Haiti Infographic

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https://concernusa.org/news/countries-most-affected-by-climate-change/https://www.washingtoninformer.com/haiti-vulnerable-climate-change/https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/2018-10/wb_gfdrr_climate_change_country_profile_for_HTI.pdf (Oxfam International's recommendations)https://blogs.iadb.org/sostenibilidad/en/how-is-climate-change-impacting-small-islands-in-the-caribbean/

Diouf, Ibrahima, Ibrahima Sy, and Moussa Diakhaté. “Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Public Health in Haiti: A Comprehensive Study of Disease Distribution, Modeling, and Adaptation Strategies.” Frontiers in tropical diseases 4 (2024): n. pag. Web.

Bogard, C. J. (2015). A “Sensibility of the Commons” and Climate Change Adaptive Capacity in Haiti. Perspectives on Global Development & Technology, 14(5), 519–543. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691497-12341359

References

Where else in the world is experiencing a similar form of climate change?

What being done to help combat or remedy the situation?

How has climate change impacted Haiti?

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Climate Change in Haiti

Click on the icons below to learn more about the impact of climate change on Haiti, what is being done or what can be done to combat it, and where else in the world is experiencing a similar form of climate change.

How has climate change impacted Haiti? In 2019, former prime minister of Haiti, Joseph Jouthe said, “Climate change is a very big terror in Haiti. It’s very hard for us to deal with climate change.” • Haiti has lost 98% of its forests • Hurricane Matthew in 2016 caused damages equal to nearly one-third of the country’s GDP • The 2010 earthquake killed approximately 250,000 people and cost 120% of the country’s GDP. • In 2012, Haiti was ranked the most vulnerable country in the world to the ravages of climate change • Since 1960, the mean annual rainfall decreased by 5mm per month per decade. This has contributed to long periods of drought. • The health of the people of Haiti is expected to be affected by climate change. Diouf, Sy, and Diakhate state that climate change will lead to an increase in vector-borne, water-borne, and heat-related diseases.

What can be done to help combat or remedy the situation? On Wednesday, November 15, 2024, Pierre LaBoissiere from the Haiti Action Committee spoke at the Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force virtual “Climate and Fascism” summit. He said that one reason Haiti is so vulnerable to the impacts of climate change is because of fascism which contributed to deforestation. Bogard (2015) agrees and states that Haiti’s degraded environment and lack of inclusive institutions make it vulnerable to the impact of climate change and less likely to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Bogard says that “sensibility of the commons” is needed to help mitigate the impacts of climate change. Bogard defines commons as, “public goods combined with ‘common-pool resources,’ which are ‘resources where it is difficult to exclude people,’ and resources where whatever an individual takes reduces the resource for everyone else” (2015). LaBoissiere argued that it is easy to be discouraged, but people can do little things to help mitigate the effects of climate change. For example, a researcher named Jessy Alexander Becius worked to combat the effects of long periods of drought. He installed a rainwater collection device to store water. This device has helped about 50 families in a small community in Haiti. Additionally, Bogard says that in order to respond to things like climate change, Haitians will need to at the very least: 1) maintain or restore roads, ports, historic buildings, and ecosystems 2) nurture and develop urban farms 3) use wisely and sustainably the agricultural land, forests, grazing lands, fisheries, and urban infrastructure. Bogard believes that communities with a “sensibility of the commons would manage resources to preserve or improve sustaining environmental components, protect members from harm to the extent possible, and move toward practices that enable a community and its members to survive and thrive under new climatic conditions” (2015). Go to page 4 to see Oxfam International's list of other ways to help mitigate climate change in Haiti.

Oxfam International’s Recommendations to Combat Climate Change

Other Caribbean islands experience similar impacts of climate change as Haiti does. Doherty-Bigara and Garcia Salinas reported in https://blogs.iadb.org/sostenibilidad/en/how-is-climate-change-impacting-small-islands-in-the-caribbean/ that “small island developing states” (SIDS) are at great risk. They say that SIDS contribute the least to climate change but they experience a greater impact because of their size, location, and exposure. These islands could become uninhabitable as global temperatures increase. The prime minister of Barbados said that an increase of just 2-degrees Celsius in global temperature would be a “death sentence” to these communities. This increase would lead to longer dry seasons, create warmer temperatures, and sea-level rise. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is working with this region to become more resilient and have promoted the following strategies: • create access to multi-hazard early warning systems • boost resilient and inclusive growth • create a fund to achieve sustainable recovery which includes better infrastructure and technological advances. Click on page 6 for pictures of how climate change has impacted islands in the Caribbean.Other coastal regions around the world are impacted in similar ways. An increase in global temperatures would cause the sea-levels to rise around the world. Coastal cities would be flooded and become uninhabitable just like Haiti and the other Caribbean islands would be.

Other Islands in the Caribbean Impacted by Climate Change

Destruction in St. Martin

Flooding in Puerto Rico