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This petition focuses on goals for the rebuilding of Haiti which has been recently been struck by a devastating earthquake. 

Haiti has suffered from years of extreme deforestation which has caused Haiti 's topsoil to run-off into their rivers and out into the sea which has killed almost all fish and wildlife in Haiti 's rivers and coastal areas.

In 1923 over 60% of Haiti was covered with tropical forest by 2006 less than 2% was forested.

Much of the recent deforestation in Haiti is caused by the poor cutting down the few trees remaining for cooking fuel and to clear land for farming.

Eight solutions offered to stop deforestation in Haiti are:

1.) Solar rooftop panels to provide electricity for cooking, to stop the cutting down of trees for cooking fuel. Solar panels could be donated and installed by governments and private industry worldwide who produce solar panels/technology as part of earthquake relief. There are only 9 million people in Haiti (roughly the size of the Chicago metro area) so the costs of a worldwide effort to do this would not be too prohibitive.

2.) Community solar kitchens could be built in poor neighborhoods in Haiti  that whole neighborhoods could access for wood free cooking.

3.) Improvements in Haiti's sewege and water teatment systems as well as improving water drainage to stop water pollution, water stagnation and reduce disease. Also reducing fertilizer and pesticide usage which also pollutes rivers and coastal waters killing fish and other river/sea life.

4.) Appeal to the U.N. to lobby the nations that surround the Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to reduce their fertilizer and pesticides usage which kills fish. Fertilizer and pesticides usage in these nations drains from their rivers into the Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico creating enormous polluted dead zones negatively affecting Haitian fishing. On the southern coast of the United States where the Mississippi River drains into the Gulf of Mexico there is a polluted dead zone from U.S. fertilizer and pesticides run-off which is the size of the state of New Jersey. Reducing or stopping this fertilizer run-off will stop fisheries declines in the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean Sea where Haiti is located. Venezuela, Columbia and other Central and South American countries also have high rates of fertilizer and pesticides run-off that drains into the Gulf of Mexico and Caribean Sea.

5.) Conversion of the nations electrical grid to wind power which will enable the Haitian government to un-dam Haiti's rivers which will allow recovery of Haiti's river and coastal eco-systems/fisheries that have been damaged by river damming. This will alow the Haitian people to fish again and reduce reliance on farming which is further degrading the land.

6.) Focusing reforestation efforts first on deforested hills and mountainsides that drain water into rivers and streams. This will begin to stop soil run-off into rivers from these mountains which kills river and coastal fish and life. This reforestation should focus on remote and inaccessible mountainsides which cannot be easily deforested again

7.) A concerted government and private effort to educate Haitian citizens about why their nation no longer has any fish or trees and why their roads wash away when it rains. (this is caused by the lack of trees which would normally absorb the water run-off). 

8.) Democratic reforms so people can voice their displeasure when environmental destruction is happening in order to force their governmnet to take corrective action.

9.) Modernize Haiti 's electrical grid to a computerized "smart grid" to prevent bleeding off of electricity from ancient worn out electrical lines and for more efficient use of generated electricty. This can tremendously reduce waste and increase electricity available to the poor for cooking etc. Eventually solar and wind can provide such electricity without building more dams, coal fired power plants or cutting down trees.

Previous to the recent earthquake in Haiti , the country has been afflicted with one of the worst environmental catastrophes the world has ever known.

The entire country of Haiti been completely deforested at first by large commercial timber operations and than by the poor for cooking fuel.

The soil run-off from the deforested mountains and hills of Haiti which can no longer hold soil in place because of the lack of trees, has allowed/caused almost all the topsoil there to run into the rivers and out into the sea choking off and killing almost all river and coastal fish and wildlife.
 
The people of Haiti who once depended on fish as a mainstay of their diet then had to turn to further clearing of the land for small scale farming on almost every square inch of available land, which has further degraded the land and water.

This has also prevented reforestation efforts  because reforestation would reduce available farm land.

The Ararwak indians who once inhabited Haiti lived a life of incredible abundance by living mainly off the fish and seafood that the rivers and coastal areas of Haiti provided. Natural occurring plants and fruits provided for the rest of their diet and very little, if any, farming or clearing of land was needed. 

Europeans and others who later settled on the island quickly began abusing and exploiting the Arawaks and discarded the Arawak's way of life in favor of planting sugar cane, coffee, tobacco, cotton, clearing forests and damming rivers to generate power/electricity to process these crops and timber. African and Arawak slaves were used as labor to accomplish this destruction.

The Arawak indians are now extinct from Haiti and the greater Carribean where they once lived in great numbers.

