the promised jobs. Only now is a zoning plan being developed, but residents and Haiti watchers wonder if it’s coming too late.
Their anxiety is fueled by Haiti’s historically weak institutions and the rush by the international community and Haiti’s leaders to show progress. It is also a reflection of the challenges of working in Haiti where there is continuous friction between need-to-spend foreign aid agencies, which are often perceived as arrogant, and a weak central government.
As a result, Haiti analysts say, projects are often haphazardly started with too little preliminary planning, lopsided consultation and inadequate environmental impact studies.
“The international community has been under immense pressure to show movement and this is the closest they’ve come to have something significantly positive to say about Haiti, investments and jobs,” said Carlo Dade, a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s School of International Development and Global Studies. “But on the other hand, this is really one case where there is no excuse for not getting it done right.”
From the start, U.S. and Haitian officials have heaped billboards of praise on the $300 million investment. But it quickly became a target of criticism.
While supporters tout the park and its amenities as a steel and concrete example of rebuilding Haiti after the quake, agriculturalists and environmentalists criticized its location on prime arable land at the mouth of an already endangered marine and mangrove-forest ecosystem.
Others worry that while the park’s job-creation benefits may help to depopulate Haiti’s teeming capital city 82 miles away, it risks replicating the very social and political ills that have plagued sprawling slums like Cité Soleil.
“When you look at the social problems that Cité Soleil poses today, you have to ask, did it have to be that way?” said Michèle Oriol, executive secretary of Haiti’s Inter-ministerial Commission on Territorial Planning, which has objected to the park’s location, and that of a U.S.-financed housing development just off the main commercial corridor.
“The North-Northeast region is today enjoying a concentration of investments. That is a big deal in Haiti,” she said. “But there is a price to be paid. There are a series of measures that need to be taken.”
The U.S. government and Inter-American Development Bank, which are jointly funding the industrial park’s development, say while it is the most visible symbol of post-quake progress, it is only part of the investment that donors are pouring into the northern corridor to spur economic growth. About $1 billion is being invested in agriculture, electricity, health, housing, roads and schools.
“We heard the government after the earthquake when they said, ‘We want to create other regions where people have reasons to stay, and livelihoods that they can pursue.’ Our investments in the north were designed to meet that goal,” said Cheryl Mills, counselor and chief of staff for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has held town hall meetings in Haiti about the park. “This is really for us an opportunity to bring the one thing that people have said most intensively that they need and want. They want jobs.”
Scholar Alex Dupuy, who has written extensively about the failures of Haiti’s cut-and-sew economy, says while the current push to revive Haiti’s garment assembly industry may come with what he calls “side benefits” — roads, port upgrades and a new $45 million power plant, to name a few — the strategy “has absolutely nothing to do with creating a sustainable growth economy in Haiti.”
“It’s about tapping a source of cheap labor,” said Dupuy, a Haiti-born sociology professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. “They did the same thing in Port-au-Prince, which had people leaving the countryside because of the free-trade policies that have devastated the Haitian agriculture sector. So the fear that the region will be flooded is very real.”
Late last year, President Michel Martelly, who inherited the project from the previous administration, agreed to ask the American Institute of Architects to work with the eight local communities affected by the planned development to create a regional master plan.
The plan takes into account not just the park and its 65,000 projected jobs but 5,000 proposed USAID and IDB-financed homes for the corridor; a recently built private high school; and yet-to-open Dominican Republic-financed university in the nearby town of Limonade. Also part of the mix is the potential impact of U.S.-financed regional hospitals’ upgrades, construction of roads and a new seaport in nearby Fort Liberté. A planned Venezuela-financed upgrade to the Cap-Haitien airport is also being considered.
Erica Gees, executive director of AIA’s nonprofit arm, said up to 35 planners and designers have been working on the regional plan, which will need to be adopted by all affected communities. Among the recommendations that will be presented in late June, Gees said, will be infrastructure upgrades in existing communities to absorb the growth. The park is expected to attract up to 300,000 new residents, or five people for every one worker hired. With town populations currently ranging between 1,500 and 25,000 residents, Gees said, residents’ fears are real and legitimate.
“You have a very solid existing social structure. People know each other; they have been farming the same land for generations. There is a real sense of security,” she said. “You want to enhance that by integrating newcomers into each town in a more organic process. By combining urban upgrades and expansion with strategic placement of services and public space, you can ease the impact of rapid growth.”
