Haïti - Environnement : 20 millions pour protéger la bio-diversité et les bassins versants
13/04/2011 07:36:04
Haïti - Environnement : 20 millions pour protéger la bio-diversité et les bassins versants
Deux nouveaux projets environnementaux, pour préserver la biodiversité et apporter une solution à la gestion binationale du bassin de l'Artibonite, d’un montant de 20 millions de dollars sur 4 ans, viennent d’être lancés.
« Aujourd'hui en Haïti, l'explosion démographique et l'augmentation de la pression humaine sur les ressources naturelles du pays dégradent l'environnement » a affirmé Jean-Marie Claude Germain, Ministre de l'Environnement. « Pour faire face à ce problème grandissant, nous essayons de mettre en place un système effectif de gestion des aires protégées qui représente le meilleur espoir pour conserver les écosystèmes, les habitats et les espèces et aider à réduire le taux de perte de la biodiversité ».
Ce premier projet vient répondre aux problèmes de gestion des ressources naturelles qui jusqu'à présent s'est révélée inefficace en raison de plusieurs barrières : l'absence de mécanismes de gouvernance territoriale et locale, le manque de ressources humaines qualifiées pour garantir la mise en place et la gestion du SNAP ainsi que le manque d'information environnementale systématisée et d'indicateurs de suivi pour la gestion du territoire.
Le projet SNAP contribuera à mettre à la disposition du Ministère de l'Environnement des moyens pour vaincre ces différentes barrières sur les 4 ans à venir avec l'appui financier du Fonds pour l'Environnement Mondial (FEM) et l'accompagnement du Programme des Nations unies pour le développement (PNUD). Plusieurs autres partenaires dont le Centre national de l'information géo-spatiale (CNIGS), l'agence allemande de coopération internationale (GIZ), l'Agence espagnole de coopération internationale pour le développement (AECID) et la Banque interaméricaine de développement (BID) se sont déjà engagés à soutenir ce projet dont le budget s'élève a 9 millions de dollars américains.
« En préservant les dernières aires protégées de ce pays, ce projet contribuera non seulement à la protection et à la conservation de la biodiversité mais aussi à renforcer la résilience des écosystèmes contre les effets dévastateurs des aléas hydrométéorologiques tels que les ouragans, les orages ou les inondations », explique Marc-André Franche, Directeur adjoint du PNUD.
Un second projet environnemental porte sur la réduction des utilisations conflictuelles de l’eau dans le bassin versant binational de l'Artibonite dont dépendent les populations de l'une des régions les plus pauvres de la République Dominicaine et Haïti. L'objectif de ce projet est d'appuyer les deux pays dans la gestion conjointe de ce bassin commun.
« La gestion des bassins versants doit se faire selon une approche au niveau des écosystèmes qui s'adresse aux différentes parties du bassin versant comme une seule unité », explique Lyes Ferroukhi, Conseiller technique Régional en gestion des écosystèmes et finance environnementale employé par le PNUD. « Si nous protégeons la partie inférieure ou l'aval du bassin sans travailler sur le versant et le sommet, notre projet ne pourra pas atteindre les effets escomptés. Les trois parties sont étroitement liées et forment un ensemble sur lequel il faut agir simultanément. »
Une étude transfrontière du bassin versant sera élaborée afin de permettre aux deux pays d'identifier les priorités environnementales aux niveaux national et transfrontière, comprendre les défis socio-économiques qui y sont étroitement liés et développer par la suite un programme conjoint d'interventions.
Le budget associé à ce projet dont l'exécution s'étalera sur 4 ans s'élève à 11,5 millions de dollars américains et il sera financé par le FEM et le PNUD avec une contribution en nature de plusieurs partenaires dont Oxfam Québec, Helvetas et l'Agence Canadienne de Développement International (ACDI).
HaïtiLibre
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
World earthquakes: Japan earthquake, the most catastrophic and apocalyptic disaster ever seen
Cars, whole houses and even severed feet in shoes: The vast field of debris from Japan earthquake and tsunami that's floating towards U.S. West Coast
By Daily Mail ReporterA vast field of debris, swept out to sea following the Japan earthquake and tsunami, is floating towards the U.S. West Coast, it emerged today.
More than 200,000 buildings were washed out by the enormous waves that followed the 9.0 quake on March 11.
There have been reports of cars, tractor-trailers, capsized ships and even whole houses bobbing around in open water.
Adrift: A whole house bobs in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Japan. An enormous field of debris was swept out to sea following the earthquake and tsunami
But even more grizzly are the predictions of U.S. oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who is expecting human feet, still in their shoes, to wash up on the West Coast within three years.
'I'm expecting parts of houses, whole boats and feet in sneakers to wash up,' Mr Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer who has spent decades tracking flotsam, told MailOnline.
Several thousand bodies were washed out to sea following the disaster and while most of the limbs will come apart and break down in the water, feet encased in shoes will float, Mr Ebbesmeyer said.
'I'm expecting the unexpected,' he added.