As the unregulated and corrupt private and public exploitation/rape of the island's natural resources continued through the years the nation began to descend into an environmental apocalypse never quite seen before in the history of the world. 
 
Haiti was repeatedly hit by hurricanes in the last 5 years and now the devastating earthquake of 2010 has magnified Haiti 's environmental/poverty crisis to new levels.

Previous governments in Haiti have been noted for their corruption and neglect of their citizens and the environment of Haiti .

Recent reforms have been made, but great efforts remain to be made to insure that irresponsible environmental exploitation, neglect of the poor and corruption are stopped in Haiti through democratic reforms, proper governmental checks and balances and environmental education to let the people of Haiti and their government/private leaders know why there are no trees left on Haiti's land and no fish left in Haiti's rivers and coastal areas. Also to offer viable/practical solutions to stop the ongoing environmental destruction and provide life's neccessities to the poor in Haiti .

We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of the author of this petition.

This petition focuses on goals for the rebuilding of Haiti which has been recently been struck by a devastating earthquake. 

This petition also suggests potential solutions for restoring Haitian, Carribean and Gulf of Mexico fisheries.

Haiti has suffered from years of extreme deforestation which has caused Haiti 's topsoil to run-off into their rivers and out into the sea which has killed almost all fish and wildlife in Haiti 's rivers and coastal areas.

In 1923 over 60% of Haiti was covered with tropical forest by 2006 less than 2% was forested.

Much of the recent deforestation in Haiti is caused by the poor cutting down the few trees remaining for cooking fuel and to clear land for farming.

Nine solutions offered to stop deforestation in Haiti are:

1.) Solar rooftop panels to provide electricity for cooking, to stop the cutting down of trees for cooking fuel. Solar panels could be donated and installed by governments and private industry worldwide who produce solar panels/technology as part of earthquake relief. There are only 9 million people in Haiti (roughly the size of the Chicago metro area) so the costs of a worldwide effort to do this would not be too prohibitive.

2.) Community solar kitchens could be built in poor neighborhoods in Haiti  that whole neighborhoods could access for wood free cooking.

3.) Improvements in Haiti's sewege and water teatment systems as well as improving water drainage to stop water pollution, water stagnation and reduce disease. Also reducing fertilizer and pesticide usage which also pollutes rivers and coastal waters killing fish and other river/sea life.

4.) Appeal to the U.N. to lobby the nations that surround the Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico to reduce their fertilizer and pesticides usage which kills fish. Fertilizer and pesticides usage in these nations drains from their rivers into the Carribean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico creating enormous polluted dead zones negatively affecting Haitian fishing. On the southern coast of the United States where the Mississippi River drains into the Gulf of Mexico there is a polluted dead zone from U.S. fertilizer and pesticides run-off which is the size of the state of New Jersey. Reducing or stopping this fertilizer run-off will stop fisheries declines in the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean Sea where Haiti is located. Venezuela, Columbia and other Central and South American countries also have high rates of fertilizer and pesticides run-off that drains into the Gulf of Mexico and Caribean Sea.

6.) Conversion of the nations electrical grid to wind power which will enable the Haitian government to un-dam Haiti's rivers which will allow recovery of Haiti's river and coastal eco-systems/fisheries that have been damaged by river damming. This will alow the Haitian people to fish again and reduce reliance on farming which is further degrading the land.

7.) Focusing reforestation efforts first on deforested hills and mountainsides that drain water into rivers and streams. This will begin to stop soil run-off into rivers from these mountains which kills river and coastal fish and life. This reforestation should focus on remote and inaccessible mountainsides which cannot be easily deforested again

8.) A concerted government and private effort to educate Haitian citizens about why their nation no longer has any fish or trees and why their roads wash away when it rains. (this is caused by the lack of trees which would normally absorb the water run-off). 

9.) Democratic reforms so people can voice their displeasure when environmental destruction is happening in order to force their governmnet to take corrective action.

10.) Modernize Haiti 's electrical grid to a computerized "smart grid" to prevent bleeding off of electricity from ancient worn out electrical lines and for more efficient use of generated electricty. This can tremendously reduce waste and increase electricity available to the poor for cooking etc. Eventually solar and wind can provide such electricity without building more dams, coal fired power plants or cutting down trees.

Previous to the recent earthquake in Haiti , the country has been afflicted with one of the worst environmental catastrophes the world has ever known.

The entire country of Haiti been completely deforested at first by large commercial timber operations and than by the poor for cooking fuel.

The soil run-off from the deforested mountains and hills of Haiti which can no longer hold soil in place because of the lack of trees, has allowed/caused almost all the topsoil there to run into the rivers and out into the sea choking off and killing almost all river and coastal fish and wildlife.
 
