With 2,000 Dead In Landslides & Floods, Haitian Deforestation Continues

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MAPOU, Haiti — "Named after a sacred tree in the Voodoo religion, this Haitian village has few remaining mapou trees and a scant number of others on its surrounding mountains. When floods tore through town last week, many survived by clinging to roots, branches, and trunks — but it was the overall absence of trees that made the onslaught so deadly. At least 1,700 people died, half in the area around Mapou.

"We know we need trees, but we also need to eat and to cook," said 87-year-old Philis Milfort.

With no tree roots to hold soil on the mountains, the torrential rain water barreled down unchecked, collecting silt, gravel, and boulders that slammed into villages. There, the floodwaters gathered new weapons in the form of aluminum roofs and other debris. More than 90 percent of Haiti is deforested, in large part because most of its 8 million people use charcoal to cook. There's no electricity outside major cities and towns. Government leaders met Wednesday, looking for ways to protect the environment, as activists held a telethon to raise money for victims. Aid workers warned that hundreds of villagers remain at risk from dams that could burst if a hurricane strikes.

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One of Haiti's few remaining forests — Floret de Pins, in the flood-battered south — has fewer than 34,000 acres of trees left. A decade ago, it had nearly 100,000 acres. "No Tree Cutting" signs hang over the park entrance, but without money and people power, there is no way to enforce that. Loggers make nightly journeys, hacking away at trees until they fall. The next day, they're on a truck out. Days later, they've been chopped up, burned, and packaged in white bags offered for sale by soot-covered women."

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http://www.enn.com/news/2004-06-03/s_24484.asp