Oriol’s agency had made similar recommendations in order to help reduce possible conflict with residents and prevent the main commercial corridor from being blocked should unrest occur. Her group was asked by former Prime Minister Garry Conille to intervene after regional parliamentarians, complaining they had been left out of the loop amid meetings between U.S. officials and local mayors, objected to the location and size of the U.S.-planned houses near the main access road.
Conille put the housing on a permanent hold, but Martelly, who didn’t want to delay the housing construction, overruled him.
The U.S. has since modified the housing scheme, increasing the sizes of the houses slightly and pushed the development further off of the street to allow for future expansion of the road. But lawmakers like Pierrogene Davilmar remain unhappy.
“We know the country,” he said, adding that the current location will still wreak havoc and the overall project has been too piecemeal. “These things require a minimum amount of planning.”
One thing that has been well-planned is the engineering of the actual industrial park on former farmland.
Last month, as the first four hurricane and seismic-resistant buildings were completed, hundreds of Haitians were inside laying electricity cables, unpacking boxes and assembling chairs and work stations. All four buildings belong to Korean garment manufacturer Sae-A, a major supplier of U.S. retailers. As the park’s anchor tenant, Sae-A will create 20,000 jobs over four years, and occupy 23 custom buildings, including 12 factories of 120,000 square feet each. Value of Sae-A’s Haiti investment: $74 million.
Among the park’s highlights: the best drainage system in Haiti with man-made lagoons to control flooding; landscaping and paved roads; a police station, clinic, customs office and power station with fossil fuel and solar power; a 46-room wired executive hotel with another one being planned; and a $14 million water treatment facility. Sae-A plans to open Haiti’s first textile fabric mill, which has raised concerns among environmentalists. They point out that an IDB consultant’s report noted there wasn’t enough time to evaluate the potential impact of the garment dyeing on the nearby ecosystem. U.S. officials say the park will meet international standards, and the treated water will be cleaner than the soiled water currently flowing into a nearby river.
“No matter the drawbacks, Caracol, however you look at it, is more than a positive step,” said businessman Rudolph Boulos, a former senator for the northeast region. “The fact that the people have less and less to do — no agriculture, no work. Even with the sea next door, Caracol has become a brothel of the North and Northeast.”
Still, residents have mixed feelings about the coming transformation of this historical region, which gave birth to the country.
“When you aren’t working, you have no other choice but to take what you can,” said Estefan Paul, taking a break from his $5-a-day manual labor job inside one of the new factories.
“The local authorities, they don’t speak up for you. Whatever the foreigners say they are going to do, they accept.”
Haiti Commerce Minister Wilson Laleau said he understands the concerns. But Haiti, he said, has to start somewhere to create jobs.
“The industrial park is not a solution that will resolve all of the problems,” he said. “But it is one of the mechanisms that will help us to find a solution to have money circulated in the region, and that will allow for other activities like tourism and agriculture to develop so that we can develop a middle class. A lot of countries have taken this route.’’
Monday, June 4, 2012
ARTICLE - HURRICAN SEASON PREPARATIONS
HAITI MORE PREPARED FOR HURRICANE SEASON SAYS MINISTER MAYARD PAUL
(Defend Haiti) -
PORT-AU-PRINCE - "Our national system of disaster and risk management for the 2012 hurricane season is more enhanced compared to previous years in five areas: communication, information, coordination, operation, and training/awareness," said the Minister of the Interior Thierry Mayard Paul on Friday, the first day of the 2012 hurricane season.
The ministry of the interior is confident that in 2012 the government has taken necessary steps to dampen the potential damage that could be caused by the annual stormy season. A Le Nouvelliste article asks citizens to not panic.
Weather reports predict a less active season for hurricanes, but in Haiti even heavy rains can threaten many lives.
"... Major hurricanes, with their attendant evils, in terms of heavy rain, very strong winds, landslides, mudslides and even tidal waves along the coast," are different scenarios that take lives every year warned Minister Mayard Paul .
"In the field of communication, it should be noted that the chain is updated, and procedures are updated for communication between the central, departmental and local levels. Our system is functional and uses various means (cell phone, radio, televisioon, email, etc..)," said the minister, speaking of the advancements in communication.
