The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) just granted Haiti a grant amounting 42 million US dollars to help protect key watersheds and improve agricultural production.

This grant will seek to increase capacities for adaptation to climate change and risk management in the agriculture sector; improve water and sediment conservation in selected gullies of priority watersheds including the Centre-Artibonite Loop area; reduce risk of rural economic losses due to floods in targeted watersheds; and restore the educational capacity of the Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine.

Recall that 80% of the country is mountainous with 30 main watersheds and just 28% arable land, which is concentrated in irrigated valleys. Its location within the Caribbean’s hurricane belt, its mountainous terrain, and severe deforestation, combined with its reliance on agriculture make it particularly susceptible to flooding.

Agriculture contributes to 25%of the country’s gross domestic product, 5.9% of total exports value, 47% of overall employment and 71% of employment in rural areas. Haiti currently suffers some $28 million in annual expected losses for four watersheds targeted by the project, and climate-hazardous events are likely to increase as global temperatures rise.

A portion of the funding for the project comes from the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) under the global Climate Investment Funds (CIF).

HL/ HaitiLibre