Following the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January 2010, which resulted in some 220,000 deaths, over 250,000 buildings destroyed, affecting some three million people, of whom the Government estimates 1.7 million are now displaced - a major humanitarian operation has been ongoing for almost two months with distribution of aid, including water, food and medical supplies in Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas. Ongoing priorities include, shelter, camp management and sanitation.
Following the mobilization of a senior expert team on the ground, UNEP continues to engage in relief and recovery efforts through the provision of technical assistance and support on environmental matters to the Humanitarian Country Team and to the local government, including through emergency environmental assessments of affected sites and active participation in the humanitarian cluster system.
Field-based Rapid Environmental Assessments since 13 January to evaluate the impact of the disaster and forecast the impact of the relief effort, have identified a number of major environmental issues for the short and medium term, including tones of debris, increase in municipal and healthcare waste, damaged environmental infrastructure and governance, escalation of pressure on forests for energy and timber, geological and flood risk for rebuilt camps, the environmental impact of massive population displacement and the new “relief economy”, and green food and cash-for-work schemes.
Following an initial appeal for USD 575 million on 15 January, a revised flash appeal was launched by UN Special Envoy for Haiti Bill Clinton on 18 February. The total sum of the revised appeal is USD 1.44 billion, reportedly the highest ever. The environmental envelope, proposed by UNEP for a total of USD 6.35 million, for the expansion of the Technical Assistance Facility for Energy and Early Recovery, falls under the early recovery cluster.
A United Nations/World Bank/European Commission Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), which will help to define a recovery framework for the country, was initiated on 17 February, and will continue for three weeks. Within the assessment process, UNEP is the UN focal point for the stand-alone theme of environment, which will include the following issues - domestic energy, deforestation, erosion and soil loss; coastal and marine zone management; protected areas; watershed management; solid and liquid wastes; disaster reduction; and environmental governance. Findings from the PDNA will be published in a report to be presented at a Donor Conference on 31 March 2010 in New York.
Already before the devastating 12 January earthquake, Haiti was the poorest, least stable and most environmentally degraded country in the Caribbean. This environmental degradation had severe and wide-reaching social and economic impacts, as the largely destroyed rural environment could not fully feed its population or provide adequate livelihoods. The degraded catchments had also made Haiti’s rural and urban populations very vulnerable to flowing and extreme natural adverse events. Thus, Haiti’s population continues to suffer from ongoing poverty, food insecurity, health problems, and disaster vulnerability, which are strongly interlinked with severe environmental issues such as extensive deforestation, soil erosion, inadequate waste management, water scarcity and coastal zone degradation, many of which have been further exacerbated by the recent earthquake.
Following the passage of three devastating hurricanes and one major tropical storm in August and September in 2008, environmental degradation and natural disasters were identified as key challenges facing Haiti by the 2009-2011 UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). Upon the request of the national government, Haiti was selected as a UNEP focus country for transformative action from 2009-2013. During 2009, UNEP opened a project office in Port-au-Prince to help establish an environmental recovery programme in Haiti, with a view to achieving major and sustained improvements in both the environment and the well-being of the country’s population.
In close collaboration with a number of partners and UN agencies, UNEP seeks to catalyze the design and support the implementation of the Haiti Regeneration Initiative (HRI), a large-scale nationally led integrated joint programme. This five to twenty-year programme, with an estimated budget of over USD 1 billion, aims to reduce poverty and vulnerability to disasters through the restoration of ecosystems and livelihoods based on the sustainable management of natural resources.
The Haiti Regeneration Initiative (HRI) comprises the following major components:
- The Network and Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) aimed to provide free technical expertise on environmental issues to national and international institutions. Within the context of post-disaster Haiti, the Technical Assistance Facility, already in place before the earthquake, will be re-prioritized to focus on the relief and early recovery needs, associated environmental and energy issues and the geographic regions that are of most concern. The UNEP-led Technical Assistance Facility, which will be expanded, will provide a pool of expertise in areas such as disaster risk reduction, agriculture, waste, energy, forestry/agroforestry, hydrology, erosion control and climate change. This service is expected to be launched in early 2010, and in the first instance, assist some 900 humanitarian actors in Haiti.
- Geographic and thematic projects, including marine and coastal restoration, integrated programme for micro-catchments, energy, governance etc.
- The Campaign aiming to raise awareness at the national and international level on environmental issues and to facilitate fundraising.
For further information of UNEP's activities in Haiti please contact Andrew Morton,Programme Manager at: andrew.morton@unep.org