a662: RE: a592: A cleaner, healthier natural environment (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Hyppolite Pierre <hpierre@irsp.org>

I read Guy's post with great interest, regarding a cleaner and healthier environment in Haiti. I then started thinking too of what could be done. I believe there may be some sound approach and solutions to the problem.

I think this should be the privy of the Ministry of the Environment. To resolve this very serious problem, they may take a series of measures that would make sense to most.

They could first of all create an environmental police. The approach could be simple. From the current police corps, they could create a unit that is mostly responsible for making sure that urban areas are clean and kept that way. They would have to be trained of course, by the proper technical and legal authorities over what are their roles are as an environmental police force.

There would of course have to be environmental regulations, with the aim of protecting the immediate surroundings (the streets from people throwing garbage all over, etc.) to the environment itself, properly speaking (deforestation, etc). The regulations passed would have to become in effect, part of this police unit's vocabulary.

Such a police unit could be placed mostly at strategic places where people tend to throw their refuse, (ti machan, gwo machan, school kids, etc.) and fine them mercilessly on the spot. For that police unit to not only be effective but also serious about their work, they could be offered financial incentives. For instance, they could give them a monthly or annual bonus, based directly on the number of tickets they give, and calculated on a percentile.

The Ministry of the Environment would also have to work with the municipalities on this project. I think this is entirely feasible. The problem is whether the will is there.

By the way, couldn't that same environmental police be expanded as well, to help protect the natural environment in terms of people cutting trees in rural areas to sell as charcoal. My understanding is that Forêt des Pins is getting depleted. What is the Ministry of Environment doing or has done so far?

Hyppolite Pierre
IRSP
http://www.irsp.org