Reforesting Haiti, one community at a time: The HAS Haiti Timber Re-Introduction Project

Haiti is a mountainous island country that is 99% deforested, and has undergone consequent flooding, erosion, and desertification for many decades.  Demand for fuel wood, frequent fires, and free-ranging livestock have suppressed forest regeneration.  The HAS Haiti Timber Re-Introduction Project (HTRIP) is a multi-year project that works cooperatively with communities to meet these challenges and begin the process of forest recovery in Haiti, focusing on degraded mountainsides.  HTRIP provides tools, technical expertise, and an initial amount of seedlings, while participants provide labor.  In 2006-2007 demonstration plots were established in ten communities and more than 100 community members participated in a year-long education program.  In 2007-2008 these participants each planted hundreds of locally-grown seedlings on their land, and ten new communities planted demonstration plots.  This presentation details the HTRIP methodology, presents community participation and tree growth data, outlines the integration of agroforestry techniques in these young plantations, and explains HTRIP’s long-term plan for community capacity building and overall project sustainability.