November 9, 2009
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By NATHANIAL GRONEWOLD of Greenwire
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A hard rain can be deadly here. A family of four was reported killed late last month when rushing stormwater loosened soil under their hillside house and brought the structure down on
them. The denuded slopes around this city of 2 million turn stormwater into lethal torrents. Trees, shrubs and other vegetation that anchor soil and buffer runoff are rare here. They mark private compounds of the wealthy, islands of green protected by fences and armed guards in a sea of slums that have
sprawled up sandy hills as the city's population tripled over the past 20 years.
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"They are informal human settlements with very, very weak construction methods," said Stephanie Ziebell, an aid worker with the Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en Haiti, or MINUSTAH, the United Nations' only peacekeeping mission in the Americas. "There's nothing to protect them from water flooding down from the hillside." Haiti -- the developing world's first and oldest independent nation -- is
today a ward of the United Nations, dependent on foreign aid and the $612-million-a-year peacekeeping operation that only recently managed to smother the violence that has long plagued this country.
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But it is violence done to the environment that is haunting Haiti now. Degradation of natural resources here is both a consequence and an amplifier of poverty and disorder. The country has become a poster child for environmental neglect, and many fear Haiti is close to total ecological collapse. Haiti has few and weak environmental laws. Its dense population has just two small national parks where no agency protects resources. Its forests have been overharvested, its marine resources overexploited.
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"The environmental degradation has gotten to such a point that there's danger everywhere," said Jean-Cyril Pressoir, a Haitian native and owner of
a new tour company here. But the response to the growing crisis does not involve massive World
Bank-financed industrial projects that were common in the past and put wads of cash into the pockets of U.S. or European experts. Instead, money and
resources are now being diverted to smaller-scale pilot projects designed mostly by Haitians themselves, with a goal of saving their country and
perhaps creating a new development paradigm.
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"The crucial thing, because we're a country facing both an energy security crisis and a food security crisis, is how can we reconcile energy security
and food security?" said Gael Pressoir, Jean-Cyril's brother and founder of a new nonprofit setting out to do just that. Haiti's greatest challenge by far is deforestation. At the heart of the problem: the demand for charcoal.
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The country's 10 million residents meet 60 percent of their commercial and residential energy needs with charcoal. It is used in most household cooking
but also runs bakeries, laundries, sugar refineries and rum distilleries. Charcoal production is a major factor in the deforestation that experts say
has felled 98 percent of Haiti's tree cover, with the remaining 2 percent disappearing fast. While mature trees provide the best material for charcoal
production, the scarcity of wood has forced people to take smaller and smaller trees and shrubs. Today people are even pulling roots to make charcoal.
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Haitians are aware of the damage being done to their landscape, but they say the deforestation for charcoal persists because there are few employment
opportunities. About 80 percent of the population survives on less than $2 per day in income; the country ranks 149 out of 182 nations on the Human
Development Index, a comparative measure of the quality of life.
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But that drive to extract more and more from diminishing resources is only adding to the Haitians' problems. There is "a very high rainfall-to-casualties ratio in Haiti -- mudslides, flooding, flash floods, etc.," said Matthew Marek, an official with the American Red Cross who has lived here for seven years. "It's probably fair to say that ... Haiti has experienced natural disaster-related fatalities regularly."
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From security worries to biofuel development?Concerns about Haiti's environment have risen recently as security has improved. U.N. troops arrived in 2004 following the latest in a series of U.S. military interventions, prompted when armed factions took over several rural towns and demanded the removal of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide was eventually forced out, but mass insecurity continued until last year. Gangs took over municipalities and much of Port-au-Prince, which endured 30 to 50 kidnappings per month before U.N. forces took control.
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Crime continues to be a problem, but kidnappings are down; at least eight a month on average were reported during the first six months of this year. "The security situation in Haiti today is very stable, absolutely under control compared to what we used to have along the years since 2004," Maj. Gen. Floriano Peixoto Vieira Neto, the Brazilian force commander of
MINUSTAH's roughly 7,000 troops, said in an interview. "We have reached such a stable condition that all the national and international agencies can
really work in order to restore the country to a normal situation."
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As security normalizes, a Haitian nonprofit is proceeding quickly with a plan to stabilize degraded hillsides, which threaten entire neighborhoods
now as well as the nation's future development.
Gael Pressoir, a plant geneticist, believes the answer to the nation's deforestation and energy woes lies in Mexico and with a nontoxic variety of
the jatropha plant that grows wild there. A former researcher at Cornell University, Pressoir passed on the opportunity for a lucrative career in U.S. agribusiness to return to Haiti and establish CHIBAS, a nonprofit biofuel venture featuring jatropha. He
flew to Mexico two weeks ago to find the jatropha seeds he will need to begin his experiment, which he maintains could solve Haiti's deforestation and fuel problems.
