long term environmental support

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Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency 1 (6)Our date2010-02-09

Registration No2010-729

Lars Westholm

The Haiti Regeneration Initiative -a framework for long term Swedish environmental support?

If Sweden has the ambition to commit to a long term support for Haiti the Haiti Regeneration Initiative (The Initiative) could serve as a framework. It addresses not just the severe environmental and disaster risk problems that Haiti faces but is aimed at addressing these by improving the livelihood for the Haitians.

These notes were compiled using the Haiti Regeneration Initiative, Mr Antonio Perera, Country Coordinator of UNEP1 in Haiti, presentation at the opening of the PDNA2 process (19 Feb 2010) and discussion with Antonio Perera.

Motives for the notes

The MSB sent an Expert team to Haiti in February 2010 to support DINEPA3 in matters regarding solid waste and excreta management. In the Terms of References for the two Environmental Expert it was stated that among the responsibilities they should:

Identify and assess the environmental implications of the DWM & EM plans. Further, as much as time allows, widen the scope to include also other areas, such as secondary hazards

1 United Nations Environmental Program2 Post Disasters Needs Assessment, a process led by the Government of Haiti to present the needs arisen from the disaster and presented at the donor conference in New York in March 2010.3 The Haitian National Institution for Water and Sanitation, la Direction National de l’Eau Potable et de l’Assainissement

MSB Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency

Postal address:SE-651 81 Karlstad

Street addresses:Stockholm: Kungsgatan 53Karlstad: Norra Klaragatan 18Sandö: Sandövägen 7Revinge: Revingeby

Phone: +46 771 240 240Fax: +46 10 240 56 00

[email protected]/en

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and impacts of the earthquake and of other relief and ER operations. This input will be valuable in the second phase of the project.

With these notes this responsibility are considered fulfilled.

Background

Haiti is the poorest country in the Carribean and faces numerous problems the coming years. The increase of the population by 20 % in a decade alone will further strain the limited resources of the nation. The recent earthquake, the annual rains and the upcoming hurricanes are other factors that seriously will hamper further advances. One of the core problems are the nations dependency of charcoal for domestic fuel. The cutting of the trees on the hill sides creates a cascade of environmental problems: erosion, soil transport, land slides, river basins destruction and decreased fish catches.

At the opening of the PDNA process after the earthquake Mr Perera from UNEP Haiti presented the 7 most alarming environmental problems:

1. Management of river basins2. Solid and liquid waste management3. Domestic energy4. Coastal and marine management5. Deforestation, erosion and soil degradation6. Protected area7. Environmental governance

The Haiti Regeneration Initiative

The Initiative was worked out in 2009 and was the result of collaboration with UNEP as the lead between UN agencies, governmental entities, NGOs and technical institutes. The preliminary concept note (Attached) is part of this consultation process. It presents the rationale for the Initiative, the development




Phone: +46 771 240 240Fax: +46 10 240 56 00


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process and current design ideas. The development phase is supported by the Government of Norway.

Challenges and OpportunitiesHaiti is the poorest, least stable and most environmentally degraded country in the Caribbean. The rural population living in the environmentally damaged countryside cannot feed the expanding urban population or having a decent livelihood. The country is in a permanent social, economic and environmental crisis. The hurricanes is adding to the crisis and is expected to increase in the future due to climate change.

The Initiative states that there are opportunities for the country after all:

Haiti has significant human assets, an improving political environment and gradual improvements in the effectiveness and sustainability of international assistance.

The Haitian population has a substantial technical skill base well suited to this initiative and also benefits from strong support from its Diaspora. The current government is stable and progressing with a range of pro-poor reforms. The environment in some areas has been stabilized by successful interventions and some relatively pristine marine and coastal areas remain.

Vision of the InitiativeThe vision is expressed as both simple and bold – to build and support a national movement in Haiti that understands the underlying issues and tackles them in an organized and integrated way.

Overall objective of the InitiativeThe overall objective of the Initiative is to reduce poverty and disaster vulnerability in Haiti through the restoration of ecosystems and livelihoods based on sustainable natural resource management.




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Specific objectives:1. Reduce poverty in rural areas through the

introduction and expansion of sustainable agriculture, agroforestry, forestry and energy programmes;

2. Reduce the vulnerability of urban populations to flooding through restored catchments and improved river basin management;

3. Slow down, halt and, where possible, reverse the ongoing degradation of Haiti mountain and marine environments;

4. Increase the contribution of sustainable forestry to help meet Haiti’s energy and timber needs.

Structure and scopeThe Initiative is structured with three major components: campaign, programs and Network and Technical Assistance Facility (TAF).

The campaigns objectives are mainly to raise awareness of environmental issues and to raise funds.

The Programmes are the main outputs of the Initiative. They aim to deliver lasting positive change through substantial long-term investment at the national and regional levels. They will be developed and implemented by partner organizations and supported by a small management team. The programmes are expected to be both geographical and sectorial.

The TAF will be composed of experts who will provide support to network members essentially free of charge for short assignments and regular, part time advice. These experts may help to develop new projects or improve existing ones. Areas of activity will include forestry , agriculture, erosion control, river basin management, disaster risk reduction and climate change.

Other factors The Intitative is stressing the need for lessons learned from earlier projects which should be avoided, such as applying short term solutions on long term problems, failure to disseminate results and failure to expand successful projects. At the national level there is a need for integration of the Initiative with existing national poverty




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reduction and disaster risk reduction programs and plans. Furthermore local involvement in project designs and local control over implementation is essential.

Timeframe and technical optionsThe Intitative will start in a small scale with certain locations in southern Haiti and then spread through the entire nation. It is planned to function during at least 20 years. The different technical options to address the environmental problems are well known and among those one can mention erosion control, river beds controls and forestry. There are also more technical options that also can be applied: biofuels, solar schemes and pisciculture. The exact nature of technical options will be based on the needs, funding and opportunities that arises under time.




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Proposal for support

The Initiative can serve as a framework for long term Swedish support. It has the advantage that it not only addresses environmental problems as such but is also tackles poverty reduction and disaster risk reduction. As the Initiative in it’s present form, partly due to the earthquake, is not set in exact project proposals it’s not feasible to propose support to specific projects.

In order to establish a long term support there is a need to, on site, discuss with UNEP Haiti and other stakeholders how a Swedish support best can contribute to the Initiative. During this process it’s possible to see how other support strategies can be used to support or complement the Initiative . One strategy can be to give UNEP Haiti a seconded person who can support UNEP in implementing the Initiative and channel project within the Technical Assistance Facility.

Proposed actions:Phase one:One person works with UNEP Haiti on site for a start-up period of 2 – 4 months with the aim of negotiating the conditions for a long term support for UNEP Haiti. Depending on other agencies support, the needs and wishes of UNEP and the Government of Haiti and the outcome of the PDNA a proposal of the long term support is presented.

Phase twoDuring a long period, 3 to 5 years, one person is based with UNEP Haiti and gives both overall and specific support to the implementation of the Initiative. Complementing this further project based support is given within the Technical Assistance Facility.

Phase ThreeTBD

Lars WestholmEnvironmental expert

long term environmental support

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