ID: 1806
Presenting Author: Abdel Abellard
Session: 709 - USAID’s ESIA Legacy and Looking Forward
Status: pending
Haiti collects only 12% of its waste, deepening health and environmental risks. Yet with stronger institutions, community action, and investment, sustainable solutions remain possible.
In the current context of escalating gang violence and internal displacement, mistrust in public institutions is at an all-time high. Haitian cities, marked by fragility, such as Cap-Haïtien, face intensified challenges in waste management. The country is confronting a sanitation crisis that threatens public health. A UNDP 2022 publication reveals that only 12% of solid waste is effectively collected. Key obstacles include weak institutional capacity, lack of resources, inadequate waste collection systems, and constraints posed by violent insecurity. Nevertheless, there is room for hope by meeting Haitian people where they are, in an inclusive and more effective manner. USAID support to the Delmas municipality through the LOKAL + project, aimed at improving local governance have identified key paths forward. A critical step forward: a former USAID ESIA officer authored an article, in Haitian Creole, in the main Haiti francophone news press to help more people understand environmental issues. This Lenouvelliste article highlights pathways to strengthen municipal institutions, leveraging local practical solutions, promoting decentralized governance, and seeking civil society support. Through strategic planning, enhanced governance, community participation, and targeted investments, improvements remain possible. Decentralization, domestic resources mobilization are key to the financing solutions going forward. The case of Haiti underscores the importance of ESIA practice in waste management that is integrated and context-sensitive in settings of multiple overlapping crises.
Abdel Abellard has 23+ years in international development, leading environmental safeguards, climate-smart agriculture, biodiversity conservation in housing, health, ports, and energy sectors.
Coauthor 1: Georges Jasme Revolus