In honor of World Environment Day, June 5 2020, Sociéte Audubon Haïti and Haiti National Trust would like to share its Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Forest and Forest Life.  This declaration was proclaimed in Port-au-Prince on the first of June of the year 2020 of our era (I.VI.MMXX). The purpose of the declaration is to contribute to the safeguarding and future of the natural and domestic forest heritage of Haiti.  The complete edition of the Declaration can be downloaded in English, French and Spanish. Macaya Rain Forest, Haiti © Claudio Contreras

Before and after Hurricane Matthew photos of a forest near Ti Letan, Massif de La Hotte, Haiti.  These wet forests have among the highest biodiversity in the Caribbean, but their future is in peril due climate change and current agricultural practices. Photos © Carlos Martinez Rivera

According to the Global Climate Risk Index 2017, Haiti was on top of the list of  countries most affected by extreme weather in 2016. That year, “Haiti was hit by the most violent cyclone for more than 50 years and ranks first among the most affected countries.” According to the Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk Index, Honduras, Myanmar and Haiti were the most affected by extreme weather events between 1996 and 2015. Hurricane Matthew, which raged in October 2016, destroyed a quarter of Haiti and reminded us that with climate change, cyclones will be more intense. Hurricane Irma was the most powerful storm recorded in the North Atlantic since Allen in 1980, with sustained wind speeds of 295 km/hr, yet another sign of climate change.  The vulnerability of Haiti is no longer to demonstrate: it is now time to take action.

Biodiversity and adaptation to climate change are tangibly inseparable and are also factors of development. Biodiversity can play a role in reducing the effects and severity of climate change. Endowed with the evolutionary capacity to adapt, the myriad life forms on earth provide the foundation for ecosystem services that all humans need and some take for granted. For example, clean air and water. While all the attention is focused on the climate, it is somewhat puzzling to note that biodiversity seems reduced to the role of an indicator in the fight against climate change.

Let us recall three facts. First, as we enter the sixth major extinction crisis, climate change increases the risk of extinction by 40%. Second, the entire  biodiversity of the world is changing. However, all biodiversity is important because it provides a set of ecological functions. Third, the first threat of biodiversity being agriculture, preserving biodiversity means changing our relationship to agriculture.

A climate context that does not spare the private sector

Société Audubon Haïti’s (SAH) mission is to conserve Haiti’s biodiversity and natural ecosystems through research, education, awareness and national / international partnerships. It’s mission is to help Haitian citizens improve their quality of life by conserving the natural areas of the island. Aware of the role that it can and must play in adapting to climate change, SAH  wishes to invest in climate change-adapted strategies of which we are already victims.

Firstly, it is important that the issue of biodiversity and climate change be addressed in a cross-cutting manner and that the results be disseminated to the general public. In addition, climate change has a significant impact on the socio-economic development of countries, and climate change adaptation efforts must be part of a more resilient development vision. This vision cannot be achieved without the commitment of all stakeholders, especially those in the private sector. Indeed, according to the experts, it is largely private sector decisions that will determine the success of countries in the area of ​​adaptation.

Thus, in this fight, everyone is an actor and  SAH wishes to become a vital one. Indeed, until now, it is mainly the role of the public sector that has focused attention in adapting to climate change, with the private sector being mainly considered as a source of financing and investment. Yet, private sector engagement is critical for many reasons: it can mobilize financial resources and technical capacity, assist  government efforts, organize civil society and community efforts, and develop innovative adaptation technologies. Private entities dominate many investments that are critical to adaptation, such as the location and design of buildings and other infrastructure investments.

In adapting to climate change, dialogue and knowledge-sharing must be fostered in order to facilitate the inclusive formulation of practical solutions and the most appropriate policies for resilient development. However, one of the observations made by SAH is that, in Haiti, this adaptation has almost no private sector players in its composition. With this in mind,  SAH has decided to broaden its mission to adapt  its communication policy and to develop new innovative projects that can, among other things:

1. Unite new behavioral changes of the various actors in Haitian society, as much about biodiversity conservation as about climate change;

2. Encourage the Ministry of the Environment to create and adopt a National Communication Strategy for Change in Social Norms and Behaviors (CCNSC), in collaboration with SAH and all stakeholders involved in climate change;

3. Participate in the development of government policies and programs to protect biodiversity and reduce the impacts of climate change;

4. Highlight the educational, democratic and promotional functions of scientific communication – including the role of  media in managing the risks of climate change and, in turn, biodiversity;

5. Strengthen the country’s adaptive capacity in areas of education, information, knowledge and resilience to climate change;

6. Encourage and mobilize the private sector to contribute to climate change adaptation, including the development of innovative approaches by enterprises and capitalizing on new opportunities offered by the phenomenon;

7. Raise funds for adaptation projects in the field.

SAH believes that the private sector, with its financial strength and drive for innovation, has a decisive role to play in adapting to climate change in Haiti. In its desire to engage the private sector early in the process of adaptation to climate change, SAH will invite private sector players to engage in this fight. As a first step, SAH will target schools and universities. Secondly, the employers’ sector will be invited and informed of SAH’s new strategy. This new strategy will include  producer organizations, the informal sector and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paradigm shift implemented by SAH in the mobilization of the private sector will result in a targeting of  actors and a redefinition of  engagement activities among  the latter.

