Charcoal
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Baradères' most valuable "export"—other than its young people—appears to be charcoal.

Charcoal is in much demand throughout Haiti as fuel. It is made by chopping down trees and shrubs, sometimes even the roots, and partially burning this material in covered pits.

To meet rising demands, charcoal in Baradères and elsewhere is increasingly made from smaller trees and from the mangroves that line and protect riverbanks. As a result, erosion and flooding worsen, water becomes more polluted, and the bay of Baradères—at the river's mouth—becomes shallower.

The bay was once one of the country's deepest ports—over 50 feet deep on maps made only about a half century ago. Today, if you dare and if you must, you can cross much of the bay by slogging dangerously through the mud on its bottom.

Compared to many parts of Haiti, which are nearly bare of trees, Baradères still has a thick cover of crops, grass, shrubs and forest. But charcoal is a valuable commodity. It brings cash to those who can supply it—cash that will feed and clothe a family—for now at least, until everything that can be charred is stripped from the ground and nothing remains but mud and rock.

"In my community," coffee farmer Petuel Bruce told Just Haiti, "we don't know charcoal."

He and the other growers know they cannot grow coffee in the mountains if they cut down the trees that shade the plants. Their goal is the survival of their families—but their farming method helps the natural environment survive, by keeping the land covered with plants and trees that hold the soil in place and provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.

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Just Haiti works to alleviate poverty, hunger, violence, illiteracy and disease in Haiti by fostering small-business development, education programs, employment opportunity, infrastructure improvement and environmental quality. Just Haiti is a Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization.

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