Module 6 The Movement of Energy

Module 7 The Movement of Matter

Module 8 Responses to Disturbances

Even before the devastating earthquake of 2010, life in Haiti was hard. On the streets of the capital city, Port-au-Prince, people would line up to buy charcoal to cook their meals. According to the United Nations, 76 percent of Haitians lived on less than $2.00 a day. Because other forms of cooking fuel, including oil and propane, were too expensive, people turned to the forests, cutting trees to make charcoal from firewood.

Relying on charcoal for fuel has had a serious impact on the forests of Haiti. In 1923, 60 percent of this mountainous country was covered in forest. However, as the population grew and demand for charcoal increased, the amount of forest shrunk. By 2012, with more than 9 million people living in this small nation, less than 2 percent of its land remained forested. Today, most trees in Haiti are cut before they grow to more than a few centimeters in diameter. This rate of deforestation is not sustainable for the people or for the forest.

Deforestation disrupts the ecosystem services that living trees provide. In Chapter 1 we saw how events on Easter Island demonstrated some of the consequences of subjecting land to massive deforestation. When Haitian forests are clear-cut, the land becomes much more susceptible to erosion. When trees are cut, their roots die and can no longer stabilize the soil. Without roots to anchor it, the soil is eroded away by the heavy rains of tropical storms and hurricanes. Unimpeded by vegetation, the rainwater runs quickly down the mountainsides, dislodging the topsoil that is so important for forest growth. In addition, this oversaturation of the soil causes massive mudslides that can destroy entire villages.

But the news from Haiti is not all bad. Since the 1980s, the U.S. Agency for International Development, in cooperation with other groups, has provided funds to plant 60 million trees in Haiti. Unfortunately, simply planting trees is not enough; the local people can’t afford to let trees grow when they are in desperate need of firewood and charcoal. One solution has been to plant mango trees (Mangifera indica). Because a mature mango tree can provide $70 to $150 worth of mangoes annually, this value provides an economic incentive to let the trees grow to maturity. The deforestation problem is also being addressed through efforts to develop alternative fuel sources, such as discarded paper that is processed into dried cakes that can be burned. In 2013, the president of Haiti announced a new program to plant 50 million trees every year, with the goal of moving the country from the current 2 percent forest cover to 29 percent forest cover 50 years from now.

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Extensive forest removal is a problem in many developing nations. Widespread removal of trees on mountains causes rapid soil erosion and substantial disruptions of the natural cycles of water and soil nutrients. This leads to long-term degradation of the environment. The results not only illustrate the connectedness of ecological systems, but also show how forest ecosystems, like all ecosystems, can be influenced by human decisions.

Sources:“Haitians seek remedies for environmental ruin,” National Public Radio, July 15, 2009, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104684950; “Haiti to plant millions of trees to boost forests and help tackle poverty,” The Guardian, March 28, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/28/haiti-plant-millions-trees-deforestation.