Charcoal Making_Pomeroy_inPrint

The Pennsylvania Geographer
48
CHARCOAL MAKING AND DEFORESTATION IN GROS MANGLE,
HAITI: EXPLORING SUSTAINABILITY AT LOCAL SCALE
Jennifer Y. Pomeroy
Department of History and Political Science
York College of Pennsylvania
Agnès Ragone
Modern Language Department
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania
Abstract
The charcoal industry has been linked as a main driver of tropical
deforestation in land use/land cover change studies. However, many studies have
focused their research in “hot spots,” such as the Amazon rainforest and the
Congo River Basin as they are larger in size. Small island regions such as La
Gonâve of Haiti are not being adequately studied. La Gonâve is Haiti’s largest
offshore island covering an area of 287 square miles. With no official census, the
island has an estimated population of 80,000 people. This study uses the village
of Gros Mangle on the island of La Gonâve in Haiti as a case study to examine
landscape change and the charcoal making industry. A historical review suggests
that varying rates of deforestation have prevailed across several different time
periods despite of some level of governmental efforts to mitigate such
deforestation. Field observations and transect walks show that the island’s
current landscape displays a level of environmental degradation which includes
deforestation, soil erosion, rocky desertification, and water scarcity. Semi-
structured interviews reveal that charcoal industry remains as an important
income source supporting villagers’ cooking energy in their day-to-day life.
Some suggestions for sustainable development that must first focus on local
needs and landscape conservation are made.
Introduction
Charcoal production and use has been linked as a main driver of
deforestation and land use/land cover change of tropical regions (Lea 1996;

Volume 53, No. 2 – Fall/Winter 2015
49
Lambin, Geist, and Lepers 2003; White et al. 2013; Mwampamba et al. 2015).
Large “hot spots” such as the Amazon rainforest and the central African Congo
River Basin have received substantial research attention and efforts investigating
charcoal making and deforestation. However, small island regions in the tropical
zone have not been studied adequately. Heterogeneity of these island regions and
lack of systematic charcoal data present many challenges for researchers. A case
study is invaluable in shedding light into much better understanding of the
linkage between cause and effect.
Haiti is a tropical nation that stands at the poorest end of the development
spectrum in the western hemisphere. It is reported that 80 percent of Haitians live
in extreme poverty. Life expectancy at birth is only 57 years. Infant mortality rate
is 62.3 per 1,000—an astounding 10 times the rate of that in the United States. It
is estimated that there is one doctor for every 9,846 persons, whereas the rate for
the U.S. is one doctor is for every 365 people (Population Reference Bureau
2015). Haiti continues to experience problems of deforestation. The forested land
cover stood at 98 percent in 1878 but dropped to 6.7 percent by 1978. Such
drastic decline continues to today; the nation has only 2 percent of forest cover
remaining (White et al. 2013; FAO 1998).
Taking the charcoal making industry as an entry point, this paper first
examines Haiti’s laws and governmental efforts related to (de)forestation over
several historical time periods. Then, this paper switches to portray and assess the
current landscape in the case study village of Gros Mangle, which is the largest
settlement on the island of La Gonâve. Gros Mangle, one of eleven settlements
on the island of La Gonâve, is a classic example of impoverished and
geographically remote communities. Next, this study analyzes the processes of
current charcoal industry exercised by local villagers and the consequences of
charcoal making on the environment and society. Lastly, landscape assessment
and recommendations are made for sustainable development at the local scale.
Using the data collected from field surveys and interviews, this paper investigates
the actors and paths in the charcoal making industry in terms of production,
distribution, and consumption.
A Historical Perspective
Issues of deforestation have progressively and drastically plagued Haiti
since colonial times. Those issues of deforestation are well documented since the

