Haiti launches first-ever Environment Month with cleanup, deforestation campaigns

PORT-AU-PRINCE —  In an effort to tackle the thorny issue of the decaying environment, Haitian officials have designated June as Environment Month.

Ministry of Environment officials have planned many activities for the month around the theme “A wave offering to nourishing earth. Honor, Respect for Mother Land.”

“Environment Month aims to create an inclusive platform with international  partners, civil society, the private sector, universities, farmers association and the media,”  said James Cadet, the minister of environment. “Together we must do the right thing, act immediately to preserve this world heritage that we all have in common, the earth and our planet.”

During this month, the ministry intends to launch the emergency operation plan for solid waste management, a reforestation campaign with the aim of growing 10 million trees throughout the country. There will be a magazine to keep people informed of the work the ministry is doing. Other priorities include  funding of the national inter-school environmental competition, inauguration of two green libraries in Port-au-Prince and in Cap Haitien.

Cadet is also planning to organize an exhibition  during the month on the environmental framework, natural heritage of the country.

At the launch, officials of the ministry also inaugurated the refrigeration laboratory with the aim of promoting and training refrigeration  technicians also to host students from technical schools that have not yet been endowed with a laboratory. 

“The importance of this laboratory is that it is today one of the  tools of the MDE to enable it to continue the battle for protection of the environment,” Esthere Jojitte, UNDP National Consultant  for training Refrigerators, told local news outlets.   

In Cap-Haitien, a World Environment Day was planned. The organization “Poubel Ayiti” — a play on words on Creole that mean both trash receptacle and ‘for a beautiful Haiti’ —  also planned a talk on waste and the environment, a recycling and garbage workshop with 300 students and a beach cleanup.