Environment

  • Jean Wiener, Director of FoProBiM, and Greg Cronin
  • Greg standing among the vetiver that he planted 5 years earlier.
  • Caracol Industrial Park is located at the bottom center of this slide, and is newer than Google Earth data. It is located 2km from mangrove and 8km from the largest coral reef in Haiti. Yon Sel Lanmou is working to minimize environmental damage and maximize sustainable economic development and agriculture in this area.
  • Despite being severely overfished, this coral reef is very healthy, with many colonies of Acropora palmata, which is endangered in the US.
  • Yon Sel Lanmou wants to show these fishermen that there is an easier way to get fish... aquaponics. It is also better for the environment.
  • Rappers picking bugs, showing kids that ecology is cool.
  • Dimitri visiting the largest coral reef in Haiti.
  • Sailboat in Caracol Bay, now a marine park.
  • Sampling the Trou du Nord River.
  • Cut mangrove.
  • Cut mangrove waiting to be converted to charcoal.
  • Salt pans threaten mangroves. Wise site selection can balance the needs to make salt with the need to protect sensitive habitats.
  • Identifying bugs.
  • Our local guide and stakeholder.
  • Planting vetiver in camp.
  • Caracol Bay, now part of a marine protected area that Yon Sel Lanmou supported.
  • Debris in river that will eventually become marine debris.
  • The rugged mountain has too few trees.
  • Welcomed view after a hard day of work.
  • Vetiver grass 1 year after Greg and crew planted it.
  • Sailboat in the mangrove forest.
  • Charter sailboat.
  • River being used for bathing and laundry because of poor/lacking plumbing and water treatment infrastructure. This scene is likely to worsen with an influx of people into Caracol area.
  • Meg, Rafael, and Greg in front of the poster featuring the GIS database that they made for Haiti. GIS can be used for many purposes.
  • Land cover, just one of the GIS data layers that we have. Contact Greg Cronin if you have a project that would benefit from GIS.

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YSL Founder/President Greg Cronin is an applied ecologist at the University of Colorado Denver. Restoring and protecting ecosystem services in Haiti is a necessary part of improving the livelihood of Haitians.
During his first trip to Haiti, he created a program to revegetate an IDP camp with vetiver grass. Here is a short video about the project.
In 2013, Greg and YSL VP Dimitri Napoleon partnered with Jean Wiener, Director of the Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversite Marine (FoProBiM) to assess the health of the Trou du Nord watershed. This work helped establish the 230,000 acre Parc Marin des Trois Baies. Mr. Wiener has worked to protect Haiti’s coastline for decades, testament to what long, dedicated work can achieve. YSL is proud to work with him, and congratulate him on his Whitley Gold Award for conservation and Goldman Environmental Prize. Learn more about it here: http://whitleyaward.org/winners/conserving-haits-coastlines/
Yon Sel Lanmou created an Environmental Scholarship in Jean Wiener’s name. We congratulate Alexandra Pierre for receiving the 1st Jean Wiener Environmental Scholarship, that she will use to finish her Masters degree in Water and Environment from Haiti State University. She posted this on her Facebook page “I hope one day I will become a female “Jean Wiener” in the marine field, as the ocean has always been my passion as a young scientist.”

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