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country’s independence. For example, deforestation is explained by that “[f]rom
a land blanketed with tropical forest before European colonization, the country
had been reduced to a forest cover of only 6.7 percent by 1978” (Stevenson
1989). Of interesting historical evidence is that Henry Christophe, one of the
leaders of the war against France and ruler of the country from 1807 to 1811, was
quite aware of the problem and included in his Code Henry provisions meant to
prevent further deforestation. The Code Henry is a set of laws that addresses a
variety of issues, from criminal law to commerce and to agriculture. The chapter
titled Loi Concernant la Culture, or Law Pertaining to Cultivation, is very
specific in regards to land clearing. For example, in the second section of this
chapter, subsection 35 explains that no more than a third of standing trees should
be taken down to clear land for agriculture and that growers will be punished for
not obeying the law. In this same subsection, it is also stipulated that mountain
tops should not be cleared and should have enough standing trees to be used in
housing construction. However, written in French, the law may not have been
common knowledge among peasants and growers who were generally illiterate
and could not speak French. Such language barrier inevitably prohibits the
common Haitians to know what the law states. That “was the case in Saint-
Domingue1
, and as is still the case in Haiti today, only the dominant members of
the community mastered both languages [French and Creole] and were genuinely
bilingual. The majority of the population is monolingual in the low language
[Creole] since its access to the high language is restricted” (Valdman 2005, 155).
Whether in 1812 or in 2015, the use of French creates an obstacle for the
understanding of laws that should be readily accessible and therefore the
importance of these laws is lost. It is also interesting to note that presently, in the
area discussed in this paper, two hundred years after the Code Henry was written,
wood is hardly used for construction and that finding timber tall and strong
enough for the mast of a sailboat is an event worthy of celebration, as we
witnessed in the winter of 2013.
Landscape changes that have occurred in various historical time periods,
particularly during the French rule time, can be linked to agricultural clearing for
sugar cane and coffee plantation and later the use of wood for fuel. An 1878
description of La Gonâve paints a picture very different from its appearance
today and says that it “is covered with forest of mahogany and other valuable
wood. The soil is excellent and the climate delicious” (Stuart 1878, 257). We will
see below that the mahogany trees were to disappear soon after 1878. It has been

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stated that “[t]he tropical rain forest was largely destroyed by the end of the 19th
century; by 1954 it was estimated that only eight to nine percent of the land
remained under forest” (Lewis and Coffey 1985, 159). The disappearance of
mahogany tree is attributed to “reasons of geology, topography and history, Haiti
presents an example of one of the most degraded physical environments in the
tropics” (Hosier and Bernstein 1992, 130). Two reasons stipulated that could be
rooted in history are: “agricultural clearing and the use of wood for fuel”
(Stevenson 1989, 59). Long time colonial cash cropping for sugar cane and
coffee plantation has been responsible for the chopped down of almost every tree.
Such destructive clearings are documented to have started under the French rule
to claim lands for sugar cane and later for coffee—in fact the law of the Code
Henry mentions repeatedly the clearing needed for coffee plantations.
Nonetheless, it is argued that the deforestation in colonial times was much slower
than during the period of the republic when “forests have been rapidly
depleted…by the rapidly growing population” (Klein 1945, 5). Klein did his
research in 1944 and visited La Gonâve and Tortue Islands where he expresses
his disappointed by the paucity of trees: “they had been described as the principal
existing source of the Haitian Mahogany which has a reputation for high quality.
The so-called ‘Mahogany grove’ on Gonâve (sic) has about a dozen trees, and the
mahogany on Tortue is very scattered and small” (6). Today, Haiti’s forested
land stands at only 3 percent on the mainland. After the mainland exhausted its
forests, La Gonâve becomes one of major suppliers of charcoal to the urban
consumers on the mainland, for example, the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince
(White et al., 2013; Dolisca 2007; FAO 1998).
There is no doubt either that the clearing, or rather over-clearing, continues
presently as the consumption of charcoal is part of the everyday life in rural and
even urban areas. As well-meaning as the laws are, whether in the times of King
Christophe or now, the reality is that there is a “lack of investment in the
resources (e.g., tree planting and husbandry) and overexploitation of the existing
resources [while] government land in the Haitian hinterland is poorly controlled,
and as a result any peasant may gather wood from it” (Lundhal 1991, 60). The
loss of control is explained by that peasants have tended to resist rules enacted by
the government in an effort to be protected “against the predatory features of the
state” (Ibid.), echoing remarks by Barthélemy (1989) who states that peasants try
to ignore formal power and prefer self-regulation.

