Haiti Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

extensive deforestation (much of the remaining forested land is being cleared for agriculture and used as fuel); soil erosion; overpopulation leads to inadequate supplies of potable water and a lack of sanitation; natural disasters

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection

signed, but not ratified: Nuclear Test Ban

Climate

tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds

Land use

agricultural land: 66.4% (2018 est.)

arable land: 38.5% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 10.2% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 17.7% (2018 est.)

forest: 3.6% (2018 est.)

other: 30% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 59.7% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 2.47% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Food insecurity

severe localized food insecurity:due to high food prices, natural disasters, and worsening civil insecurity - about 4.9 million people are estimated to face severe acute food insecurity and were in need of urgent food assistance between March and June 2023; the high levels of food insecurity are the result of sustained economic downturn, reducing domestic food production, elevated food prices, fuel shortage and frequent natural disasters; the situation is exacerbated by worsening insecurity, which has limited access to essential services, including markets, caused population displacements and hampered delivery of humanitarian assistance (2023)

Revenue from forest resources

0.68% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 9.69 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 2.98 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 6.12 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 2,309,852 tons (2015 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 190 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 50 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 1.21 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

14.02 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)