Haiti: A Brief Introduction

Haiti is one of the most vulnerable countries in Latin America and the Caribbean region to natural disasters and ranks third globally among countries most impacted by extreme weather events from 2000 - 2019.1 The island is the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, with a GDP per capita of $1,815 in 2021.2 Of its population of 11.5 million people,3 42 percent live in rural areas.4 The country’s climate varies by geography, though recurrent climatic phenomena include El Niño, which regularly creates a rainfall deficit and a much drier climate, and La Niña, which causes colder and wetter weather conditions over the Caribbean.5 Since breaking free from French colonial rule over two centuries ago, Haiti has weathered multiple foreign interventions, chronic political instability, and devastating natural disasters. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic crisis, the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021, and a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in August exacerbated Haiti’s existing challenges of political instability and violence by gangs often tied to state actors. Faltering political institutions and infrastructure trap Haitians in a vicious cycle of repeated disasters which constitute a significant obstacle to development and contribute to trapping the population in poverty.  

Mapping Major Climate Events and Climate-Induced Displacement

Haiti is exposed to the threat of increasing average temperature, sea-level rise, recurrent severe tropical hurricanes, flooding, decreasing rainfall, and desertification. Between 1961 and 2012, Haiti experienced more than 180 disasters that led to the death of more than 240,000 people, including the death of an estimated 220,000 people following the devastating 2010 earthquake.6 Situated at the center of the hurricane belt, Haiti is particularly susceptible to hurricanes; in 2016, Hurricane Matthew affected more than 2.4 million people,7 and displaced 175,000 people.8 Most recently, in 2021, approximately 220,000 new displacements were recorded in Haiti, primarily related to housing and infrastructure destruction caused by a 7.2 earthquake in August 2021 in the Sud, Grand’Anse, and Nippes departments.9  In addition to hurricanes and earthquakes, increased rainfall variability is leading to more frequent intense flooding and drought.10 This trend, coupled with high deforestation rates and unsustainable farming practices fueled by colonial legacies,11 has radically altered Haiti’s landscape, reducing its capacity to capture water and recharge its aquifers. 

Mapping the Costs of the Climate Crisis

Although Haiti’s economy was contracting and facing significant fiscal issues before the COVID-19 pandemic, its impacts triggered an even greater economic downturn. In 2020, GDP contracted by 3.3 percent and was estimated to have contracted by 1.8 in 2021.12 Despite the determination of the Haitian people to build back better after every disaster, including the tragic 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, which caused $2.2 billion in damage,13 a massive 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the country in 2021. In addition to significant displacement, more than 2,200 people died, and up to 130,000 homes were destroyed or damaged in southern Haiti.14 Moreover, relying heavily on rainfall for farming, Haiti experienced droughts that caused crop losses of more than 50 percent15 and a significant reduction in food availability resulting in food insecurity for 3.6 million people in 2016.16 In addition to the loss of lives, disasters are costly for citizens and the country. The immediate spending needed for response and reconstruction is compounded by a weakened economy, damaged infrastructure, destroyed businesses, reduced tax revenues, and a rise in poverty levels.

Mapping Resilience and Mitigation Pathways

Though Haiti’s greenhouse gas emissions amount cumulatively to less than 0.03 percent of global carbon emissions,17 it is a full participant in the 2015 Paris climate agreement and has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emission by 32 percent by 2030.5 Haiti’s mitigation actions focus on the energy sector to shift 47 percent of its electricity generation to renewable sources and the forestry sector to grow 137,500 hectares of new forest.18 The country’s adaptation actions focus on a variety of areas, including water protection and conservation, coastal zone management, and the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure.18 According to its NDC, the government estimates the total cost of adaptation and mitigation at $25.4 billion, including $16.6 billion for adaptation and $8.8 billion for mitigation actions. To meet its goals, Haiti needs targeted finance from the international community for sectors that need it the most. 

Necessary Changes

Heavily reliant on external donors to implement its mitigation and adaptation goals, Haiti’s climate action priorities reflect donor interests instead of the most pressing needs of Haitians themselves.19 Current financial assistance for energy and climate-related projects is concentrated in just three of Haiti’s twenty-three articulated priorities for combating the climate crisis: food security, renewables, and integrated water resource management. With the concentration of resources and projects in these categories, many Haitian priorities appear to be relatively neglected, including agricultural adaptation, afforestation, agroforestry, coastal-zone management, capacity building, institutional strengthening, mangrove protection, and waste management. Support from the international community must adequately allocate funding to advance strategies that address communities’ essential needs through people-centered approaches such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s approach partners with community-based organizations to battle the climate crisis.20 By taking a community-centered approach to long-term climate action it is possible to democratically devise solutions that can break the cycle of disaster in Haiti.