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A slower rate of deforestation took place in the 1930s and the government
seems to attempt to still reverse the trend of loss. One documented effort by the
government to slow deforestation is the decree-law of June 23, 1937 which
forbids any sort of activity on mountain sides, and it clearly states that without
vegetation these sides are prone to be eroded by water runoff. During that time
period, La Gonâve, greatly affected by deforestation as it was the main producer
of charcoal for Port-au-Prince, saw the intervention of La section de la
Production Agricole et de l’Enseignement Rural, a government agency dedicated
to stopping the constant tree cutting and educating local farmers to its dangers.
However, this intervention could not be fully implemented due to lack of funds
(Paret 1954).
In recent years, President Martelly has been instrumental in trying to
reverse the deforestation trend and his efforts have been well publicized. An
article in The Guardian details how the Haitian government would like to double
the country’s forest cover by 2016 and states that it has fallen to “the perilous
level of 2% – one of the lowest rates in the world” (Lall 2013). Cooking fuel is
specifically named as one of the sources of trouble. The article goes on
explaining that efforts have been sporadic and foreign-led until now, and that
Martelly’s goal is to empower Haiti by making a forest guard out of every
Haitian. Lall quotes Jean François Thomas who was at the time environment
minister, as saying that “[i]n three years, this level of planting will give us forest
cover of 4.5%; in 10 years, it will be 8% to 10% and in 50 years, we hope to be at
the level of Cuba, a regional role model, and have 29%.”
The rate of success for the Martelly’s endeavour is difficult to assess so far
and data about it is equally difficult to obtain, but, as reported in Haiti Libre in
January 30, 2014, “Jean Francois Thomas, Minister of the Environment,
presented to the press, the main lines of the Phase II of reforestation project of
Haiti, to be carried out in collaboration with 20 expert Cubans.” The article states
that Phase I had seen the planting of 4 million trees but nothing is said to the
survival of the trees planted, the areas covered or the regions where the planting
had taken place. McLaughlin (2014) states however that the “loss of tree cover
has been so profound that exotic fast growing trees, rather than native species, are
being used to halt soil erosion and lessen the risk of mudslide.”

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The last chapter of deforestation issue in Haiti has also attracted attention
of external figures such as U.S. Senator Durbin of Illinois. In 2013, Durbin
sponsored a bill which had been intended to help Haiti and Armenia in their
reforestation efforts. Unfortunately for its advocates, the bill failed. The bill
stated that it would “authorize the President to provide assistance to the
Governments of Haiti and Armenia to reverse the effects of deforestation and
restore within 20 years the extent of forest levels in Haiti and Armenia in
existence during the year 1990, and for other purposes” (GovTrack 2013). This
Senate bill did not even reach the House.
This brief overview of Haiti’s history of deforestation unmistakably shows
that the problem is endemic and has steadily progressed over the centuries. The
international community, including institutions such as the United Nations and
World Bank, is well aware of the consequences of this drastic destruction. There
have also been local attempts at slowing or reversing the trend. These attempts
have met with mixed success due, among other things, to a lack of understanding
of the existing laws among peasant or to a tendency to resist government
intervention. The latest efforts are promising but results are yet to be quantified
in a reliable manner. We will now turn specifically to the situation in La Gonâve
and more precisely to the issued faced by the village of Gros Mangle.
Study Area—Gros Mangle, La Gonâve Island, Haiti
Figure 1 shows the geographical location of the village of Gros Mangle.
The village is located at the northcentral coast of the island of La Gonâve
approximately 50 miles away from the mainland of Haiti, which itself is on the
western half of the island of the Hispaniola. Even though it is largest offshore
island of Haiti, La Gonâve is only accessible by limited daily ferry service. Most
daily necessities are shipped in from Port-au-Prince2
. Due to geographic
separation from the mainland, the island is known as “the land that Haiti forgot.”
The island of La Gonâve covers 287 mi2
(743 km2
) with a terrain that can
be generally described as barren and hilly. Geologically, the La Gonâve is a
complex northwest trending regional anticlinal feature (Adamson 2013). The
western part of the island where the village of Gros Mangle is located is made up
of Pliocene and Pleistocene-aged coral limestone forming a typical coastal karst
topography landscape. The highest point on the island reaches up to 760 meters.

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No surface water is available. Ground water depth is limited from 30 to 60
meters.
Figure 1. Location of Gros Mangle, La Gonâve, Haiti.