In terms of operation, 38 early warning systems are functional on many rivers in the country, 18 meteorological sensors have been installed in 31 villages that have a high risk of flooding, as well as plans for evacuation. The minister said even emergency funds are already available within ten (10) departments.
"The operational capacity of departmental and communal committees are further strengthened. 3,041 volunteers are trained under the project funded by the European Union. The municipalities are equipped with emergency response and first aid (302), and volunteers trained in their use.
"Temporary shelters on the order of 900 are set up and 300 others were renovated. At least 400 shelter managers have also been trained," explained the Minister of the Interior.
According to Thierry Mayard-Paul, the national system has deployed 32 small boats in the most vulnerable municipalities, with the help of the World Food Program and the European Union. Sixty-four (64) operators and 23 instructors were trained in the use of the equipment in emergency situations. In addition, a group of 13 trainers in government emergency communication are working to replicate the training throughout the country.
"The departmental representatives have also been trained in the field. My ministry and the Ministry of Communications are committed to strengthening our communication system by providing national and international expertise. The Emergency Operations Center and National Departmental Centers are operational," he concluded.
(Defend Haiti) -
PORT-AU-PRINCE - "Our national system of disaster and risk management for the 2012 hurricane season is more enhanced compared to previous years in five areas: communication, information, coordination, operation, and training/awareness," said the Minister of the Interior Thierry Mayard Paul on Friday, the first day of the 2012 hurricane season.
The ministry of the interior is confident that in 2012 the government has taken necessary steps to dampen the potential damage that could be caused by the annual stormy season. A Le Nouvelliste article asks citizens to not panic.
Weather reports predict a less active season for hurricanes, but in Haiti even heavy rains can threaten many lives.
"... Major hurricanes, with their attendant evils, in terms of heavy rain, very strong winds, landslides, mudslides and even tidal waves along the coast," are different scenarios that take lives every year warned Minister Mayard Paul .
"In the field of communication, it should be noted that the chain is updated, and procedures are updated for communication between the central, departmental and local levels. Our system is functional and uses various means (cell phone, radio, televisioon, email, etc..)," said the minister, speaking of the advancements in communication.
In terms of operation, 38 early warning systems are functional on many rivers in the country, 18 meteorological sensors have been installed in 31 villages that have a high risk of flooding, as well as plans for evacuation. The minister said even emergency funds are already available within ten (10) departments.
"The operational capacity of departmental and communal committees are further strengthened. 3,041 volunteers are trained under the project funded by the European Union. The municipalities are equipped with emergency response and first aid (302), and volunteers trained in their use.
"Temporary shelters on the order of 900 are set up and 300 others were renovated. At least 400 shelter managers have also been trained," explained the Minister of the Interior.
According to Thierry Mayard-Paul, the national system has deployed 32 small boats in the most vulnerable municipalities, with the help of the World Food Program and the European Union. Sixty-four (64) operators and 23 instructors were trained in the use of the equipment in emergency situations. In addition, a group of 13 trainers in government emergency communication are working to replicate the training throughout the country.
"The departmental representatives have also been trained in the field. My ministry and the Ministry of Communications are committed to strengthening our communication system by providing national and international expertise. The Emergency Operations Center and National Departmental Centers are operational," he concluded.
ARTICLE - MORNE L'HOPITAL DEMOLITION
DEMOLITION OPERATION IN MORNE L'HOPITAL
(Haiti Libre) -
Joseph Ronald Toussaint, the Minister of Environment, on a visit to Morne l'Hôpital explained the need to destroy 450 homes, within the program, "Saving the lives on Morne l'Hôpital". Ultimately 3,288 houses will suffer the same fate. The demolition is expected to begin next month.
"[...] On the issue of houses to be demolished, it is necessary to differentiate. There are houses that are between the gullies, there are old houses and also new construction. There are different treatments according to the case. Homes that are in the drainage lines, in gullies, can not stay [...] A decision must be made with local authorities [...] It's not only the Ministry of Environment [...]
...after evaluation, we found that for Morne l'Hôpital, there are 3,288 houses to be relocated. We are in the first phase, [...] in the emergency phase, which is in two stages. In a first estimate, we saw that there were about 450 houses of 3,288 that must be destroyed before being able to treat the ravines, the skirts of the hills. This is an area to be reforested to prevent a large volume of water coming down [and prevent the risk of flooding]. We also plan to make retention dams in gullies; this is something that comes after the first demolitions. We'll do the demolitions in peace, because the government is not against the people. [...]
