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A nature reserve in danger
June 1999

By Jean Denis Bien-Aimé
Adaptation and editing: Ives Marie Chanel

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Big trees, running streams, butterflies, such is the scenery put before the eyes of those who visit Habitation Leclerc, a protected area of more than 8 hectares located in the Crepsac area, Southwest of the Haitian capital.

While nearly all the mountains of this country are undergoing savage deforestation, this reserve located 3 kilometers of the centre of town still remains alive.

The reserve started suffering the ravages of deforestation with the construction of a hotel in the area by a foreign investor in the 1970s. Since then, and just until last year, many trees were cut down. Nevertheless, this didn't kill the hope.

Evans Clermont, a man of 42 years old who has spent his entire life on this property, told the history of the forest. The area was almost uninhabited in the 1960s, he said. There were just a few families living there. The construction of the hotel and other residences has had a certain impact on the forest, with deforestation resulting from the works.

The situation was aggravated during the 1980s, when people started to build houses on the mountain. By 1986 it was a disaster, Clermont related.

"We manage to live despite everything ... despite the presence of criminals in the area. Before, we used to live well and with happiness. I left the area in 1981. I returned in 1983 and began to work here again. My mother passed away, and today I am alone with no parents in the area. My friends are in fact my parents. My children are in the United States."

"I have always believed that those trees were a part of our life 40 years ago. In the past, people used to protect the trees because they did not have the same needs as today. I personally think that the trees are a source of life. I persist in living here because of the trees. I would like to participate in a reforestation campaign to protect the land. We have to plant fruit trees," he testified.

Clermont has seen trees grow up, that today still remain in the forest. His generation has in fact only planted flowers in the 1970s.

In addition to unplanned construction, which represents a threat to the environment, poverty has also pushed people who do not live there to cut down trees for making charcoal.

Many species of trees, such as "Gaic", Mahogany and "Bayarondes" have practically vanished from the mountains around the capital.

"Some people have begun to plant trees, but this is not enough. In July 1994, we put up a cultural centre and every Thursday we would go out to search new species to be replanted over here. Unfortunately, the project did not succeed because the older people were not involved," he explained.

[474 words]

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