Haiti's Forests

For this year's observance of International Environment Day the United Nations is focusing on the plight of forests worldwide. In Haiti, there remains less than one percent tree cover. Most deforestation is caused by the local population's need for land to farm, wood to build with, and charcoal to cook with. The result has left immense tracks of land bare to the elements, hastened massive soil erosion and increased land slides and flash flooding.
Men chop down trees near Port-au-Prince, Haiti.