Page 48 - Respond 2016 Magazine

deforestation

death by a

thousand

cuts:

charcoal and deforestation

The island of Hispaniola—made up of Haiti and the
Dominican Republic (DR)—is widely recognized as one of
the most important “hotspots” for biological diversity on the
planet. However, it is currently suffering large-scale habitat
loss and deforestation, in large measure because of charcoal By Jake Kheel and
production and unsustainable agriculture. This habitat loss Juan Mejia Botero
not only contributes to climate change, but makes both
nations more susceptible to the effects of climate.

Death by a Thousand Cuts, our feature-length film documents become a very lucrative, but destructive industry.
the illegal charcoal trafficking from the forests of the Dominican In Haiti—where dangerously low levels of forest cover have
Republic to the urban markets of Haiti, and how the conflict over degraded natural resources—charcoal made from trees is the
the island’s remaining natural resources could potentially end in primary source for cooking fuel. With no viable fuel alternative
violence. Over five years, we witnessed the forests of the Sierra and limited trees with which to meet its charcoal demand, Haiti
de Bahoruco—the Dominican national park on the border of has become increasingly dependent on charcoal produced in
Haiti—slowly disappear. In our journey following the charcoal the Dominican Republic—which has significantly more forest
trail, we explored the complex factors that drive what has cover. Charcoal producers find remote parcels of forest in the DR,
clear vast quantities of trees to make charcoal ovens, and then
smuggle the product back to Haiti in sacks for sale.

The simple narrative is that desperately poor Haitians have turned
to the Dominican forests for their livelihood. However, during
our investigation we quickly found this picture, while not fully
inaccurate, was definitely incomplete. It is not simply desperately
poor Haitians cutting down Dominican trees to make out a
livelihood. Many of the largest charcoal smuggling operations
on Hispaniola were actually facilitated by, paid for, and directly
benefitted Dominicans that controlled its production.

In the lowlands surrounding Lake Enriquillo and north of the
Sierra de Bahoruco, both Dominican and Haitian charcoal
producers worked for wealthier Dominican merchants. The
merchants not only controlled charcoal production along the
border area, but at times managed to acquired permits from the
Dominican government, further complicating the situation. The
different degrees of corruption in the increasing deforestation
occurring along the border became more and more clear to us.

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