We have the ambition with the operation "Saving the lives of Morne l'Hôpital", to create 2,200 jobs. This is not only the aspect of demolishing houses and compensating the people. We want to create jobs, generate income [...] we'll start with the Jalousie - Carrefour Feuilles axis; then we will do the Carrefour Feuilles - Marianie axis, and finally the Tête Pélerin - Pernier axis [...]"
(Haiti Libre) -
Joseph Ronald Toussaint, the Minister of Environment, on a visit to Morne l'Hôpital explained the need to destroy 450 homes, within the program, "Saving the lives on Morne l'Hôpital". Ultimately 3,288 houses will suffer the same fate. The demolition is expected to begin next month.
"[...] On the issue of houses to be demolished, it is necessary to differentiate. There are houses that are between the gullies, there are old houses and also new construction. There are different treatments according to the case. Homes that are in the drainage lines, in gullies, can not stay [...] A decision must be made with local authorities [...] It's not only the Ministry of Environment [...]
...after evaluation, we found that for Morne l'Hôpital, there are 3,288 houses to be relocated. We are in the first phase, [...] in the emergency phase, which is in two stages. In a first estimate, we saw that there were about 450 houses of 3,288 that must be destroyed before being able to treat the ravines, the skirts of the hills. This is an area to be reforested to prevent a large volume of water coming down [and prevent the risk of flooding]. We also plan to make retention dams in gullies; this is something that comes after the first demolitions. We'll do the demolitions in peace, because the government is not against the people. [...]
We have the ambition with the operation "Saving the lives of Morne l'Hôpital", to create 2,200 jobs. This is not only the aspect of demolishing houses and compensating the people. We want to create jobs, generate income [...] we'll start with the Jalousie - Carrefour Feuilles axis; then we will do the Carrefour Feuilles - Marianie axis, and finally the Tête Pélerin - Pernier axis [...]"
ARTICLE - MODERN SANITATION IN HAITI
BEGINNING OF MODERN SANITATION IN HAITI
(Haiti Libre) -
President Michel Martelly, Mr. Gérald Jean-Baptiste, Director General of the National Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation (DINEPA), and Executive Director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECI) Mr. Juan López-Dóriga, have proceeded officially, Wednesday, May 23, at the inauguration of an excreta and wastewater treatment plant for the metropolitan area. This site of 12.5 ha is located in Titanyen, on the corner of Route 9 and Route National #1 (Croix-des-Bouquets). The physico-chemical controls performed in a laboratory allows the treatment of 900 cubic meters of water per day and the release into the environment of the clean water obtained.
"The cholera epidemic is forcing us to understand how important and meaningful is the implementation of this treatment unit. The interesting thing with this station in Titanyen is that from a process of natural treatment, the water will be cleared of 90% of its pollution load and can be used again. In addition, the operation of the system is inexpensive and requires minimal maintenance," welcomed the Head of State. According to forecasts, more than 1.5 million people will benefit directly from this station.
With a continuous operation, 24 hours a day, the station combines sedimentation, natural degradation of sludge by anaerobic digestion and the treatment of suspended solids by aerobic oxidation. The design and implementation of the sanitation works have been conducted following a study funded by UNICEF.
The environment is a top priority for President Martelly through his political program focused on the "5 E". "The problem addressed by the treatment unit that I inaugurate today makes us think about the merits of this vision. The management of human waste is one of those essential tasks to which we must devote the Public Authority," declared the Head of State.
The realization of this treatment plant is possible through the determination of the President of the Republic, said Mr. Juan López-Dóriga indicating that AECID strongly supports the strategy implemented by DINEPA in sanitation. Like Mr. López-Dóriga, Mr. Gérald Jean-Baptiste congratulated President Martelly for his decisive involvement in the prompt execution of this project.
"This station, in operation today, marks the beginning of the takeoff of modern sanitation in Haiti. It constitutes the first of a series of 8 other stations planned and under construction in the country," announced Jacques Rousseau, the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Energy.