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Jatropha has the same protein concentration as soybean, meaning that like soy, its seeds and oil can be transformed to biodiesel and other fuels. Last year, Haiti spent nearly $380 million importing diesel fuel to power its electrical generators, almost all of it from Venezuela and at a discount
under Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's Petro Caribe initiative. Mass production of jatropha-based biodiesel could potentially offset this entirely, freeing those funds for other sectors of the Haitian economy. Jatropha can also be used to make straight vegetable oil, which could power electrical generators in rural areas. The pulp waste generated from creating biodiesel and vegetable oil is rich in nutrients and can be turned into either compost for crops or animal feed for chickens, pigs, and even tilapia in small aquaculture operations.
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Moreover, jatropha is an extremely hardy bush. The plant can thrive in poor soil that other plants cannot take root in, including Haiti's eroded
hillsides. Funding has been secured from the Inter-American Development Bank, and Pressoir is scouting sites in the outskirts of the capital for
pilot growing projects slated to begin early next year. He fully expects others to rapidly copy him if the pilots turn out to be a success.
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"We are going to be conducting a mapping of Haiti to characterize where we can grow jatropha without affecting food production. That's strategy No. 1,"
Pressoir said. "Ultimately, the success of the pilot project is what's going to make the success or failure of the whole industry." The government is also interested in what CHIBAS is doing. Though Brazilian diplomats have been working hard to sell their sugar-cane ethanol model for energy independence, officials here have reportedly dismissed it in favor of jatropha and possibly sorghum. Haiti already grows a lot of sugar cane, but
the crop consumes a lot of water and competes with food crops for prime growing land.
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Initiative features small, local projects. While CHIBAS works on deforestation on one track, the Haitian government is receiving gentle encouragement from one of the United Nations' smallest agencies on another. Antonio Perera, a program manager with the U.N. Environment Programme, is working with officials on a comprehensive plan to restore the nation's lost
forests. Having set up shop in the country just eight months ago -- after MINUSTAH troops and police officers made it safe to do so -- Perera has been
undertaking a painstaking survey of the Haitian territory to determine where tree cover can best be restored without upsetting food production or
incurring the wrath of various landowners.
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A report spelling out one course of action is now under review, and the hope is to launch a concrete program early next year. While the details are being
kept under wraps, Perera said the plan involves a collection of locally designed, incremental projects expected to take at least 20 years to complete and cost some $1 billion. Perera's team is starting out by working with other agencies with more extensive experience here, most notably the World Food Programme. Several food production efforts are already under way, but UNEP is trying to devise
ways that forest protection and restoration can be incorporated.
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Organizers of the reforestation campaign insist the government must quickly take charge, lest the campaign be dismissed early on by the citizenry as
more uninvited meddling by foreigners. Though UNEP is now taking the lead, it aims to turn the scheme entirely over to Haitian officials by the end of
2010 or early 2011. But given the chaotic state of government institutions, highlighted further by last month's dismissal of the prime minister after a
raucous 10-hour Senate session, that is easier said than done.
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"The problem is not the lack of enthusiasm," Perera said. "The challenge is to create the capacities inside those ministries in such a way that they can
lead an initiative like this in the near future." Cultivating jatropha on barren hillsides and a variety of other targeted reforestation efforts can, over time, go far in reducing Haiti's extreme
vulnerability to the storms and powerful hurricanes that routinely sweep over the nation. But ultimately, experts say the nation has to find an alternative or outright replacement for charcoal, the dominant source of energy here.
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"With any reforestation campaign, you have to find first a solution for energy," Perera said. Energy figures prominently in CHIBAS and the efforts of a community group to change household fuels. CHIBAS says some pulp fibers from processed jatropha could be converted into burnable material, and households could use that for cooking. And the community organization is transforming urban trash into burnable
bricks of recycled paper (*see related
story*). That initiative also started at a very small scale, but domestic demand forthe charcoal substitute is growing fast, helping the pilot project gain
notice throughout the country and abroad.
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These proposed solutions to Haiti's environmental and energy crises seem almost too good to be true. They require relatively little financial assistance to get started and produce marketable, commercially competitive materials that could transform whole segments of the economy. But what is needed most is a government capable of providing security and the fiscal and administrative incentives to see them through. Though no one has been willing to admit it publicly, U.N. officials and locals both quietly speculate that Haiti could easily become another Somalia if MINUSTAH troops and police left today. But all acknowledge that they cannot stay forever, either, meaning that eventually the Haitian leadership
will have to step up and assume the responsibilities that it has shirked for decades.
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"I feel that we are in a very sensitive moment," said Didier Le Bret, France's newest ambassador to Haiti. "The prerequisite is that we have to keep the country stable, to keep in the people a feeling that they are not risking their lives every day. And if this is to be consolidated, then I think everything will follow."
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Copyright 2009 E&E Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
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For more news on energy and the environment, visit www.greenwire.com.

