#4217: Driver replies to Sheetz on Chabon and Cachon (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Tom F. Driver <tfd3@columbia.edu>

Katherine Sheetz respnded to my post about deforestation in and around 
Fondwa  by saying that "the pigs were very important, and trees were lost as 
a result, but the effects of poverty, overpopulation, etc. were there even 
before the loss of their pig population."

I did not mean to say that the loss of pigs BEGAN the deforestation, only 
that it had grown much worse since then.  This is what people who grew up 
there told my Witness for Peace delegation.  I would love to see the photos 
of the area from 1985 that Katherine mentions.  Perhaps she can tell me 
where to find them.

As for the work being done in the area by PADF with USAID funding, I can 
speak only of some of the terracing, which I saw at first hand and discussed 
with the people at APF.  Some of those terraces were rained out the day 
after being cut.  Besides, the farmers had been told to plant tubers in them 
to hold the soil, which is not such a good idea since tubers have to be dug at 
harvest time, disturbing the terrace soil.

I won't say that USAID does nothing good in the region, but it is often 
inefficient; and it is working under a policy guideline that does not 
eencourage the re-building of Haiti's agriculture for domestic consumption.

Tom Driver  

-------------------  
In reply to:

    Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 10:52:56 -0700 (PDT)
    From: katherine sheetz <kathysheetz@hotmail.com>
    
    I'm responding to Tom Driver's post on the strides made in the 
    Fondwa mountain area, and his statement  -- "These projects give 
    the lie to people such as we met among the staff at the USAID office 
    in Port au Prince who say that Haitians cannot or will not do anything 
    to improve their situation."           The very obvious terracing and 
    reforestation all along the road to the APF center and the watershed 
    of the Grande River there, has been managed by PADF  with the 
    funding coming from USAID. Maybe USAID should examine where 
    their money went! Also, the deforestation in Fondwa, from photos of 
    the area in 1985 is not different from today.  My point being, I'm sure 
    the pigs were very important, and trees were lost as a result, but the 
    effects of poverty, overpopulation, etc. were there even before the 
    loss of their pig population.  
    
    There have been many layers of events and situations that resulted in 
    the devestation one sees today in Haiti.  I certainly am not trying to 
    get anybody off the hook, but I think it is impossible to diagnose the 
    erosion and present difficulties that have resulted on one event. There 
    are other valuable lessons to be learned.