The deforestation of Haiti is one of the causes leading to the decrease of living conditions in Haiti.
As Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Americas, the Haitians routinely cut down the trees to burn them or turn them into charcoal and sell this. (National geographic daily news, 2010)
Due to this, Haiti became one of the most deforested countries in the world. (Country studies, 2011)
Between 1990 and 2010, Haiti lost an average of 750 ha, which is 0.65% per year. Haiti lost 12.9% of its forest cover, or around 15,000 ha in total in these 20 years. (Mongobay Haiti deforestation data, 2010). This deforestation ensures that soil looses moist of its water-holding capacity and therefore makes Haiti even more vulnerable for flash floods and frequent mudslides caused by heavy rain from tropical storms and hurricanes. The tsunami caused high amount of rubble and with this belongings flooded away. Unclear property rights and lack of land titles complicated shelter recovery efforts (UNHCR, UNAID 2010).
The distressed economy of Haiti is one of the reasons why 80% of the population lives in poverty. Haiti is the poorest nation of America, having a GDP of $12.44 billion. (CIA world Factbook, 2010) Being this underprivileged results in a low infrastructure. (USAID) Next to this, due to the poorness parents can not afford the costs of education of their children and let them stay at home to help them with manual labour. Private schools are the only schools in Haiti and very few families can afford even the most modest tuition. (Haiti Education Foundation, 2012)
The Haitians, humanitarian aid workers and many others are afraid that funds given by humanitarian organisations will end up in the pockets of the politicians.
Transparency International, a group that studies government corruption, rates Haiti's government as one of the world's most corrupt and least effective, despite efforts