Reforestation
Starts Here
Sosyete pou Rebwaze Duchity, Haiti (Society for Reforestation of Duchity, Haiti; SRDH) implements accessible reforestation and agroforestry projects in partnership with community, farmers, and other groups. We provide education, training, materials, and support - facilitating a space to collaboratively replant and manage Haiti’s forest ecosystems.
Reforestation is the process of replanting an area with trees. Agroforestry is tree cultivation and conservation in agriculture systems.
Our Values
Community Based
Our projects are centered in collective action: driven by community needs and input, designed by agronomists in Duchity, and executed in collaboration with partner organizations and groups, both local and international.
Education Centered
We provide farmers, youth, and community with workshops on tree care, agroforestry, and reforestation - everyone should have the skills to start tree-based projects for their community and the land.
Sustainable & Economical
Our goal is to create projects that are sustainable, both in the economic and environmental context. Sustainably-managed forests can benefit everyone, from community members to forest ecosystems.
Current Projects
Reforestation & Agroforestry
We plant community forests, work with farmers to implement private agroforestry systems, and partner with SRDH affiliates to plant trees in gardens. We seek to continue expanding our work into more communities.
Education
SRDH and our partners provide a number of workshops and classes on tree care, agroforestry, agriculture, and more. Our goal is to ensure that youth, farmers, and communities have access to quality education that can improve agriculture systems, reforest the landscape, and further careers.
Women’s Konparèt
Through a partnership with the Trees That Feed Foundation, women from Duchity and surrounding communes can become involved in the Women’s Konparèt Program. Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) is dried and turned to flour, baked into pasteries (called konparèt), and sold at market.
Nursery
As of November 2023, we have begun work on our nursery! This way, we can supply our own seedlings, rather than purchasing large numbers of our trees from nurseries in Au Cayes and Jeremie. We will be posting updates soon.
Future Projects
Trash & Recycling
SRDH built and installed 15 trash and recycling bins around Duchity, marking the start of the first public waste system in the area. These bins are regularly used and maintained. Additionally, we began conversations with community members who repurpose plastic waste to create art, baskets, etc. Further expansion of this project is on hold until SRDH establishes partnerships and funding specific to this work.
Lakou - Homegardens
Food accessibility is a human right. SRDH wants to support community members who are the most vulnerable to food insecurity - elderly and mobility-restricted folks who cannot easily get to market - by implementing a homegarden (lakou) agroforestry initiative to bring stable food sources right to people’s back yards. We hope to begin this project in the next three years, once we attain funding.
Conservation
Haiti has one of the highest rates of endemism in the world, meaning that many of the native flora and fauna are only found in Haiti. Supporting Haiti’s rich biodiversity is key for long-term health of forest and agroforest systems. In the future, we seek to partner with local conservation organizations with the goal of integrating conservation into our projects and providing education for the communities we work with. We will begin conservation work once we have secured funding.
Compost
Currently, SRDH buys compost for our trees from a facility in Au Cayes. In the future, we will build a compost facility in Duchity and provide workshops on home compost systems for partners, farmers, and interested community members.