On the Occasion of World Food Day, Peasant Groups Present Petition Against Jatropha
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UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION (10/16/2009)
A group of several peasant organizations presented a petition to the Haitian Parliament containing 31,198 signatures against the proposed development of
plantations of the agro-fuel jatropha on the land of Haitian peasants, noted Alterpresse.org.
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“This struggle which came about during the thirty-fifth anniversary in March 2008 of the Peasant Movement of Papaye is about raising awareness of the
call to all of society to contribute to a mobilization against this project to exterminate the peasants,” stated Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the group “4 je kontre” (literally, the convergence of two pairs of eyes) several hoursbefore the petition was submitted to the Haitian Parliament.
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Several dozen peasants, representing the ten departments of the country, marched from the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Turgeau (Port-au-Prince)
with slogans and demands. “The little earth that is the country Haiti, that our ancestors left to us, must produce native food to nourish the population; national food production – yes; production of agro-fuels, no; Down with the production of gas for the tanks of foreign cars; Down with all death projects against the peasants,” are among the demands of the peasants who have the support of the international peasant movement Via Campesina.
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Only a minority of people who part of the multinational agro-business will profit from the establishment of a project to produce agro-fuels.
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The Haitian peasant organizations prefer to talk about “agro-fuels” instead of calling them “biofuel” or “biodiesel” (the term “bio” refers to organic
life), since the structure of "modernity" with the plant "Jatropha", better known as gwo metsiyen in the country, will lead to a rather dramatic increase in the purchase cost of acres of land, hence an increase in food prices, and the eventual expulsion of peasants from farmland, as well as the systematic destruction of the natural environment. "Monoculture (of jatropha) does not encourage the protection of forests. Faced with the consequences of climate change, the prospects of dwindling oil reserves in a
few decades, the only chance (of survival) for the planet lies in the consolidation of peasant agriculture,” stated Jean-Baptiste.
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Instead of finding ways out of poverty and misery, the decision to develop the production of jatropha to meet international fuel needs will enrich the
promoters of agribusiness in the world, including Haiti. For the coalition of peasant organizations "4 je kontre" there is a contradiction between the
need for food on the planet (where 2 billion people worldwide do not find enough food to survive) and global demands for biofuels, the cultivation of
which plays a significant role in the global food crisis. "The production of 1 liter of agrofuels (from soybean and rapeseed) requires consumption of 14
thousand liters of water throughout the process. One liter of agrofuels from beet requires consummation of 1,400 liters of water. 1 liter of agrofuels
from cane to sugar needs 2,500 liters of water.And produce 1 liter of agrofuels from the Jatropha plant requires use of 20 thousand liters of
water,” according to research conducted by the University Twente in Holland.