The Head of State, in presence of the Ambassador of Spain, Mr. Manuel Hernández Ruigómez, thanked the Executive Director of AECID for his continued support to Haiti's development. This is a collaboration that, long before January 12, 2010, demonstrates the commitment of the Government and people of Spain to the country.
In October 2011, the President of the Republic and Queen Sofia of Spain had visited the construction of the wastewater treatment plant of Titanyen. On this occasion, President Martelly had deaclared that "this constant collaboration is the reason why Spain was the first country in Europe where he visited after being inaugurated as President of Haiti and is a sign of deep respect and gratitude."
In Haiti, Spain is at the head of entities committing their efforts to deliver drinking water and sanitation to 52% of Haitians who do not yet have access to these services.
The President of the Republic hopes that a manufacturing plant of compost will be associated with the treatment plant of Titanyen; "thus, the problem that there is currently, human excreta, would become fertilizer, and would serve for our agriculture. This exercise of valuation is not out of reach. Because in some countries, such a solution has been tried and adopted. The agriculture of these countries has benefited significantly.
(Haiti Libre) -
President Michel Martelly, Mr. Gérald Jean-Baptiste, Director General of the National Directorate of Water Supply and Sanitation (DINEPA), and Executive Director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECI) Mr. Juan López-Dóriga, have proceeded officially, Wednesday, May 23, at the inauguration of an excreta and wastewater treatment plant for the metropolitan area. This site of 12.5 ha is located in Titanyen, on the corner of Route 9 and Route National #1 (Croix-des-Bouquets). The physico-chemical controls performed in a laboratory allows the treatment of 900 cubic meters of water per day and the release into the environment of the clean water obtained.
"The cholera epidemic is forcing us to understand how important and meaningful is the implementation of this treatment unit. The interesting thing with this station in Titanyen is that from a process of natural treatment, the water will be cleared of 90% of its pollution load and can be used again. In addition, the operation of the system is inexpensive and requires minimal maintenance," welcomed the Head of State. According to forecasts, more than 1.5 million people will benefit directly from this station.
With a continuous operation, 24 hours a day, the station combines sedimentation, natural degradation of sludge by anaerobic digestion and the treatment of suspended solids by aerobic oxidation. The design and implementation of the sanitation works have been conducted following a study funded by UNICEF.
The environment is a top priority for President Martelly through his political program focused on the "5 E". "The problem addressed by the treatment unit that I inaugurate today makes us think about the merits of this vision. The management of human waste is one of those essential tasks to which we must devote the Public Authority," declared the Head of State.
The realization of this treatment plant is possible through the determination of the President of the Republic, said Mr. Juan López-Dóriga indicating that AECID strongly supports the strategy implemented by DINEPA in sanitation. Like Mr. López-Dóriga, Mr. Gérald Jean-Baptiste congratulated President Martelly for his decisive involvement in the prompt execution of this project.
"This station, in operation today, marks the beginning of the takeoff of modern sanitation in Haiti. It constitutes the first of a series of 8 other stations planned and under construction in the country," announced Jacques Rousseau, the Minister of Public Works, Transport and Energy.
The Head of State, in presence of the Ambassador of Spain, Mr. Manuel Hernández Ruigómez, thanked the Executive Director of AECID for his continued support to Haiti's development. This is a collaboration that, long before January 12, 2010, demonstrates the commitment of the Government and people of Spain to the country.
In October 2011, the President of the Republic and Queen Sofia of Spain had visited the construction of the wastewater treatment plant of Titanyen. On this occasion, President Martelly had deaclared that "this constant collaboration is the reason why Spain was the first country in Europe where he visited after being inaugurated as President of Haiti and is a sign of deep respect and gratitude."
In Haiti, Spain is at the head of entities committing their efforts to deliver drinking water and sanitation to 52% of Haitians who do not yet have access to these services.
The President of the Republic hopes that a manufacturing plant of compost will be associated with the treatment plant of Titanyen; "thus, the problem that there is currently, human excreta, would become fertilizer, and would serve for our agriculture. This exercise of valuation is not out of reach. Because in some countries, such a solution has been tried and adopted. The agriculture of these countries has benefited significantly.
