Community-Based Environmental Management: A Tool For Natural Disaster Risk Reduction In Haiti?

Abstract

This report provides an in-depth analysis of how Haiti can successfully apply community-based environmental management as a tool for reducing its risks to natural disasters. The approach to answer this policy challenge is three-pronged. First, this report analyzes Haiti’s disaster risk profile and establishes the various linkages between environmental degradation and natural disasters. Second, the report utilizes community-based environmental management literature and worldwide ‘Best Practice Examples’ of local disaster risk reduction initiatives to create a framework for risk-reducing community-based environmental management. Third, the report evaluates the soundness of this new framework by applying it to one Haitian community – Fondwa. On a more global scale, this study contributes valuable information on how communities can adapt and implement community-based environmental management practices in order to reduce their vulnerabilities to disaster impacts while simultaneously tackling environmental degradation.