Over the weekend, we at HTRIP join the United Nations Environment Program in celebrating World Environment Day under the theme: Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care. We also want to take the occasion to highlight one of our many success stories of our education and tree planting program in the communities we serve.
HTRIP’s demonstration plot in Ducasse planted in 2007. HTRIP’s model starts with a demonstration plot which is planted in the first months of a community’s participation. The demonstration plot serves as a the initial phase of the program and also as a teaching tool in the educational cycle and a model for the “filial” plots that each participant plants on his or her own land.
Ducasse is a community that is part of the Verettes district, and it is one of HTRIP’s most isolated communities (elevation ranges from 1,000 to 1,300 meters) with a greater lack of infrastructure. The people of Ducasse began working with HTRIP in 2007 and in 8 years, 200 hundred people (105 men and 95 women) have graduated our Agroforestry education program, planted more than 50,000 thousand trees, and built about two hundred kilometers of soil conservation structures.
Ducasse’s 2014 graduates
Ducasse is one of the communities where the HTRIP model has succeeded. One can start seeing the positive environmental effects in tree plots that are more than 5 years old where tree canopies are closing. In fact, HTRIP is in the process of establishing the second phase of the program in Ducasse. Last year, HTRIP conducted a shade-crop experiment with yam and passion fruit in a couple of these plots with a significant amount of tree cover. All of this is meant to ensure the sustainability of all the reforestation work performed in Phase I.
HTRIP’s Nursery in Ducasse from 2014 tree production. HTRIP makes sure that each community that participates in its program has its own nursery that can produce nearly 7,000 seedlings per year
As we celebrate World Environment Day, we strongly applaud the courage and engagement of the people of Ducasse in fighting deforestation, Haiti’s biggest environmental problem. We are also very grateful for the continuous support of all of our dedicated contributors, and reinforce our commitment to help environmentally vulnerable communities in Haiti to work toward making the world a better place.
Thank you,
Melissa Sanon,
HTRIP program coordinator