The President of Haiti, Michel Martelly, has announced an ambitious plan for reforestation and land management. This initiative is part of the Year of the Environment, announced by the Government Martelly during the commemoration of the third anniversary of the earthquake of January 12, 2010, it will allow the implementation of the plan of reforestation and land management in order to increase the vegetation cover and the integrated management of natural resources to reduce the vulnerability of the environment and stop the repeated flooding, and the watershed erosion and the transport of sediment, which continue to threaten lives, property and infrastructure in Haiti.

This year, the government plans to create community forests to increase between 2013 and 2020 forest cover of 27% and implement a Plant of multiplication of plants, in the 10 departments of the country, to achieve an annual production capacity of 50 million plants [the second year of operation].

According to official estimates, reforestation, protection of cities across of flood control structures, land management, water conservation and the planning of the transformation of poor neighborhoods, will allow the creation of 30,000 jobs.

For the Government thus avoid these threats is a moral imperative, of health and public policy.

"This implies radical changes in the mode of administration and the mode of use of our natural resources" [...] in the short and medium term, it is necessary and urgent to rethink current models, that justify the exploitation of our resources beyond their capacity to regenerate and adopt eco-responsible behavior: the use of our soil, in the construction of our cities, in our production process and in the implementation of our infrastructure," declared the Head of State who lamented that for more than four decades, the actions of governments that have succeeded have not been able to implement policies to meet the challenges of the environment in Haiti.

Dominican Minister of the Environment, Bautista Rojas Gomez, on Sunday welcomed the decision of the Government of Haiti to declare 2013 the "Year of the Environment", and to include a plan for reforestation and land management "We welcome this decision, because we can not forget that the two countries share the territorial space of the same island. The decision of the Government of Haiti will have a positive impact on the island," adding that since his arrival at the Ministry of the Environment, he insisted so that of joint plans relating to the environment, be conducted especially in the border area.

S/ HaitiLibre