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The entire island of La Gonâve is situated within the tropical arid region.
The average monthly temperature on the island is 82°F. There are two seasons:
wet and dry. The dry season typically is from late October to April. The rainfall
ranges from 31 to 62 inches annually; most of it occurs during the summer
months. The particular type of limestone in the village of Gros Mangle allows
precipitation to infiltrate in a manner so that no water is retained, which presents
challenges to local residents’ water use. During the recent years, worsening
droughts have been reported. Local villagers shared similar experiences during
the interviews. This drier climatic condition could possibly be connected to
climate change. For example, 2014 experienced a lasting drought event that the
locals remember.
Gros Mangle is part of the commune, or administrative division, of Pointe-
à-Raquette. The commune is considered to be one of most destitute and it has not
seen investments from the government of Haiti for many years. Most business
and commercial activity is taking place in Anse-à-Galets, the other commune of
La Gonâve. The commune of Pointe-à-Raquette is often described as
dysfunctional in regard to infrastructure. Ninety percent of its inhabitants live in
rural areas (Joseph 2003). There are no post offices in the commune and, while
there is a police station, there are no police officers. The authors can attest to the
fact that Gros-Mangle has no paved roads—although an undated USAID
billboard3
promises to have a stretch built inside the village (see Figure 2a and
b)—and no electricity, although it has three street lights powered with solar
panels. It also has a cell phone tower and cell phones are common in the village
(see Figure 2c and d). The affairs of government and justice are taken care by
three casecs (administrators) who are de facto agents of Haitian law, as defined
in the constitution of the country. Casecs are elected through universal suffrage.
Joseph (2003) mentions that the main sources of income in the commune are
provided by agriculture, animal husbandry and commerce. In regards to Gros
Mangle, agriculture is scarce and takes place mostly in the rainy season, from
May to October. The available fruits (mostly limes, sour oranges and bananas)
and vegetables (green onions, peppers and carrots) are few and often come from
Port-au-Prince. They are sold in a very modest village market where half a dozen
of women also sell beans, candy, and dried fish. Along the main thoroughfare,
there are some stands, perhaps three or four, in front of the home of their owners,
which sell a limited number of additional goods, such as cookies, beverages, and
snacks. At times they also sell school supplies, such as notebooks and pens or

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(a) A typical house. (b) The only presence of international
community.
(c) The only Digicel booth (d) One of three solar panels spotted.
Figure 2. Gros Mangle village landscape at a glimpse. Source: Jennifer
Pomeroy, field visit, January 11, 2015. (Note: The little boy in photo
c insisted to be in the photo.)
pencils. A larger business, in a cinder-block building, has been trying since 2014
to establish itself and stocks bottled water, rum, beer, beans, and rice. It is open
sporadically. Fishing is one of the activities in the village but what is caught is
only for local consumption. No export takes place for lack of refrigeration. The

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omnipresence of goats has led to brisk business with Port-au-Prince but it would
be difficult to qualify this as a type of animal husbandry since the goats tend to
proliferate on their own. They also add to the existing overgrazing problem, to
which very lean cows and donkeys also contribute, particularly in the dry season
when the animals are let loose. The goats are transported live to the markets of
Port-au-Prince. Raising cattle used to be a good business when pastures were
abundant and exporting them to Port-au Prince was lucrative as local cattle had a
good reputation for being fat, but this activity had already ceased by the middle
of the 20th
century (Paret 1962).
Reasons for the Charcoal Industry in Gros Mangle and Process of Charcoal
Making
The above survey of Gros Mangle’s administrative organization,
commerce, and communications makes it clear that the village has scant
resources and even scantier sources of income. The government control over or
help for the area is practically non-existent, a fact to which the Gros Manglois are
probably not adverse. As noted earlier, actions from the government are
oftentimes not seen favorably in the Haitian countryside. Commerce and
agriculture provide meager revenues as well. There is, however, a constant as far
as business is concerned, and that is charcoal making and trading. Figure 3
captures the scene of charcoal bags piled up waiting to be transported for sale in
the market of Port-au-Prince. Charcoal is used for cooking and baking bread
exclusively—not for any industry nor to heat water for bathing or washing
clothes, although a very small amount is consumed for ironing clothes with hot
coal being placed in cast irons. There are no gas stoves in Gros Mangle and, since
there is no electricity, there are obviously no electrical ones. Charcoal is thus
essential for local domestic consumption. There is no local awareness of solar
powered stoves. The housewives who were interviewed did not appear to know
about this option, while a few other interviewees derided it. Lack of alternative
for locals is explained by that “[f]ull-time charcoal producers [in Haiti] are often
poor, landless peasants who have no other means of livelihood” (Stevenson 1989,
60), which certainly seems to be the case in Gros Mangle. In fact, while solar-
powered stoves would seem like a good solution in a country where there is
sunshine for the most part of the year, such stoves would also require an initial
investment that the average Gros Manglois are not able to afford. Their present
cooking arrangement—a sort of metal frame that holds the charcoal and on which
pots are directly set—requires minimal investment and minimal maintenance. It

