Agroforestry & Reforestation
Trees stabilize the soil, improve agricultural productivity, provide habitat for animals, and so much more. However, agroforestry and reforestation can only occur if they are economically viable, beneficial to local communities, and work within local land systems.
Our model
We are working on making an adaptable, scalable model - starting small, with the potential to grow and be implemented in other communities in time. Throughout each stage of the process, SRDH conducts meetings and surveys in the communities we serve, both to inform people of the project plan and goals and to gather feedback. This will allow us to adapt our project to better fit community needs, if necessary.
Short-term plan:
Plant a forest for community use. As of November 2023, 2 community forests have been started.
Plant trees on private property through farmer and landowner involvement in our program. As of November 2023, SRDH works with 8 farmers on agroforestry projects and has supplied 27 community members with trees.
Large-scale reforestation.
Long-term Plan:
Expand our model to communities beyond Duchity.
Increase collaborative efforts with researchers, organizations, and community partners, within and outside of Haiti.
Why reforestation?
“In general, trees are life.” ~Jean-fenel Dorvilier
Currently, Haiti is largely deforested, with forest cover estimates ranging between 2 and 28 percent (discrepencies in the numbers stem from differences in geospatial resolutions used in different analyses). Deforestation in Haiti is deeply rooted in history and perpetuated by a number of systemic factors in current times (visit the Resource Center to learn more).
Haiti’s population is largely rural - approximately 80 percent of Haitians rely directly on agriculture and the sale of forest products for their income. As a result, the health of Haiti’s environment has vast and immediate implications for the health and welfare of Haitians. Reforestation is important for the following reasons:
Soil Conservation: Haiti is a very mountainous country, and much of the land has a slope grade of 20 percent or higher. The mountainous landscape, combined with heavy deforestation, means that Haiti loses a lot of soil during storms - an estimated 36.6 million tons annually. Erosion reduces agricultural productivity and puts people and crops in danger from massive mudslides that can occur during large rainstorms or hurricanes. Planting trees holds the soil in place, protecting people and their crops from severe storms. Additionally, reducing erosion protects Haiti’s coral reefs from suffocating sediment loads.
Agricultural Productivity: While approximately 30 percent of Haiti’s land is arable (farmable), upwards of 60 percent of the land is cultivated, since many people have no job options outside of agriculture. In addition to agricultural benefits from reducing erosion, reforestation builds healthy soil. Trees contribute organic matter (OM) and nutrients, such as nitrogen, which makes crops more productive and reduces the amount of fertilizer that farmers have to buy.
Climate Change Mitigation: Trees act as a carbon sink, which means that they remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in their new growth. This is much-needed globally to combat climate change. Haiti is already feeling the effects of climate change, experiencing increasingly deadly hurricanes and erratic weather, such as long periods of drought followed by periods of short, intense rain. Reforestation helps to mitigate the effects of climate change by protecting people, crops, and the soil from storms and by stabilizing the local climate, or microclimate. Trees have been shown to keep regions cooler and moister by providing shade and transpiration. This reduces crop mortality during times of drought, and makes local droughts less frequent and less severe.
Water Retention: Trees help retain soil and surface water by preventing soils from drying out in the sun and stabilizing river banks.
Ecological Health: Haiti is located on one of the most biodiverse islands in the Caribbean. Haiti has many endemic species, found nowhere else in the world. Many are not even found on the other side of the island in the Dominican Republic! Planting forests benefit human and non-human communities alike. For more information, visit the Conservation page.
Economic Stability: In addition to increasing food stability by improving agricultural productivity, trees provide food, medicine, lumber, charcoal, and other products. Farmers can sell surplus forest products, increasing their income.
Barriers to Reforestation
Like many other places in the world, trees are highly valued in Haiti. Despite this widespread love of trees, there are few successful large-scale reforestation projects in Haiti. This is a result of several barriers, which are often difficult for communities to overcome.
Lack of resources: Many people do not have long-term access (or access at all) to the tools and seedlings needed to start reforestation projects. Additionally, few farmers have expendable income to invest in new projects. As a result, farmers are often unable to invest in reforestation, since it often requires converting some cropland to forest. Trees do not yield immediate returns, making reforestation and agroforestry unattainable for many.
