Governance and environmental degradation in Haiti

22/10/2013

For several decades, Haiti has endured major environmental degradation caused by the anarchic occupation of certain high-risk areas, the spontaneous appearance of new neighbourhoods, poor waste management and the proliferation of buildings outwith all legal and institutional frameworks. There are, nevertheless, a number of authorities and laws which have been established to protect the physical environment in which the Haitian population lives. This institutionalisation does not appear to be part of an approach based on results and effectiveness aiming to halt the process of general deforestation, destruction of watersheds and erosion. This article argues that Haiti’s poor environmental management is the result of a lack of a sufficiently developed environmental policy and mechanisms for the coordination, facilitation and intervention of the different institutions in the environmental sector.