Seventy-one percent of all fuel consumed in Haiti is wood or charcoal, according to the US Agency for International Development. Every year, the country’s 9 million (and growing) inhabitants burn a quantity of wood and charcoal equal to 30 million trees, according to this essay. That’s 20 million more trees than Haiti grows yearly. Continue reading
News
Haiti’s environment needs long-term help-experts
OSLO, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Long-term efforts to help Haiti recover from the earthquake will have to reverse environmental damage such as near-total deforestation that threatens food and water supplies for the Caribbean nation, experts say. Continue reading
Endangered gorillas threatened by charcoal trade
In the past decade 150 rangers from the Congolese national wildlife service have been killed in eastern Congo’s five reserves.
Three rangers were wounded in gun battles last summer, but the search and destroy operation dismantled 1,000 kilns — piles of earth and wood as tall as a man in which branches are burnt for days at high heat and pressure to make charcoal. The charcoal produced by each kiln is worth about £600.
Haiti’s environment
The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (D.R.) is more than just a political boundary.
It also reflects the large amount of deforestation that has occurred on the Haitian side of the border.
One can easily see from satellite imagery the lush forests still thriving on the D.R. side of the border, which is in sharp contrast to the Haitian side of the border. Continue reading
Stove project in Congo selling carbon credits on voluntary market
A December 3rd article in the Financial Times reports how a Mercy Corps-operated stove project in Goma (eastern Congo) is selling carbon offsets to western companies on the voluntary market. It is partially reproduced below but you can only read the complete article on the FT site. Among the more interesting facts reported are: * Projects like these are attractive to private investors in the the voluntary carbon market (as opposed to CDM) because the provide a social benefit as well as an environmental one. More bang for your buck, so to speak. * A project on this scale does Continue reading