February 3, 2018

Nancy Roc, Climate Change Project Manager

A collaborative effort was undertaken in 2015-2017 between Société Audubon Haïti, University of Florida and the Ministry of Environment to create a catalogue of the flora of Macaya National Park.  Thousands of herbaria sheets were scanned and databased at the Florida Museum of Natural History and made available online (see Wercklea hottensis). Additionally, a collection of field photos representing the unique flora of Macaya was curated and included in the catalogue. This will be the most comprehensive collection of plant images ever completed for Haiti’s most important biodiversity hotspot. Follow the link to Macaya Flora. Wercklea hottensis © Joel Timyan.

The newly established Grand Bois National Park crossed paths with Hurricane Matthew. Please help contribute to our recovery efforts. Help Protect Natural Heritage of Grand Bois. In addition to Grand Bois, the forests of Deux Mamelles and Grande Colline have become legally protected areas as a result of Société Audubon Haïti’s efforts. Forest cover analyses for the Massif de la Hotte are available: Download Timyan (2015) in English. Télécharger Timyan (2015) en français. Download Yang et al. (2014). Morne Grand Bois © Jurgen Hoppe.

The Black-capped Petrel is one of the most threatened seabirds in the world.  It spends most of its life at sea, but each year it returns to the island of Hispaniola to nest and raise young.  Most of the nesting sites occur in the southern chain of mountains known as the Massif de la Selle in Haiti and the Barohuco in the Dominican Republic.

SAH is working with its national and international partners in an effort to research and conserve this species in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  Exciting discoveries of new nesting sites, an innovative approach to track species by radar and a remarkable rescue of a stranded petrel found in downtown Port-au-Prince highlight the challenges and opportunities that SAH faces to continue conservation efforts. Read more about the “Remarkable Rescue”. Follow the lives of a Black-capped Petrel and a Haitian family in the upcoming documentary of Save the Devil.   Support an effort to study the impact of telecom towers on bird collisions at Seeking Safer Skies for Haiti’s Rarest Seabird

The Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) of Haiti are considered by scientists as the critical areas of the country that are home to the threatened plant and animal species unique to the island. Many of these species only occur in Haiti and nowhere else in the world. A large knowledge gap exists in knowing the exact number of species and their natural distribution. However, what we know already is sufficient to prioritize areas of Haiti resulting in a document that describes 31 areas of the country that contain 136 threatened taxa and 30 taxa of special concern. We hope that an awareness among government and non-government organizations will yield positive results toward legal protection. The document is available in English, French and Creole. Download English version. Download French version. Download Creole version.

Funding through the Darwin Initiative has allowed Société Audubon Haïti to take a closer look at one of two endemic land mammals that still occur on the island – Plagiodontia aedium or “zagouti” in the local vernacular.  This medium-sized rodent resides in limestone rock crevices and is mostly found in the remaining patches of mid- to high-elevation broad-leaved forest.  It is a conservation focus since its habitat in Haiti is rapidly being eliminated and introduced predators, especially dogs, have made the species vulnerable to becoming extinct in the country.  The challenge to convince farmers that such an endemic mammal should be conserved while it is eating their cash crops is difficult, but not impossible!

Haiti has perhaps the highest percentage of threatened frog species anywhere in the world. Most of the threats are due to the loss of their forested habitat and the fact that so many of their natural ranges are restricted, sometimes to single mountains.  The southwestern area of Haiti, home to Macaya National Park, is considered among the most  important conservation hotspots in the world primarily due to the critical nature of deforestation and the high diversity of frogs found there.

A concerted effort to identify and locate these species has been the focus of several biological expeditions to the last remaining natural forests found in the country.  Many new species have been discovered and many “lost” species have been re-discovered as published in News.  Extinction in Progress, a documentary highlighting the discoveries and documenting the amphibian habitats in Haiti, has been shown worldwide and available in English, Spanish and French. See the trailer of Extinction in Progress. Eleutherodactylus parapelates © Robin Moore

Conservation requires providing the tools to those most capable of teaching the principles and practice of conservation in Haiti.  SAH conducts workshops with teachers, protected area management staff, students, and local community leaders so that its mission to conserve Haiti’s natural heritage becomes more widespread. Financial support has been graciously provided by a wide network of organizations including Conservation International, Darwin Initiative, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Nature Picture Library, and Philadelphia Zoo.