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is also easy to build or replace locally. Charcoal is also essential for trade; i.e., it
produces income for a variety of people in the production and selling chain. Port-
au-Price relies heavily on it and has, over the years, become progressively
dependent on charcoal production that is taking place farther and farther away
due to deforestation (Stevenson 1989).
In Creole as in French, a person involved with any aspect of the charcoal
trade is called a charbonnier. Charbonniers make the charcoal, transport it to the
markets in Port-au-Prince and sell it there, but it is not necessarily the same
persons who are taking care of each stage of the trade (Figure 3). For the making
of the charcoal, there are also different scales in the production. Some people
produce the charcoal for themselves and sell the surplus as a complement to their
regular income. In 1996, it was observed that charcoal making became a part-
time activity supplementing household incomes both in wet and dry seasons (Lea
1996). In many cases, charcoal pits are relatively small and producers can have
charcoal within a day for immediate household consumption. Others produce
charcoal in a quasi-industrial manner with very large pits that require several
attendants. The persons who were interviewed did not give exactly the same
information but an approximate average can be established: it will take five men
three days with a large pit (10 feet in diameter) to make 12-15 bags of charcoal.
Often, these charcoal were shipped to the markets, for example, in Port-au-
Prince. The pits that we observed in the village were relatively small in
comparison with others seen in the countryside, which could be three of four
times larger. All of the villagers stated that charcoal making was not seasonal and
took place year around and repeatedly stated that “if no charcoal, we die.” One of
the interviewees complementing his income with occasional charcoal making
was the village tailor. He identified the types of trees used for charcoal
production as bayahonde (mesquite), bwa kabrit (yellow candlewood), bwa dom
(bastard cedar), figuier (strangler fig), and lime. The translation for the names of
these trees was provided in a personal communication by John McLaughlin of
the Miami Dade County Cooperative Extension, who remarked that, except in the
case of limes or lime-trees, only non-productive trees would be used for charcoal.
It should be noted that none of these trees are in McLaughlin’s list of native trees
for Haiti and may well have been imported to slow down erosion thanks to their
rapid growth (Personal Communication 2015). The use of the non-native trees
for charcoal would thus defeat the original purpose of planting them in the island.
On the other hand, Timyan (1996) cites several sources for bayahonde, stating

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that “the species probably has been in the Caribbean since before recorded
history” and adds that it “is an important source of charcoal, timber and fodder”
(3). Timyan also classifies also bwa kabrit as fuelwood and mentions the
medicinal properties4
of bwa dom but does not mention if they are
autochthonous5
or not. He only gives species and common names for figuier and
lime without further explanations regarding use and origin.
Returning to the charcoal production process at household level, three
steps are involved. Step 1 involves tree cutting and pruning where villagers cut
down tall woody trees and large shrubs, defoliate them, and move them closer to
the prepared dirt fir pit. In Step 2, a fire pit is built by rock and dirt. The size of a
fire pit is dependent on how much charcoal is being made. Large tree stems and
shrubs are placed at the bottom, while smaller branches are put on the top. The
top is covered by dirt. In Step 3 the charcoal maker finds the direction of the
prevailing wind direction and set the fire. Villagers we interviewed stated that
some charcoal makers can produce up to 100 bags6
a week and that each bag was
sold for 10 Haitian dollars apiece, that is, roughly U.S. $1.25. Even with a
hundred bags a week, the income is meager. Up to 800 bags are loaded to the
boats (see Figure 3a), to be sold on the main island. The bags for the charcoal are
recycled and brought back to La Gonâve after delivery.
(a) Charcoal is made by
Gros Mangle villagers.
They pre-loan the bags
from the ship owner to
put their charcoal
production in. Once the
charcoal is sold in the
market, villagers pay the
bag rental fee back to the
ship owner.

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(b) Charcoal made by
the villagers in small
amount is sold in the local
village market that opens
once a week along with
limited vegetables, such
as potatoes, yams, and
carrots either cropped
during the wet season or
ferried in from the
mainland. The price is
two Haiti dollars per pile,
which is enough to cook
one rice and bean meal
for a household of 5
people—2 adult and 3
children.
(c) Left shows a typical
pot for cooking.
(d) Right is an iron for
pressing clothes for
special occasions such as
church service and
children’s school
uniforms.
Source: Jennifer Pomeroy, field work, January 12, 2015.
Figure 3. Bagged charcoal at the Gros Mangle village dock.
The Consequences of the Charcoal Industry on the Environment and Society
The charcoal industry that has been widely practiced since the middle of
last century has led to a wide array of environmental consequences. The most
direct environmental consequence is deforestation. In addition, other
environmental effects include soil erosion and loss, rocky desertification, and
water quality decline and shortage.

