Poor Countries Can Have Smart Policies

"The solution for the crisis in Haiti should come from within the island" that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic, Johanna Mendelson-Forman, director of the United Nations Foundation's Peace, Security and Human Rights Programme, told IPS.

The United Nations Foundation was created in 1998 by U.S. media mogul Ted Turner, to support U.N. programmes.

Although Haiti remains the poorest country in the hemisphere, solutions are possible, said Mendelson-Forman, who was invited to Buenos Aires by the Woodrow Wilson International Centre.

She recommended a focus on development that sees Hispaniola Island as a whole, noting that while the Dominican economy is more advanced, the government in that country is afraid that if Haiti collapses, its failure would drag them both down.

On the Dominican side of the border are plantations of Jatropha curcas shrubs, which produce the physic nut (also known as Barbados nut), used to extract vegetable oil. The oil can be refined into biodiesel, an alternative fuel that could help ease dependence on costly oil imports, she said.

The idea, which has the support of Germany, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), and the private sector in the Dominican Republic, "is a development alternative that could also help restore the soil (in Haiti), which has been devastated by intense deforestation," she explained.

That is because the Jatropha curcas is a drought-resistant shrub that helps alleviate soil degradation, prevents soil erosion and serves as a natural boundary fence or live hedge.

Brazil, which heads up the international military mission in Haiti and has decades of experience producing fuel alcohol (ethanol) from sugar cane, can provide assistance in the form of know-how and experts, said Mendelson-Forman.

"The problem is that Haiti does not offer fast profits, which is why teams of experts specialising in development are needed, to carry this kind of project forward," she added. "Haitian entrepreneurs do not invest in their country, and it is unlikely that investment will come from abroad."

A development approach that focuses on Hispaniola Island as a whole can help boost cooperation between the two countries and the flow of international aid to the island, she argued. However, the government of the Dominican Republic cannot do it on its own. It needs support from the United Nations, the Organisation of American States (OAS), and the multilateral lending institutions, she underlined.

Mendelson-Forman said the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is very concerned about the soaring international oil prices and that it is especially interested in programmes for the development of alternative, sustainable sources of energy, she said in a presentation on the Buenos Aires campus of the Italian Universitá di Bologna.

In addition, some officials in Washington believe that support for alternative energy initiatives can help counteract Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's growing influence in the Caribbean, she said.

Chávez, who has close ties with Dominican President Leonel Fernández, is backing the installation of an oil refinery in that Caribbean nation.

Mendelson-Forman's presentation coincided with the end of a tour by Haitian president-elect René Préval that took him to Brazil, Chile and Argentina ahead of his Mar. 29 inauguration. The leader asked for assistance and cooperation from the three countries "to draw up a development-focused government programme," a source with the Argentine Foreign Ministry told IPS.

Haiti has been without a government since Feb. 29 of 2004, when democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown by armed opposition groups, backed by George W. Bush.

Préval has received strong support from the Brazilian government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, newly inaugurated Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, and Argentina's Néstor Kirchner. But the challenges he faces are many, and the support offered always seems to fall short.

In her presentation, Mendelson-Forman warned that Haiti runs the risk of becoming a "failed state", where neither government institutions nor civil society function effectively.

She stressed that Haiti remains the country with the highest rates of AIDS and illiteracy and the lowest life expectancy in the Americas.

Also see:

Wimpmedia Fail to Question Haiti Background, U.S. Intentions
http://www.progress.org/2004/sol130.htm

What You Should Know About Haiti
http://www.progress.org/2004/haiti01.htm

U.S. Policy Against Haiti
http://www.progress.org/2004/fpif46.htm

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Poor Countries Can Have Smart Policies

Alternative Energy Could be Great for Haiti

by Marcela Valente

Poor Countries Can Have Smart Policies Alternative Energy Could be Great for Haiti

by Marcela Valente

Poor Countries Can Have Smart Policies

Alternative Energy Could be Great for Haiti