Lack of education: While farmers are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to best practices for growing their annual crops, knowledge of how to reforest tracts of land or implement agroforestry is not as widespread. It can be difficult to access resources and trainings on agroforestry and reforestation, and many folks do not have expendable resources to experiment with reforestation or agroforestry on their own if they are unsure if their efforts will be successful.
Deforested hillside by Pic Macaya National Park, near Duchity, Haiti.
Soil-filled bags to grow seedlings in.
Reforestation Project Plan Explained
Short Term Plan
1. Plant a forest for community use.
We began our work by planting community forests for several reasons.
The forest provides a working demonstration of project goals and implementation.
The forest can build trust in the project - community members can see our commitment to the project and be involved in its creation.
The forest acts as a training ground. The SRDH team can learn new skills from collaborating organizations, such as building an irrigation system. Community members can learn more about the process of reforestation and participate in hands-on training.
As of December 4, 2023, SRDH has begun planting 2 community forests in Duchity.
2. Plant trees on private property through landowner involvement in our program.
We work with farmers to reforest their private land using agroforestry techniques. This way, farmers can continue to grow and sell crops, with the added benefit of trees on their property. We will implement a number of different agroforestry techniques, based on each farmer’s preference and crop systems, including:
Forest Farming: Trees are planted in a way that allows for shade-tolerant crops, such as coffee, to be planted in the understory.
Alley Cropping: Rows of trees are intermixed with rows of crops.
Windbreaks/ Shelterbelts: Linear clusters of trees planted along the edges of fields in a way that alters wind flow, regulates climate, and protects crops from storms. Read more about the benefits of agroforestry in the Resource Center.
Mixed cropping: Growing multiple crops on the same land.
Additionally, we provide agroforestry educational programs for farmers. Read more on our education plan here.
To ensure our efforts benefit those most vulnerable to food insecurity, SRDH is planning a home garden project for elders. We hope to begin this project as soon as we attain funding - stay tuned!
As of December 4, 2023, SRDH works with 8 farmers.
3. Large-scale reforestation.
The final stage of our reforestation plan is to plant a larger forest on unused land surrounding local communes.
This forest will be sustainably managed by SRDH, members of the community, and partner groups. We hope this will provide jobs and sustainable income, in addition to the ecological benefits of forests.
This forest will provide much-needed habitat for Haiti’s flora and fauna. Read more about our conservation plan here.
Long Term Plan
1. Expand our model to communities beyond Duchity.
Reforestation and agroforestry are good for communities everywhere. As a result, SRDH is dedicated to providing resources to communities across Haiti once we have established our model in Duchity and are ready to expand. How this works:
We conduct outreach to other communities and groups, so they know about our organization and how to contact us if they would like to begin a reforestation program of their own.
We work with local farmers, groups, and community members in other communes to start reforestation and agroforestry projects. We provide education, seedlings, on-the-ground assistance, and some of the materials needed for planting.
Eventually, we hope to provide transportation for interested community members to come to Duchity, see what we have done, and learn from SRDH.
As of December 4, 2023, we have planted trees in the communes Duchity, Kay boule, Leskav, Plenn matin, Nan sous, Ba Duchity, Toubwa, and Lotbo.
2. Increase collaborative efforts with researchers, organizations, and community partners, within and outside of Haiti.
SRDH values the power of collaborative efforts. Eventually, we will explore options to increase the number of collaborative efforts we undertake, with organizations and communities across Haiti and those outside of Haiti as well. Our ideas so far include:
Exchange Program: Provide resources for students in Duchity to participate in an exchange program with students outside of Duchity, enabling both groups to engage in reciprocal knowledge sharing.
Research Initiatives: SRDH is dedicated to community access to healthy forests, sustainable forest use, and conservation. We believe that these initiatives must be implemented together to successfully build sustainable reforestation initiatives. As a result, with the consent of the community of Duchity, we want to encourage researchers from across Haiti and the international community to come to Duchity and engage in various research initiatives.
Note: We are not far enough into our project yet to have our long-term goals fully developed. This section will be updated with time.