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1/ Five years ago on Earth Day I published a research blog post with a provocative title—‘Haiti is Covered with Trees’.
https://www.envirosociety.org/2016/05/haiti-is-covered-with-trees/
https://www.envirosociety.org/2016/05/haiti-is-covered-with-trees/
2/ The article would get the attention of author M.R. O’Connor ( @TheOChronicle) who did a a deep dive on deforestation in Haiti for VICE magazine, with an equally provocative title,—‘One of the most repeated facts about Haiti is a lie’. https://www.vice.com/en/article/43qy9n/one-of-the-most-repeated-facts-about-deforestation-in-haiti-is-a-lie
3/ The article was also linked to in an op-ed in the @nytimes by Haiti historian Laurent Dubois, ( @Soccerpolitics) entitled ‘Who will speak for Haiti’s trees?’ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/opinion/who-will-speak-for-haitis-trees.html
4/ Exposure from the article would lead eventually to a seminal, multi-year, nationwide World Bank research effort, which culminated in a report entitled, ‘Charcoal in Haiti : A National Assessment of Charcoal Production and Consumption Trends’
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31257
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31257
5/ I was subsequently invited to read and provide feedback on USG legislation introduced to combat deforestation in Haiti, and multiple development institutions adapted their policy language and intervention approaches to reforestation efforts in Haiti. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3272/text
6/ Deforestation in Haiti was interrogated not only in the policy-making & operational realms of international development; it also reached the highest echelons of the ivory tower, when debated in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences: https://www.pnas.org/content/116/12/5202
7/ Despite this unusual trajectory of ideas, research, and changes in development policies and operations, the situation in Haiti merits continued reflection, research, and action, not only on Earth Day, but every day. The world has a lot to learn from Haiti.