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First and foremost, deforestation refers to the complete removal of forested
cover. It is a serious environmental change that is detrimental to many aspects of
life. In Haiti, the deforested land simply becomes barren in perpetuity. Charcoal
production is primarily driven by the household consumption for cooking energy
and the family income it provides. In addition, urban residents’ consumption in
Port-au-Prince contributes to widespread deforestation in the rural locations, such
as Gros Mangle. It was estimated that the island of La Gonâve once supplied 10
percent of total charcoal use around Port-au-Prince region (Lea 1996). Such large
share of charcoal provision has caused a sharp decline in vegetated landscape on
the island of La Gonâve, further damaging its natural environment. Smucker and
Voltaire (1996), who are the two consultants on Haiti charcoal production for
USAID, reported the charcoal production in Haiti reached its peak time in the
late 1940s and 1950s. Williams (2011) estimated that the total forest cover
decreased by 9.48 percent between 1990 and 2005. White et al. (2013) also found
a declining trend that reached today’s 2-3 percent forested land within Haiti.
A second effect of charcoal making industry on the island is increasing soil
erosion and loss. Soil is inherently thin and scarce on La Gonâve already. Once
deforestation takes place, soils are exposed and much more susceptible to erosion
and eventually become severely degraded and/or lost. This was observed in our
field work in many locations on the island. Soil erosion reduces soil productivity
and lessens farming potential and productivity. In a tropical and relatively arid
climatic region like La Gonâve, any vegetated land cover is the first defense line
of soil erosion and loss. Soil functions as a primary filter in a karst topography
setting like our study area.
Another environmental consequence of charcoal making industry is the
increase of desertification of its rocky landscape. Desertification occurs in
dryland ecosystem when loss of vegetation happens. The United Nations
Conference on Environmental and Development (UNCED) in 2007 defined
desertification as land degradation of the arid areas and often caused by multiple
drivers, including natural climate variations and human activities. Because of the
predominant limestone composition on the island, desertification is a gradual
natural process. As we witnessed in the village of Gros Mangle, free-ranged
goats and cattle are grazing off-leash constantly and anywhere they want.
Desertification signals the on-going land degradation process. Compounded with
climate change, rocky desertification introduces a high level of vulnerability to

62
the villagers who are among the world’s poorest and most marginalized
population.
Such environmental degradations associated with deforestation are
interrelated and they have been vividly documented. For instance, As Sprenkle
(2008b, 98) clearly explains,
Haiti is mountainous, and as a result of deforestation, much of the topsoil
has washed away, leaving severely eroded slopes…and drying
aquifers…Deforestation has a direct, negative impact on both wildlife and
the human communities that rely primarily on agriculture. People living in
mountain communities experience higher rates of malnutrition and other
poverty-related diseases…thanks in part to the lower productivity of their
lands.
Evident to us in Gros Mangle was the practice of agricultural clearing that
exposes more land to erosion. In addition, we also witnessed animal husbandry
and herding activities that left stock freely roaming, causing further erosion of
topsoil. Destitute daily life for the Gros Mangloi is the immediate consequence.
Malnutrition among children is endemic in the village. Malnutrition was reported
to us by the village priest and school teachers who often must feed hungry
students and work without pay simply because student’s family cannot pay the
tuition. We were told that most villagers only have one meal a day; a meal
generally consisting of beans and rice with fish added occasionally on Sundays.
Some villagers report drinking sea water so they can feel full but, of course, this
cannot but add to their health problems. It is difficult to evaluate other health
issues at this time since the village does not have medical facilities of any sort
that would keep track of them and establish the frequency of occurrence of these
health matters. In fact, the Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population
(Public Health and Population Office) has no presence in the commune of Pointe-
à-Raquette where Gros Mangle is situated, nor in Anse-à-Galets (Joseph 2013).
Reliable data about matters of health are thus virtually non-existent.
Poverty, lack of education, the linguistic limitations of not speaking the
high language of French, and lack of governmental support are an unfortunate
combination in Gros Mangle. The villagers do not seem to truly understand some
of the mechanisms leading to their present predicament. Several interviewees did

