ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the viability of the decentralized approach to increasing fuelwood supplies in Haiti. It describes Haiti's characteristics, which are often found in other less developed countries experiencing deforestation and are important to reforestation efforts in Haiti and other countries. The chapter provides a review of Haiti's past efforts at reforestation and an evaluation of the financial viability of increasing fuelwood supplies. It summarizes current thinking about arresting deforestation in Haiti and provides suggestions as to the most appropriate policies to pursue for dealing with Haiti's deforestation problem. Numerous fuel wood demand and supply options have been advanced in Haiti for alleviating the deforestation problem and mitigating its con comitant environmental impacts. Since much of the fuelwood consumed in Haiti is derived from public lands and forest reserves where there is little effective control over access, observed prices are very low and do not reflect the true scarcity value of the wood resource.
