My action plan for Haiti

June 18, 2021 By Kayleigh

Deforestation, soil erosion and loss of biodiversity are all major problems that Haiti is experiencing. Due to the charcoal production and the need of wood for fuel, Haiti is experiencing massive tree loss. The trees are being cut down and the land is left bare. When the land is left bare the sun is constantly being down on the soil without the shade of trees. When the soil receives this much sun it begins to erode. This makes the land unusable and unfertile. It also disrupts the water cycle, affects climate change and causes floods and landslides. This needs to be fixed as many Haitians lives rely on the land for their jobs.

This is what Haiti looks like with deforestation and soil erosion.

My goals

1st step– My team and I would start by shutting down the charcoal production. This will relieve the forests from the cutting of trees and would limit the deforestation. Instead, we will install 35 acres worth of solar panels to provide electricity and power.

2nd step– Next, we will over see a plan that is already happening in parts of Haiti. This is to install ”Ecosan toilets”. Every week they will transport the waste accumulated to fields and spread it in the soil. This will help to restore the nutrients that has been lost in the soil.After the soil is restored we will be planting 10,000 trees.

My team

I have chosen the Green Party of Canada as apart of my team. They are a Canadian Government political party focused on the environment and environmental issues. They are a group of activist focused on making the world a better place to live for everyone including plants and animals. They are well educated and have tons of experience with issues in the ecosystem. They have a well built social media platform that can help spread awareness for Haiti.

The leader of the Green Party is who I will be consulting ideas with more closely. The leader is Annamie Paul. She is very well educated . She started young being interested in public policy. I think that working with her and her team will be a great asset for ideas and solutions.

I have also chosen David Suzuki as apart of my team. David Suzuki is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. He has played roles in television series, documentaries and has written many books about the environment. From all this experience, he has gained years worth of knowledge and has also gained a stable social media platform. He has built a successful foundation in his name, the “David Suzuki Foundation”. They are willing to do what it takes to save the environment. This foundation has a place to donate towards issues in the environment. All of these assets can be useful in restoring Haiti.

We will also being working with a Haitian company called DigitalKap. They install and do maintenance on solar panels. They have experience in solar panels and since they are a company based out of Haiti they will understand why this needs to happen.

Resources

For my resources my team and I will need many volunteers. We would like to include the community members as it will be to help restore their home. We plan to purchase enough solar panels to provide electricity to 35 acres of land. We will hire DigitalKap to install solar panels. After the solar panels are placed, we will install Ecosan toilets in remaining communities who don’t already have them. We expect to purchase around 5,000 to start. Our team will hire employees to truck the waste to farmers fields and other land. Then we will plant over 10,000 trees to restore the vegetation.

Long and short term plans

My short term goals for my team should take around ten to twelve months depending on the time line for DigitalKap to install one solar panel which is typically 3 days. David Suzuki will be taking the lead on this as he has built a movement called” Charged Up” which is devoted to converting to clean energy sources.

The solar panels that will be used in Haiti

I expect the long term plan to take at the least 1 year to complete. This includes collecting enough waste and spreding across all the fields. Also this includes planting all 35 acres of trees. Our team will be split up working on different steps to be as efficient as possible. The Green Party will take the lead on this project as they are committed to improve, “earth’s vitality, diversity and beauty”.