12014: GARR and PAPDA Press release (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

GARR and PAPDA Press release, 29 August 2002 - The fight against
desertification and the concreting over of green spaces on the border. Or,
what is the Haitian government's position?

(translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group)

On the occasion of the World Summit on Sustainable Development that began on
26th August in South Africa embracing such themes as population and
desertification, the Support Group for Refugees and the Repatriated (GARR)
and the Platform to Advocate for Alternative Development (PAPDA) take note of
the Haitian government's apparent interest in these subjects. However, the
GARR and the PAPDA question the government's depth of commitment given that
in April 2002 it decided to go ahead with the concreting over of the green
spaces on the Maribahoux agricultural plain in the north-east border area
with a view to setting up a free zone for textile production. In doing so, it
has opted for the eventual desertification of the area. Already, in the
course of preparations for the project's inauguration ceremony on 8 April
2002, trees were chopped down and fields of maize cleared to create a landing
field for the President's helicopter.

The GARR and the PAPDA are concerned that the vast project of concreting over
the Maribahoux plain is only the first of a long string of free zones that
are envisaged along the border, and that will involve systematic
deforestation over more than 350 km between Ouanaminthe and Anse-a-Pitres in
order to establish these industrial zones.

Yet, according to the Dominican Republic's ambassador to the USA, Hugo
Giuliani Cury, that country regards free zone-led development as a spent
force. In the 28th August issue of the Dominican daily newspaper, Hoy, he
said, "In the context of a commercial accord with the USA, the Dominican
Republic's future lies with agro-industry because free zones and tourism are
exhausted avenues for development."

As Haiti is, according to international statistics, the most environmentally
damaged country in the Caribbean, the GARR and the PAPDA urge Haiti's leaders
to reconsider their decision to destroy the fertile Maribahoux plain and
other border areas, and instead to prioritise the well-being and vital
interests of the population which is the essential element in all sustainable
human development projects.

The Haitian-Dominican border, with its resources of water, vegetation, and
varieties of eco-systems, agricultural practices and unique cultures, remains
a resource that belongs to the more than 16 million Haitians and Dominicans
on this island.

In July, Maxima Pena, an educationalist and coordinator of an annual eco-camp
for young Haitians and Dominicans, said, "Throwing tons of concrete over the
Maribahoux plain in the area of the Massacre River, and installing a textile
assembly plant that will probably produce chemical discharge, will have a
significant effect on the ecological balance of the area, both in Haiti and
the DR."

The GARR and the PAPDA strongly encourage the Haitian government to take into
account Article 253 of the Constitution. "As the environment is the lifeblood
of the population, practices likely to disrupt the ecological balance are
strictly prohibited."

Colette Lespinasse - GARR

Camille Chalmers - PAPDA
_____________________________________________________________

For more on this story see:

"Haiti's not-so-free zones"  - Charles Arthur, Multinational Monitor, June
2002
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2002/02june/june02front.html

“That land is the mother and father of my children” - Jane Regan,
Latinamerica Press, June 26, 2002
http://www.lapress.org/article.asp?lanCode=1&artCode=2887

"Aristide Trying to Sell 1875 Km2 of Haiti" - Haiti Progres, July 10, 2002
http://www.haitiprogres.com/2002/sm020710/eng07-10.html


_______________________________________________

This email is forwarded as a service of the Haiti Support Group.

www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

The Haiti Support Group - solidarity with the Haitian people's struggle for
justice, participatory democracy and equitable development, since 1992.
____________________________________________