The Environmental Cost

Economics aside, one cannot fail to mention the impact of neocolonialism on Haiti’s environment. Colonialism had transformed patterns of land use as French colonial authorities devoted the best available agricultural land to export production, with sugar cane and banana cultivation predominating. Today, Haiti has a complex environmental problem with deforestation that many historians date back to the 17th century, when French colonizers cleared most of Haiti’s forests to create slave plantations. Since colonial times, modern agriculture and charcoal production have only exacerbated the loss of Haitian forestry, such that current estimates show that only 1.4% - 2% of Haitian land remains forested (in other words, over 98% of Haiti is deforested). To fully comprehend the stark reality of Haiti’s environment, refer to satellite image below, which shows the border between a deforested Haiti (left) and the Dominican Republic (right).

Haiti is known for having a disproportionate number of natural disasters, and current research shows that this is no coincidence, for this phenomena is connected to Haiti’s deforested mountains. While there is of course no way to stop hurricanes and earthquakes, we now know that in times of severe weather, trees are essential to slowing the destruction of torrential rains. Without them, the heavy rainfall washes down barren mountains and rips away the shrubs, soil, crops, houses, livestock, and people in its path. This water-packed mud slams into villages, leaving behind the death, destruction, and unbelievable clean up tasks we know Haiti for today (think of the number of times a hurricane or earthquake in Haiti has been in the news)! This problem has become so severe that it no longer takes a full-blown tropical storm to devastate Haiti. In 2004, heavy rains totalling to approximately 13 inches triggered floods that killed over 2,600 Haitians (while only two dozen Dominicans died by comparison). Long-term effects of these natural disasters like cholera, malnutrition (from a lack of crops and livestock), and homelessness have kept Haiti in relapsing conditions of extreme poverty, and while the French alone cannot be credited with this situation, one cannot ignore the significant role they played in exacerbating it while capitalizing on Haitian land and her crops.