Journey: A graphic depicts the predicted location of the Japan debris field as it swirls towards the U.S. West Coast. Scientists predict the first bits of rubbish will wash up in a year's time
In three years time the debris field will have reached the U.S. West Coast and will then turn toward Hawaii and back again toward Asia, circulating in what is known as the North Pacific gyre
'It's very challenging to move through these to consider these boats run on propellers and that these fishing nets or other debris can be dangerous to the vessels that are actually trying to do the work,' Ensign Vernon Dennis told ABC News.
'So getting through some of these obstacles doesn't make much sense if you are going to actually cause more debris by having your own vessel become stuck in one of these waterways.'
Debris soup: There have been reports of cars, tractor-trailers and capsized ships bobbing around in open water off the coast of Japan
Vast: An aerial view of the debris shows massive amounts of timber, tyres and parts of houses. The U.S. Navy said they had never seen anything like it and warn it now poses a threat to shipping traffic
Predictions: Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle-based oceanographer, said he expected bits of houses, whole boats and even feet still in sneakers, to wash up on the U.S. West Coast
They will then turn toward Hawaii and back again toward Asia, circulating in what is known as the North Pacific gyre, said Mr Ebbesmeyer,
Mr Ebbesmeyer, who has traced Nike sneakers, plastic bath toys and hockey gloves accidentally spilled from Asia cargo ships, is now tracking the massive debris field moving across the Pacific Ocean from Japan.
He relies heavily on a network of thousands of beachcombers to report the location and details of their finds.
'If you put a major city through a trash grinder and sprinkle it on the water, that's what you're dealing with,' he said.
Some of the debris to hit the West Coast may be radioactive following the devastation at Japanese nuclear power plants, according to James Hevezi, chair of the American College of Radiology Commission on Medical Physics.
'But it would be very low risk,' Hevezi said. 'The amount that would be on the stuff by the time it reached the West Coast would be minimal.'
Only a small portion of that debris will wash ashore, and how fast it gets there and where it lands depends on buoyancy, material and other factors.
Fishing vessels or items that poke out of the water and are more likely influenced by wind may show up in a year, while items like lumber pieces, survey stakes and household items may take two to three years, he said.
Strong force: The graphic shows the currents in the Pacific Ocean that will push the debris around from Japan to the U.S. West Coast and back again
GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH
Old flip flops, plastic toys, bags, children's pacifiers, toothbrushes, tons of plastic bottles and even whole yachts are just some of the rubbish floating in the so-called 'great pacific garbage patch'.
The debris was trapped by the rotational currents of the North Pacific Gyre, which draws it from across the North Pacific Ocean, including coastal waters off North America and Japan.
It ends up bobbing about like a rubbish soup miles off the coast of California.
It is difficult to say just how big the area of ocean trash is, but some reports say it is roughly three times the size of Texas.
Oceanographer and race captain Charles J. Moore, discovered the GPGP on sailing through the North Pacific Gyre after competing in the Transpac sailing race in 1997.
He was confronted, he said, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic.
U.S. oceanographer, Curt Ebbesmeyer, believes the debris has building up for 50 to 100 years and traced one piece of plastic he found back 60 years.
He has even heard reports of several dozen abandoned yachts floating in the area.
They get into trouble in bad weather, the owner is rescued but the yacht ends up being swept out to sea, never to be recovered, Mr Ebbesmeyer said.
There is also a North Atlantic and Indian Ocean garbage patch.
The debris was trapped by the rotational currents of the North Pacific Gyre, which draws it from across the North Pacific Ocean, including coastal waters off North America and Japan.
It ends up bobbing about like a rubbish soup miles off the coast of California.
It is difficult to say just how big the area of ocean trash is, but some reports say it is roughly three times the size of Texas.
Oceanographer and race captain Charles J. Moore, discovered the GPGP on sailing through the North Pacific Gyre after competing in the Transpac sailing race in 1997.
He was confronted, he said, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic.
U.S. oceanographer, Curt Ebbesmeyer, believes the debris has building up for 50 to 100 years and traced one piece of plastic he found back 60 years.
He has even heard reports of several dozen abandoned yachts floating in the area.
They get into trouble in bad weather, the owner is rescued but the yacht ends up being swept out to sea, never to be recovered, Mr Ebbesmeyer said.
There is also a North Atlantic and Indian Ocean garbage patch.
'The material that is actually blown in will be a fraction' of the tsunami debris, said Curt Peterson, a coastal oceanographer and professor of in the geology department at Portland State University in Oregon.
'Some will break up in transit. A lot of it will miss our coast. Some will split up and head up to Gulf of Alaska and (British Columbia).'
'All this debris will find a way to reach the West coast or stop in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,' a swirling mass of concentrated marine litter in the Pacific Ocean, said Luca Centurioni, a researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
Much of the debris will be plastic, which doesn't completely break down. That raises concerns about marine pollution and the potential harm to marine life.
But the amount of tsunami debris, while massive, still pales in comparison to the litter that is dumped into oceans on a regular basis, Mr Ebbesmeyer said.
