This Biodiversity and Tropical Forest Assessment report has been prepared to provide information and analysis as requested by USAID/Haiti, required by the U.S. Congress, and stipulated in the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961. This report updates the 2006 Biodiversity and Tropical Forest Assessment report and seeks to provide a concise and targeted assessment to inform the USAID/Haiti Mission’s strategic planning, program development, and implementation. This assessment includes: An overview of the status of biodiversity and tropical forests in Haiti; An analysis of threats to biodiversity and tropical forests; The institutional, policy and legislative framework for environmental management in Haiti; Current interventions in the environmental sector, bi- and multilateral donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector and other institutions; and
An examination of how the proposed activities in USAID/Haiti Five Year Strategic Plan could contribute to conservation needs and includes recommendations for actions related to the US Government’s goals.
The Caribbean is an internationally recognized biodiversity hotspot, and is one of the world’s greatest centers of endemic biodiversity as a result of the region’s geography and climate: an archipelago of habitat-rich tropical and semi-tropical islands tenuously connected to surrounding continents. Haiti is one of the richest countries in the Caribbean in terms of botanical diversity. Haiti boasts a rich fauna as well, of which 75% are considered endemic.
Less than two percent of Haiti remains forested. Those forested areas are globally important because they harbor endemic species on the brink of extinction. With a Coastline of 1775 km and a coastal shelf of 5000 km2 and five main offshore islands, Haiti’s coastal and marine resources include examples of a remarkably varied ecology rich in biodiversity