ARTICLE - SELF - SOLAR PROJECT COMPLETED
SELF HAS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED ITS SOLAR PROJECT
(Haiti Libre) -
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit working to eliminate energy poverty through the use of solar power, announced Thursday the successful installation of solar electric systems at 11 health care facilities and one hospital along the southwest coast of Haiti. Through collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Haiti, the systems, with a combined power output of just over 38 kW, will help to improve the quality of medical services provided to more than 170,000 Haitians by powering lights, microscopes, centrifuges, autoclaves, vaccine refrigerators and other lifesaving equipment.
Almost immediately after the systems were made fully operational a host of benefits were being seen, including a birth at night. In addition, one of the clinics is now saving money from no longer having to purchase and transport the fuel previously needed to power a vaccine refrigerator, since it is now connected to the solar system on site.
"A doctor cannot be expected to perform lifesaving surgeries at night without lights or power for medical equipment," said Bob Freling, SELF's Executive Director. "Now, through the provision of reliable solar power, doctors can treat patients at night, diagnose patients any time, and provide vaccines to patients in need - all while saving money by decreasing or eliminating the need for diesel fuel."
The long-term operation of these installations relies on the routine maintenance needed to ensure each system is operating at maximum performance, so SELF hired and trained eight local technicians to maintain the systems at all the sites. They will also train energy managers and medical staffs on how to operate and monitor each clinic's system on a daily basis.
"The sustainability of our systems is critical to all of our projects," said Freling. "In a country continuing to rebuild, it is our responsibility to not only invest in and implement effective energy technologies, but we must also invest in its people."
SELF's partnership with the IDB and the Government of Haiti began in 2010 with plans to install solar streetlights at two transition camps in Port-au-Prince. In 2011, SELF successfully installed 68 solar powered streetlights in the tent camp of Caradeux, managed by Operasyon Men Nan Men, and 32 solar streetlights in Petionville Club, managed by the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, a nongovernmental organization founded by Sean Penn.
(Haiti Libre) -
The Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit working to eliminate energy poverty through the use of solar power, announced Thursday the successful installation of solar electric systems at 11 health care facilities and one hospital along the southwest coast of Haiti. Through collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Haiti, the systems, with a combined power output of just over 38 kW, will help to improve the quality of medical services provided to more than 170,000 Haitians by powering lights, microscopes, centrifuges, autoclaves, vaccine refrigerators and other lifesaving equipment.
Almost immediately after the systems were made fully operational a host of benefits were being seen, including a birth at night. In addition, one of the clinics is now saving money from no longer having to purchase and transport the fuel previously needed to power a vaccine refrigerator, since it is now connected to the solar system on site.
"A doctor cannot be expected to perform lifesaving surgeries at night without lights or power for medical equipment," said Bob Freling, SELF's Executive Director. "Now, through the provision of reliable solar power, doctors can treat patients at night, diagnose patients any time, and provide vaccines to patients in need - all while saving money by decreasing or eliminating the need for diesel fuel."
The long-term operation of these installations relies on the routine maintenance needed to ensure each system is operating at maximum performance, so SELF hired and trained eight local technicians to maintain the systems at all the sites. They will also train energy managers and medical staffs on how to operate and monitor each clinic's system on a daily basis.
"The sustainability of our systems is critical to all of our projects," said Freling. "In a country continuing to rebuild, it is our responsibility to not only invest in and implement effective energy technologies, but we must also invest in its people."
SELF's partnership with the IDB and the Government of Haiti began in 2010 with plans to install solar streetlights at two transition camps in Port-au-Prince. In 2011, SELF successfully installed 68 solar powered streetlights in the tent camp of Caradeux, managed by Operasyon Men Nan Men, and 32 solar streetlights in Petionville Club, managed by the J/P Haitian Relief Organization, a nongovernmental organization founded by Sean Penn.
ARTICLE - ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN HAITI
AN UNLIKELY ENERGY DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY EMERGES IN HAITI
(AOL) - By Jared Anderson
Essentially starting from scratch, Haiti has a unique opportunity to build the kind of sustainable power generation, transmission and distribution system that could be replicated in other developing nations.
Although deep poverty remains a challenge, the country's leaders say they are eager to move forward into the twenty first century with governmental and economic stability supported by reliable energy infrastructure.
Haiti is the first independent nation to be formed as the result of a successful slave revolution in 1804. Haiti remained socially and economically isolated for the next 100 years, which severely stunted its development. That is how Dr. Rene Jean-Jumeau, Haiti's Secretary of State for Energy, set the stage for his lunch keynote address at the recent DNV Kema Utility of the Future Leadership Forum.