He is also concerned for the welfare of some hundred thousand juvenile sea turtles, which are born in Japan and must make the journey across the Pacific to California.
They usually follow the path of North Pacific Gyre but swim around the north side of the garbage patch, Mr Ebbesmeyer said.
But now the turtles face a veritable sea of debris from Japan on their journey.
Meanwhile Japan's meteorological agency says it has now lifted a tsunami warning for the north-eastern coast after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck offshore.
The quake hit about 11.30 pm today Japan time. It has rattled nerves nearly a month after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened the same area of coastline.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Haiti Reconstruction: updates
01/04/2011 12:52:58
Priority of Preval: change the mandate of the MINUSTAH
Maria Angela Holguin, Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, accompanied by her Dominican counterpart, Carlos Morales Troncoso have met this week the Haitian President René Préval and Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive.
During this meeting, President Préval has stressed the importance that the international community, leaves Haiti take control of its own reconstruction. "Who better that the Haitians can define their priorities? Haiti is for the Haitians", said Morales Troncoso expressing the support of the Dominican Republic to the Haitian Government's position. René Préval spoke about the importance to change the actions of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (Minustah) in order that this Mission, become more involved in the development of the country that in security tasks for which it was originally mandated "The first priority is to change the mandate of UN mission... the second is to give to the government and to the people of Haiti, the leadership of the reconstruction" declared the Haitian President to a journalist from the Dominican press at the end of the meeting.
While most the political actors and of the civil society in Haiti as well as the population, are for a scheduled departure of the Minustah, this is clearly not in the agenda of the outgoing President, although at the end of his mandate, he engages a little more, the future Government in the choices, that are not necessarily shared.
Maria Angela Holguin confirmed that President Préval had accepted the invitation of the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and that he will participate to the meetings of the Security Council on April 6, as former U.S. President and Co-President of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), Bill Clinton and eight foreign ministers of the Caribbean region, including the Dominican Republic.
See also :
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2637-haiti-reconstruction-a-step-towards-the-transformation-of-the-minsutah.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2637-haiti-reconstruction-a-step-towards-the-transformation-of-the-minsutah.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2404-haiti-reconstruction-no-to-the-transformation-of-the-minustah.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2386-haiti-international-toward-a-transformation-of-the-minustah.html
Priority of Preval: change the mandate of the MINUSTAH
 |
During this meeting, President Préval has stressed the importance that the international community, leaves Haiti take control of its own reconstruction. "Who better that the Haitians can define their priorities? Haiti is for the Haitians", said Morales Troncoso expressing the support of the Dominican Republic to the Haitian Government's position. René Préval spoke about the importance to change the actions of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (Minustah) in order that this Mission, become more involved in the development of the country that in security tasks for which it was originally mandated "The first priority is to change the mandate of UN mission... the second is to give to the government and to the people of Haiti, the leadership of the reconstruction" declared the Haitian President to a journalist from the Dominican press at the end of the meeting.
While most the political actors and of the civil society in Haiti as well as the population, are for a scheduled departure of the Minustah, this is clearly not in the agenda of the outgoing President, although at the end of his mandate, he engages a little more, the future Government in the choices, that are not necessarily shared.
Maria Angela Holguin confirmed that President Préval had accepted the invitation of the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and that he will participate to the meetings of the Security Council on April 6, as former U.S. President and Co-President of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), Bill Clinton and eight foreign ministers of the Caribbean region, including the Dominican Republic.
See also :
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2637-haiti-reconstruction-a-step-towards-the-transformation-of-the-minsutah.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2637-haiti-reconstruction-a-step-towards-the-transformation-of-the-minsutah.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2404-haiti-reconstruction-no-to-the-transformation-of-the-minustah.html
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-2386-haiti-international-toward-a-transformation-of-the-minustah.html
| Haiti - Reconstruction : The prefabricated parliament, ready for April 20 02/04/2011 11:14:47 |
| Edmond Mulet, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Haiti, visited on Thursday, with the Secretaries of each House of Parliament, the construction site of the temporary buildings designed to house the Haitian Parliament. |
| Read more... |
| Haiti - Education : Digicel has already delivered 11 schools, 20 others are under construction 02/04/2011 09:39:08 | |
| The Digicel Foundation is continuing its reconstruction program by opening a new school in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)... | |
| Read more... |
| Haiti - Reconstruction : Shakira - IDB, $800,000 for Elie Dubois school 01/04/2011 05:43:22 |
| The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Colombian singer Shakira's Barefoot Foundation yesterday announced they will support the Haitian government's efforts to rebuild a historical public school... |
| Read more... |
| Haiti - Reconstruction : The ONA will invest $ 1.5 million in the Oasis Hotel Complex 31/03/2011 12:13:35 | |
| The Office National d'Assurance vieillesse (ONA) that collects funds to ensure the retirement of workers and employees of private and public sectors, will invest $1.5 million in the construction of the OASIS hotel complex... | |
| Read more... Source: Haiti Libre |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)