The people of Haiti who once depended on fish as a mainstay of their diet then had to turn to further clearing of the land for small scale farming on almost every square inch of available land, which has further degraded the land and water.

This has also prevented reforestation efforts  because reforestation would reduce available farm land.

The Ararwak indians who once inhabited Haiti lived a life of incredible abundance by living mainly off the fish and seafood that the rivers and coastal areas of Haiti provided. Natural occurring plants and fruits provided for the rest of their diet and very little, if any, farming or clearing of land was needed. 

Europeans and others who later settled on the island quickly began abusing and exploiting the Arawaks and discarded the Arawak's way of life in favor of planting sugar cane, coffee, tobacco, cotton, clearing forests and damming rivers to generate power/electricity to process these crops and timber. African and Arawak slaves were used as labor to accomplish this destruction.

The Arawak indians are now extinct from Haiti and the greater Carribean where they once lived in great numbers.

As the unregulated and corrupt private and public exploitation/rape of the island's natural resources continued through the years the nation began to descend into an environmental apocalypse never quite seen before in the history of the world. 
 
Haiti was repeatedly hit by hurricanes in the last 5 years and now the devastating earthquake of 2010 has magnified Haiti 's environmental/poverty crisis to new levels.

Previous governments in Haiti have been noted for their corruption and neglect of their citizens and the environment of Haiti .

Recent reforms have been made, but great efforts remain to be made to insure that irresponsible environmental exploitation, neglect of the poor and corruption are stopped in Haiti through democratic reforms, proper governmental checks and balances and environmental education to let the people of Haiti and their government/private leaders know why there are no trees left on Haiti's land and no fish left in Haiti's rivers and coastal areas. Also to offer viable/practical solutions to stop the ongoing environmental destruction and provide life's neccessities to the poor in Haiti .

We the undersigned agree with the sentiments of the author of this petition.

The EU foreign ministers must announce an immediate ban on any new adoptions into Europe of children who have been separated from their relatives in Haiti, say Save the Children and World Vision.

Aid agencies and the Government must be given the chance to conduct full and exhaustive searches to reunite families following the earthquake, before any international adoption ban could be lifted. Separated and orphaned children must be registered and interim arrangements made for them to be cared for, ideally by their extended families or those close to them. Earmarked funding is urgently needed to scale up these efforts.

Save the Children believes adoptions that were already being processed should go ahead, as long as the appropriate legal documentation is in place and the adoptions meet Haitian and international law. However the chaos of the earthquake, which destroyed records as well as infrastructure, means that children could be taken out of the country without proper checks going ahead. It can costs thousands of pounds to internationally adopt a child yet that money could help a whole school of children remain in their communities.

Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children, said: "Many families in Europe will see the suffering of Haitian children who have been separated from their parents, and want to do something to help. But trying to adopt children who most likely still have parents or relatives alive and are desperate to be reunited with them is not the solution. Taking children out of the country would permanently separate children from their families - a separation that would compound the acute trauma they are already suffering and inflict long-term damage on their chances of recovery."

Save the Children and World Vision's experience following previous disasters such as the Pakistan earthquake and the Asian tsunami has found that children have been unnecessarily adopted or placed in orphanages without extensive checks being done to see if there were relatives that could care for them instead.

Without proper focus on family tracing and a immediate ban on new adoptions, child trafficking - already a major problem in Haiti - could increase, warns the aid agencies.

Jasmine Whitbread continued: "EU ministers must act now to ban any new adoptions into Europe and support the Haitian government to put trained personnel on the country's borders to prevent the illegal movement of children, and to rebuild their child protection systems so that the circumstances of individual children can be properly assessed and recorded."

Save the Children and World Vision are also calling for international focus to remain on reuniting children in Haiti, and for the Haitian government to declare an immediate moratorium on any new adoptions of children left on their own until full extended family tracing and reunification has been completed.

World Vision Chief Executive Justin Byworth said: "Children should not be leaving Haiti at this stage except with surviving family members or if adoptions already in process have full required legal documents. Thousands of children have been separated from their families and primary caregivers due to the earthquake and more than half a million children were already separated either living on the streets or in orphanages, or working as restaveks in private homes away from their families.

"As well as supporting the efforts of aid agencies and the Haitian governnment to identify separated children and conduct family tracing and reunification, as well as finding and funding appropriate care arrangements for them, we would urge EU ministers to push for the rapid establishment of a public complaints and response mechanism within Haiti for reporting and responding to sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking."

Save the Children and World Vision have teams on the ground identifying lone children and Save the Children is launching an emergency family tracing and reunification programme to reunite families and help put in place long-term support for their care.