There is a wealth of data that show economic development is not possible without energy and the link between advanced nations and access to electricity is very clear. "Without electricity, water cannot be desalinized or circulated, refrigeration is not feasible, temperature-sensitive vaccines cannot be stored, controlled irrigation for agriculture is not practical, communication is limited, tourism is not attractive, and factories can't operate competitively," Dan Gregory, former chairman of Green Energy Corp. wrote in a white paper describing the Global Energy Model.
A Concept Hatched in NY Looks to go Global
The GEM institute grew organically from an initiative at the City University of New York designed to provide overseas students with the opportunity to attend a sustainable development program at the school. The idea blossomed into a full master's program that counted two students from Haiti as some of its first graduates.
Program mentor Hillary Brown traveled to Haiti with Gregory in the wake of the January 2010 earthquake to inspect damaged buildings, when they got the idea to design a systematic approach to developing energy infrastructure, and GEM grew out of that concept.
GEM's mission is to establish standards that deal with energy poverty in Haiti and beyond. The idea is to "energize developing nations with clean and renewable power,...it is a holistic and pragmatic model that captures the best ideas and documents the failures," GEM says in its white paper.
Barely 30% of Haiti's population has access to power and many hospitals, factories and city centers rely on diesel generators that require expensive imported fuel to run. Haiti pays an average of $0.35/kWh for electricity, which is high compared to the US average price of about $0.10/kWh.
"New Technologies, New Promises"
The country is faced with several monumental energy decisions – what is the best system? Should they choose a central hub approach like in many developed countries, or go with a system of microgrids? Do they choose fossil fuels, renewables or a hybrid model?
Dr. Jean-Jumeau is working through these questions – with GEM's assistance – in a quest to find sustainable ways to develop all Haiti's economic sectors so they receive the maximum benefits that each energy technology has to offer. "New technologies, new promises," was one of his closing lunch keynote remarks.
Haiti has limited domestic fossil fuel resources and building new power plants dependent on fossil fuels is risky because the country does not have sufficient credit to secure competitive long-term fuel supply contracts. Deforestation has become an issue because wood and charcoal are currently some of the country's main sources of fuel.
The GEM concept has been drafted, recently underwent a second revision and is now actively planning for the Haiti pilot project, which envisions a phased approach to attaining 24/7 power for the nation's residents, businesses and government, Daniel Lemons, GEM CEO recently told AOL Energy.
Learning From Past Mistakes
The phased approach is expected to take five to ten years and its implementation will involve venture philanthropy. "We will not do anything that does not have a sustainable economic model behind it," said Lemons. "Haiti is littered with failed projects like unused dams or wind farms," he said, explaining that energy projects constructed without considering long-term maintenance costs and the need for trained technicians to keep the infrastructure running, are of little use.
Education is also a major part of GEM's initiative and the lead phase of all project implementation will be education that will address the "brain drain" issue. Eighty five percent of college graduates in Haiti leave the country, he said. Part of the goal is to develop the indigenous engineering and project management expertise needed to operate and maintain the country's energy infrastructure over the long term.
GEM is not Haiti's only power infrastructure development initiative, and a new industrial park is being built in the northern part of the country with the help of USAID, the International Development Bank and a South Korean textiles group. The park is currently being powered by diesel or heavy fuel oil. Running at about 5 MW now, the park and surrounding area will require 25 to 35 MW at peak demand.
Solar is a challenge because of the significant land area required for larger installations – "You don't want to take away farmland," he said. Perhaps a mixed use scenario would be a good approach said Lemons, and mentioned a solar panel installation at the Mirebalais National Teaching Hospital as an example.
There are many stakeholders currently operating in Haiti, with some bypassing the government to move ahead with projects unilaterally. "It can be disorganized or at least not coordinated," but Dr. Jean-Jumeau is working hard to unify this and GEM provides a framework that these kinds of energy projects can fit within, said Lemons.
(AOL) - By Jared Anderson
Essentially starting from scratch, Haiti has a unique opportunity to build the kind of sustainable power generation, transmission and distribution system that could be replicated in other developing nations.
Although deep poverty remains a challenge, the country's leaders say they are eager to move forward into the twenty first century with governmental and economic stability supported by reliable energy infrastructure.
