Help Reforest the Barren Lands of Haiti!

                                                 TREES FOR THE FUTURE- HAITI                                                                                                                                     Report update                                                                                                                                                    December 13 th, 2012

Community members of Bethel have completed several activities during this reporting period. The main accomplishments are:

1) Rehabilitation of the Central Nursery

2) Nursery maintenance and preparation of site for the upcoming outplanting season 

3) Tree planting 

Rehabilitation of the Central Nursery:

The Central Nursery of Bethel currently has 10,000 multi purpose and fast growing trees. The activities of the nursery was significantly hindered due to the drought and the passage of Hurricane Sandy. However, the damages to the nursery has been rehabilitated by the local inhabitants in a record amount of time.

Rehabilitated Maintenance in the nursery and preparation of site for the upcoming outplanting season: 

During the last month, technicians and farmers have learned composting. They specifically learned about the benefits of composting, how to make compost, fill out tree bags, and clean the nursery beds (shrubs) while choosing the sites where they will plant the trees. They have immediately applied thier new skills to thier nursery. 

Tree planting: 

Trees for the Future assisted the Bethel community members in planting 2,500 trees along the bank of the Bethel River. This river has flooded and caused a lot of damage to the Bethel area on a regular basis. During the workshops with the community members, they learned that the trees will help to reduce the flooding and damages to their property and livelihoods. 

During this past Summer, Trees for the Future started a new project in another environmentally vulnerable community of the Arcadine coast called Bethel. The community of Bethel has shown great interest in our work. The specific support that Bethel requires from Trees for the Future consist of reforestation, Bethel River bank protection, agro-forestry training and agricultural support. Trees for the Future aims is to progressively respond to these needs as resources allow. During this reporting period, the community groups convened and established the community nursery. During the establishment of nurseries, the groups were taught the importance and benefits of planting trees on their lands. They also learned the proper ways of establishing and taking care of their nurseries. They specifically learned that tree planting restores nutrients to barren lands, helps to maintain water tables, and solidifies soil on the hillsides which deters landslides. Furthermore, the community groups were also taught that the damages from the natural disasters of the earthquake of 2010 as well as the hurricanes and tropical storms that have hit Haiti were compounded due to the neglect of the environment. They have also learned that agroforestry is the solution to overcoming the damages to natural disasters in juxtaposition to the challenges of poverty and food security.

During the next period, it is estimated that the community groups will be able to give 10,000 baby trees to farmers and community groups throughout the area. A few of the species are Swietenya Macrophylla, Cedrela Odorata, Morenga Olefeira, Cassia Senna, and Mangifera Indica. Furthermore, they will learn the specific agroforestry technologies that will benefit their environment as well as protect their land from soil erosion and the community from landslides. The specific agroforestry technologies are intercropping, live fencing, contour farming, and sylvopastoral systems.

The community groups are thankful to all the donors for helping them have access to logistical materials that will allow them to work themselves out of poverty and vulnerability to natural disasters. Moreover, they kindly request that all donors come to Bethel and see for themselves the wonderful work that their donations are going towards.  

Links:

• An article about our work in Haiti