Haiti is over 70% deforested. People in the countryside continue to cut down our precious trees because of lack of education on environmental issues and a lack of technology to provide other options. This deforestation has led to greater problems as the land erodes making agriculture difficult, damaging natural water sources, and leaving the people unprotected during hurricanes.
LaVallée was once a place of great natural beauty renowned for its great variety of fruit trees, especially mandarin, avocado, and mango. But as the hillsides continue to lose their trees, the region also looses that environmental richness that it once knew. LaVallee de Demain aims to help the area recapture that beauty.
This is why one of our first goals we are working on is to create a tree nursery to provide more trees for members of our community to plant. We have recently received 300 new tree saplings from our partners to begin our nursery. There are a variety of fruit trees including mandarin, mango, and avocado.