Haiti is the first independent nation to be formed as the result of a successful slave revolution in 1804. Haiti remained socially and economically isolated for the next 100 years, which severely stunted its development. That is how Dr. Rene Jean-Jumeau, Haiti's Secretary of State for Energy, set the stage for his lunch keynote address at the recent DNV Kema Utility of the Future Leadership Forum.
There is a wealth of data that show economic development is not possible without energy and the link between advanced nations and access to electricity is very clear. "Without electricity, water cannot be desalinized or circulated, refrigeration is not feasible, temperature-sensitive vaccines cannot be stored, controlled irrigation for agriculture is not practical, communication is limited, tourism is not attractive, and factories can't operate competitively," Dan Gregory, former chairman of Green Energy Corp. wrote in a white paper describing the Global Energy Model.
A Concept Hatched in NY Looks to go Global
The GEM institute grew organically from an initiative at the City University of New York designed to provide overseas students with the opportunity to attend a sustainable development program at the school. The idea blossomed into a full master's program that counted two students from Haiti as some of its first graduates.
Program mentor Hillary Brown traveled to Haiti with Gregory in the wake of the January 2010 earthquake to inspect damaged buildings, when they got the idea to design a systematic approach to developing energy infrastructure, and GEM grew out of that concept.
GEM's mission is to establish standards that deal with energy poverty in Haiti and beyond. The idea is to "energize developing nations with clean and renewable power,...it is a holistic and pragmatic model that captures the best ideas and documents the failures," GEM says in its white paper.
Barely 30% of Haiti's population has access to power and many hospitals, factories and city centers rely on diesel generators that require expensive imported fuel to run. Haiti pays an average of $0.35/kWh for electricity, which is high compared to the US average price of about $0.10/kWh.
"New Technologies, New Promises"
The country is faced with several monumental energy decisions – what is the best system? Should they choose a central hub approach like in many developed countries, or go with a system of microgrids? Do they choose fossil fuels, renewables or a hybrid model?
Dr. Jean-Jumeau is working through these questions – with GEM's assistance – in a quest to find sustainable ways to develop all Haiti's economic sectors so they receive the maximum benefits that each energy technology has to offer. "New technologies, new promises," was one of his closing lunch keynote remarks.
Haiti has limited domestic fossil fuel resources and building new power plants dependent on fossil fuels is risky because the country does not have sufficient credit to secure competitive long-term fuel supply contracts. Deforestation has become an issue because wood and charcoal are currently some of the country's main sources of fuel.
The GEM concept has been drafted, recently underwent a second revision and is now actively planning for the Haiti pilot project, which envisions a phased approach to attaining 24/7 power for the nation's residents, businesses and government, Daniel Lemons, GEM CEO recently told AOL Energy.
Learning From Past Mistakes
The phased approach is expected to take five to ten years and its implementation will involve venture philanthropy. "We will not do anything that does not have a sustainable economic model behind it," said Lemons. "Haiti is littered with failed projects like unused dams or wind farms," he said, explaining that energy projects constructed without considering long-term maintenance costs and the need for trained technicians to keep the infrastructure running, are of little use.
Education is also a major part of GEM's initiative and the lead phase of all project implementation will be education that will address the "brain drain" issue. Eighty five percent of college graduates in Haiti leave the country, he said. Part of the goal is to develop the indigenous engineering and project management expertise needed to operate and maintain the country's energy infrastructure over the long term.
GEM is not Haiti's only power infrastructure development initiative, and a new industrial park is being built in the northern part of the country with the help of USAID, the International Development Bank and a South Korean textiles group. The park is currently being powered by diesel or heavy fuel oil. Running at about 5 MW now, the park and surrounding area will require 25 to 35 MW at peak demand.
Solar is a challenge because of the significant land area required for larger installations – "You don't want to take away farmland," he said. Perhaps a mixed use scenario would be a good approach said Lemons, and mentioned a solar panel installation at the Mirebalais National Teaching Hospital as an example.
There are many stakeholders currently operating in Haiti, with some bypassing the government to move ahead with projects unilaterally. "It can be disorganized or at least not coordinated," but Dr. Jean-Jumeau is working hard to unify this and GEM provides a framework that these kinds of energy projects can fit within, said Lemons.
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