The Tree Problem

Haiti has a problem with trees.  Or more precisely Haiti has a problem from a lack of trees.  There are very few left.  Current estimates put the Haitian landscape at up to 98% deforested.  Compare that to Canada that is 41% covered in forest and the United States at 33%.  With no trees the soil erodes.  Rains come and flooding results.  It is a bad situation to find yourself on a mountainous island with no trees.

Lots of solutions have been put forward.  This article on making methane is an interesting one.  Trees have been cut down in Haiti to make charcoal for cooking.  Trees are cut down and sorted into piles.  Then they are covered with dirt and leaves.  Burning them without oxygen turns the wood into charcoal.  The only things it takes to make charcoal for resale is trees and some hard work.  Lots of different options have been looked at to replace charcoal including methane and propane.

There have been two obstacles to the widespread use of propane/methane.  One is the cost.  Why pay for gas when you can make charcoal for free?  Two is that people say it just doesn’t taste the same when the food is not cooked on charcoal.  Hard to say if it is true but that is the perception.  So people just don’t want to change.  Aba chabon (down with charcoal) might turn out to be just another slogan that will not take hold.

Another idea that seems to have worked is giving incentives for not only planting trees but allowing them to grow to maturity.  Lots of trees get planted in Haiti every year.  But by the time they are tall enough to give a little shade and put their roots down, they are cut down to make charcoal.  Check out this article for more details on the program.

All this means there is lots to pray for.  Most Haitians do not have consistent jobs that allow them to provide for their basic household needs.  This desperation means they do anything to make money including compromising their future by cutting down trees to make charcoal.  Hurricane season is coming soon and it is not just folks in the tent cities who are at risk.  Anyone living near ravines and rivers or on hillsides are in danger of devastating floods.  Keep praying!  There is hope for the future and this hope can lead to care for the earth God has given.