63
not see a worsening in the environment and were puzzled by the questions that
were asked. While minimum environmental protection is advocated in the
schools, its inner workings do not seem to be fully understood, neither by the
villagers nor by the teachers who often are the backbone of a local community on
the island. In the interviews conducted with them and other different members of
the community, many were not aware of the worsening of the environmental
problems and certainly did not see a link between the charcoal making, negative
environmental impact, and unfortunate quality of life. As mentioned earlier,
charcoal making is only part of the problems that villagers are facing, but
villagers could not envision alternatives and also derided them, such as
alternatives for the overgrazing that leaves the land bare.
Assessment and Recommendations
The current landscape characterized by deforested terrain on the island of
La Gonâve is due to a multitude of persistent factors, including economic,
historical, political, and social dimensions. The charcoal industry may be the
leading factor in the island’s environmental degradation, from deforestation to
soil erosion and loss, rocky desertification, and water quality decline and scarcity
on La Gonâve. Such environmental degradation is, in part, due to diminishing
natural resources like forests. While external drier climatic conditions could also
contribute to such overall landscape degradation, charcoal making—a traditional
resource-based subsistence agriculture—continues to play a role in shaping and
reshaping the island’s physical appearance. Political abandonment by Haiti
government has further confounded this geographically abandoned landscape.
The current island landscape appears to be fragile, sensitive, and highly
vulnerable to any climate related events. Bernice Robertson, an analyst at the
International Crisis Group, states that “The catastrophic state of the environment
is closely related to deep-seated institutional, political and governance problems”
(quoted in Blajchman 2009). In addition, non-existent social institution that
understands the linkage between charcoal making, environmental degradation,
and daily economic life have contributed nothing to self-management of the
landscape. Current extreme poverty must be understood and linked to
deforestation and its subsequent environmental changes. Unsustainable land use
activities, such as the charcoal making industry, provide important an income
source at the household level, yet present a great challenge to develop local
economies. So, what can be done to reverse the negative environmental

64
consequences, and at same time to establish food security, for people living on
the island of La Gonâve? As previous generations living on the island, despite its
geographic disadvantage, the population living here will need to depend on much
better natural resource management strategies and sustainable agriculture
development to at least slow down the rate of environmental degradation, if not a
reversal of the degradation trend. Such natural resource management strategies
must take economic development into consideration for the purpose of creating
food security at the household level. That is to say, sustainable rural agriculture
development at the local household resource management level could be the
ultimate solution.
Such local sustainable development must incorporate the aspect of socio-
psychological tenets of the local population. Dolisca (2009) proposes alternatives
to what has been done so far in Haiti and states that socio-psychological theories
may be effective in situations like the one in Gros Mangle. Dolisca argues the
need for “normative messages to strengthen farmer’s intentions, [the] use of
churches and public markets to address farmers’ gaps in knowledge about
resource conservation, and clarifying potential benefits by local farmers from
forestry activities” (445). Dolisca continues to add that [such] “messages should
include negative consequences of environmental degradation, such as
deforestation and soil erosion” (445). Given deforestation is a multifaceted
environmental issue, this kind of comprehensive treatment could be helpful
addressing local development that changes local people’s lives and
environmental conservation at the same time, which coincides with the original
definition of sustainable development that stresses the needs of local people.
Sustainable development stresses that social and economic progress must
be dependent on the preservation of the natural resource base with effective
measures to prevent environmental degradation, and such thinking is more and
more taking a prominent role in efforts of balancing economic development and
environmental conservation. The 2007 UNCED conference’s central question
was how to relieve the global environmental system through the introduction to
the paradigm of sustainable development. Later, a more grounded definition for
sustainability was proposed at a seminar held in 1991 in California. Sustainable
development should be a dynamic balancing process among three mutually
interdependent elements:

