Port-au-Prince/Nairobi,
5 January 2011 - An ambitious environmental
recovery and sustainable development initiative
for southwest Haiti was launched yesterday
in Port-Salut by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and a consortium of partners
including the Government of Haiti, the Government
of Norway, Catholic Relief services, the
Earth Institute at Columbia University and
a host of local non-governmental organizations.
The Côte Sud Initiative
(CSI), which will be implemented over a
period of 20 years, aims at the recovery
and sustainable development of a severely
degraded land area of 780 km² - about
half the size of Greater London - and a
marine area of approximately 500 km².
Ten communes, with an
estimated population of 205,000 people,
will benefit directly from the programme,
which will include reforestation, erosion
control, fisheries management, mangrove
rehabilitation and small business and tourism
development, as well as improved access
to water and sanitation, health and education.
Achim Steiner, UN Under
Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director,
said: "Restoring the region's environmental
services will be a key step towards restoring
a real and long-lasting development path
for its people and a stepping stone towards
a Green Economy".
"From the Mau forest
complex in Kenya to Lake Faguibine in Mali
and now in Haiti, UNEP and our partners
are determined to demonstrate that large-scale
ecosystem restoration is a cost-effective
catalyst for overcoming poverty and reducing
vulnerability to shocks and natural disasters,"
he added.
The launch of the initiative,
which was made possible by an initial US$14
million in grants provided by the Government
of Norway and Catholic Relief Services,
represents an important milestone for UNEP,
which designed and developed this approach
with the Government and partners starting
early 2009.
Mr. Erik Solheim, Norway's
Minister for Environment and International
Development, took part in a launch event
in Port-Salut, as part of a three-day tour
of the country.
"The destiny and
the development of Haiti are within the
hands of the Government and the people of
Haiti, and the role of Norway and its international
partners is simply to support them"
he said.
"It is clear that
any development in the country needs to
be underpinned by the sustainable management
of its natural resources. For the south
of Haiti we see particular opportunities
in tourism, clean energy and sustainable
agriculture and are very pleased to support
investments in these areas," he added.
Already prior to the
devastating earthquake of January 2010,
Haiti was known as the poorest, least stable
and most environmentally degraded country
in the Western Hemisphere.
Severe poverty, food
insecurity and disaster vulnerability -
which are strongly interlinked with environmental
issues such as deforestation, soil erosion
and land and marine degradation - have had
profound impacts on the population's well-being
for decades.
The Côte Sud Initiative
proposes a new approach to addressing these
challenges, with a strong focus on aid coordination,
national ownership and capacity-building
of the Government and local partners to
concurrently address the underlying drivers
of poverty, environmental degradation, disaster
vulnerability and the lack of access to
social services.
The broad-ranging initiative,
with a total expected budget of US$ 200
million over 20 years, will involve between
50 and 100 projects, including at least
10 that are expected to last up to five
years or more.
In 2011, the focus will
be on establishing sound baseline data about
the state of local landscapes and seascapes,
and on working with local communities and
partners to develop and implement practical
action.
A CSI Office and Visitor
Centre will shortly be set up in Port-Salut.
"The objective
of this major, long-term initiative is to
demonstrate that sustainable rural development
is truly possible - given the right approach,"
said UNEP's Andrew Morton, the CSI Coordinator.
"When the time is right, the lessons
learned can be extended to the rest of Haiti"
he added.
In addition to the coordination
of CSI, UNEP manages a resident programme
of support to the Government of Haiti from
its office in Port-au-Prince, focused on
post-earthquake relief and reconstruction,
and projects on biogas, the marine and coastal
environment, clean energy and transboundary
environmental management.
Notes to Editors
Details of the new initiative
and UNEP's work in this field can be found
at the following web sites www.haitiregeneration.org
and www.unep.org/conflictsanddisasters/