Another use for jatropha plants is to cultivate them in rows starting at the bottom of the hills that have been deforested.

The roots help hold the remaining soil, the seeds used for biofuel, and the biomass returned to fortify the soils.

As you progress up the hills, trees are planted with the jatropha.

If you would like to network with others growing, or interested in growing jatropha, take a look at http://www.jatrophabook.com. It is an excellent networking site.

Dear Friends: Is a pleasure for us let me to know about our web page: www.agroipsa.com , We Think this is a project for your interest and will be a good oportunity for your business or practical researches. best regards, David Erazo, Director

Entreprise Exploitation Jatropha (brief info).

Thank you innovation for the up date.

Entreprise Exploitation Jatropha (EEJ) is to produce jatropha oil in Haiti by 2010.
EEJ approach is a bottom up approach. Jatropha is still not a domesticated plant, in Haiti it is not centralized in large quantity in any specific area and the quality remains to be evaluated.

Following is a sequence of approach:
1) Identify seeds to use at the nursery (done)
2) Establish a nursery using poly bags (done)
3) Establish a quality seeds bank for the
nursery (done)
4) Harvesting selected seeds from the seeds
bank for the nursery (next step)
5) Identify and select a land for plantations
(on going process has needed)
6) Plantations (first part of 2009)
7) Selection of equipment for oil production
8) Partner and funding (on going process)
9) Procurement of equipment for oil production
10) Harvesting and preparation of seeds for
pressing
11) Oil production by 2010

During the year 2007 we imported quality seeds from India and established the first nursery in Lhomond a village 20 minutes from Miragoane. In early 2008 we started a second nursery in the outskirt of Jeremie.
Since then we were able to test many seeds from Haiti and we have located some excellent quality and surprising result. See for yourself.
TEST RESULT: Seed Oil Analysis Report (Jatropha Curcas from Haiti)
Content:
Water Protein OIL Carbohydrate Fiber Ash
4.6g 18.2g 42.8g 32.2g 15.5g 3.0g

At the end of 2008 we will be harvesting and selecting seeds from the seed bank for the nurseries and grow seedlings for the plantations.The seeds bank at the 2 nurseries will cover a total of 50 hectares. We have access to 1,000 hectares or more for plantation and depending of funding, we can increase the size of the land.

To promote jatropha with the farmers at Lhomond, EEJ in collaboration with a small farmer’s organization distributed 10,000 seedlings at the rate of 300 to 500 to each farmer. We are also doing some inter cropping test with corns and beans.

By 2009 we will have a sufficient quantity of good quality seeds. The size of the plantations will depend on money available to support the labor and purchase of equipments to produce “jatropha oil” at the end of 2010.

We will lounge a web site after we start the plantation phase

For more information contact:
Gerry Delaquis
US: Ph (941) 429-1519 or cell (502) 594-2290
In Haiti : cell (509) 3872-1510 or 3406-6711

Take a look at those YOUTUBE links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSVHY5tDoqk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeenNhlqjVw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucZ2F9HiEVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04lywmxA0bY

Sir,
We are also working in filed of jattropa plantaion in India, Rajasthan state, we want technical Joint Venture for this projects

Can any one give an up date on the agreement that the United States and Brazil signe last year to help Haiti and some other countries explore Jatropha as an energy source?

Any one know how to contact the Haitian jatropha task force?

What type of information can we get from them?

When can we expect a position from the government on jatropha / bio-diesel?

Do you know in Haiti some uninform entrepreneur are paying up to $5.00 US for 2000 seeds.

J H