65
(i) Protection and enhancement of natural ecosystems and resources;
(ii) Economic productivity, and
(iii) Provision of social infrastructure such as jobs, housing, education,
medical care and cultural opportunities.
Only when sustainable development is considered at a local and
manageable scale, the local population can benefit. In this case study context,
only when the local people of Gro Mangle have no worries about food and feel
food secure, the message about linking their economic activities, such as charcoal
making, with environmental destruction, will get across. More specifically,
charcoal production is also a network process binding villagers together through
which each individual plays the role of producer, consumer, and distributor.
It is evident that food insecurity is intimately connected to environmental
changes of deforestation, desertification, soil loss, and water quality in our case
study. Food security is defined as: “All people, at all times, having physical,
social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets
their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”
(Brookings Institute 2015). In 1976, an approach of the “basic needs” was
proposed at the World Employment Conference of the International Labour
Organization (ILO) that emphasizes the essence of provision to the poor,
including nutrition, water supply, health, shelter, sanitation, and education.
As Lea (1996) concludes, Haiti’s environmental degradation will not be
resolved by eliminating charcoal production. As a way forward, the village of
Gros Mangle must solve the food insecurity problem. Achieving food security is
an arduous journey that should incorporate better household resource use and
management strategies and actions shifting to sustainable agriculture, such as
agroforestry and reforestation. Some specific recommendations for forging the
headways to local sustainable development and landscape/natural resource
conservation in the villages like Gros Mangle are proposed below.
 Alternative cooking energy choices: While charcoal can still be used as
primary cooking energy, other alternative cooking energy choices should
be introduced to local islanders. For example, smokeless briquettes that is a
green cooking energy has been introduced to other tropical regions.

66
 Reforestation—plant, plant, plant trees: Plant trees as much as possible
because trees help preserve landscape, fix the soils, act as wind breaker,
enhance soil fertility, and rehabilitate the overall environmental quality.
“Since Haiti has lost more than 97% of its forest land future strategies
should emphasize replenishing strategies to improve forest cover and
undergrowth” (Pelek 1990, 19).
 Practice sustainable agriculture and agroforestry: The agricultural
development that involves crop and livestock must guarantee household
food security; therefore, agroforestry should be effective in that it
combines agricultural development and forestry use and management
practice together.
 Improve land-tenure: Land users sell wood for charcoal making to
individual farmers. Historically, Haiti lacks a formal land tenure system
that is accessible for the majority of its population. The existing informal
land tenure system that is predominant in rural Haiti exacerbates
environmental degradation (Kennedy 2015).
 Leadership by Haiti government: Renewed leadership by Haiti government
advocating sustainable development, implementing environmental laws,
and increase investment in natural resource conservation on the Island of
La Gonâve would reverse distrust between locals and government.
In summary, the environmental consequences caused by the charcoal
making industry are complex and diverse. By no means will implementation of
the above recommendations be easy. Geographic separation from the mainland of
Haiti, poor physical geographical qualities, and drier climatic conditions leave
the people of Gros Mangle with fewer resources, underscore the lack of
connection to the outside of the world, and reduce the chances of development.
When approaching such a multi-faceted problem, it is important to
acknowledge the fact that addressing one problem in isolation will accomplish
nothing. Only a concerted effort by political (i.e., state government), economic
(i.e., international development and aid agencies and NGOs), and cultural actors
(i.e., churches and schools) in the communities of the villages on the island will
accomplish change. But maybe most importantly, all parties concerned must be
realistic in their expectations and goals. Success in sustainable development that
needs to target at local and household level cannot happen overnight. Just like at
the country scale, Haiti has so much to deal with before sustainable development

67
can become a reality, there is no accurate means by which to agree when Haiti
will “arrive” at its goal of sustainability. The success or failure of Haiti’s push for
sustainability will ultimately rely on its ability to motivate all parties involved,
both next year and ten years from now.
Notes
1. Saint-Domingue was the name given to Hispaniola by the French.
2. Our group bought rice, beans, bottled water, and limited quantity of vegetables
and fruits on the boat we were on.
3. This billboard has faded so much in the consciousness of Gros-Manglois that,
despite its very large size at a busy crossroad, many in the village could not recall
its existence in 2015 and there was no one who could put a date on it.
4. The scientific name of bastard cedar is Guazuma. Its bark is considered
emollient, sudorific and astringent. Its fruit is thought to be expectorant. In
folklore, both properties have been used for malaria, elephantiasis, and astringent
applications. Some studies use them for anti-diabetes, anti-
inflammatory/gastroprotective, antibacterial, and hypotensive/vasorelaxant.
5. Autochthonous means indigenous rather than descended from migrants or
colonists.
6. One bag charcoal weights 35 kg on average. The bags are made by nylon and
purchased by a charcoal broker in Gros Mangle. Villagers can borrow them to
put their charcoal in for a small fee. Once the charcoal is sold, the charcoal
broker will take the borrowing fee out of the sale and pay the rest to the villager.
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