Between the seashores and the hills, from the rural regions to the abundant cities of Haiti, within passionate political debates and daily tensions, businesses continue as usual and many Haitians are not even aware that they are sitting on a timing bomb or missing the emergency signal of one of the country's current predicaments.

Mother Nature blessed Haiti of a virgin nature, which started to suffer the pressure of the French colonialists who cleared the country's forests to create sugar plantations and sold mahogany for export.

Many trees such as logwood, pockwood, taverneau, ironwood, mahogany, tandra for instances and many other plants have somewhat become isolated or on the verge of extinction. Remember, precious woods like pockwood, mahogany or logwood had contributed to the payment of the debt for Haiti's independence.

Since then, Haiti has inherited a succession of governments unwilling to bring back its forests because of influential interests tied to charcoal and lumber business. In the meantime, the heat is on, above and around Haiti's growing population of more than 8,000.000, the reverberation from the widespread tree-cutting industries is ticking amazingly like a timing bomb ready to explode.

With the current economic crisis, Haitian farmers and others have desperately turned to deforestation as their only source of income to feed their families and survive. That seems to infer they have, however, disregarded the unfathomable floods of 2004 that killed scores of people in Fonds-Verrettes and Gonaives, leaving many others homeless and dejected.

Furthermore, the lack of job opportunity and three-fourths of the Haitian population depending on charcoal to cook their food, and the quick cash crop generated by the tree-cutting industry, has made Haiti losing each year millions and millions of trees. According to Haitian environmentalists, there is today an average of 1.25% of lush forests remaining in Haiti compared to 80% that was available back to 1492.

Deforestation, a timing bomb that could easily transform Haiti into hell, goes on nevertheless at a fast speed further threatening the country's ecosystems and causing increasingly deadly flash floods and mudslides. Without tree roots, topsoil is eroded and quickly washed away. A ground deprived of topsoil can hardly absorb water, so when it rains, water flows deserted hills, submerges the plains and valleys, overflows the seashores to end up in the ocean where it chokes coral reefs as well as seafood. As a result, there wouldn't be anything left for Haiti's tourism and fishing industries.

One of the biggest and daunting challenges Haiti faces today is reforestation because the majority of the Haitian population depends heavily on charcoal to heat their rice, beans and other staple foods. On the other hand, many cannot afford the price of gas or kerosene, which is often more expensive than charcoal. Today, one needs more than 500 gourdes (around $14.00 US.-) to buy a 25 lbs. propane gas container. Knowing that the latter would last approximately 15 days depending on the type of cooking, many households would rather invest some money in charcoal, which is apparently more affordable for them. In addition, very low-income households cannot afford to purchase even local gas-stoves, which cost in Haiti from $30.00 US and up. Although a few local companies are making the effort to provide low-cost and efficient gas-stoves to Haitian consumers, there is still a long way to go.

In these instances, many organizations that promote the preservation of the environment in the country proposed the hydrocarbons' subvention program to protect the environment from being more deteriorated. They have long warned the Haitian authorities on this alarming situation and wish that the current government could hopefully launch a hydrocarbons subvention's program for low-income households.

Some experts also suggest that converting to solar and wind energy or using sugarcane pulp to run several charcoal-fired bakeries, dry cleaners and mills that provide clairin or tafia, could help ease dependence on charcoal.

Producing energy from alternative sources could be another positive step towards reducing Haiti's dramatic environmental degradation. Fuel alcohol (ethanol) substitute of gasoline, could be generated from sugarcane and sweet sorghum a variety of plant which is widely cultivated as grain and forage or as a source of syrup.

Biodiesel, substitute of imported gasoil and kerosene, could be made from castorbean oil and Jatropha Curcas shrubs. The oil extracted from the seed of Jatropha, which is found along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic could be transformed into biodiesel and used without modification as an alternative fuel for any diesel engine, as well as cooking and lighting purposes. This development could help restore the soil in Haiti that has been devastated by intense deforestation.

The Jatropha Curcas is a drought resistant plant that grows even in the desert climates and help alleviate soil degradation, prevents soil erosion and serves as an energy-producing living fence post. Many countries around the world like China, Brazil, India and so on have successfully developed alternative resources to bring back their forests.

In a worldwide approach, facing chaotic environmental disasters like Haiti, it is important to recall a self-national consciousness, a great sense of responsibility, a positive change of mentality in order to obtain immediate responses that could save the environment and help the country go forward. The environment is our richness and our future. Therefore, we must believe in it.