[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1023 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1023
To authorize the President to provide assistance to the Government of
Haiti to end within 5 years the deforestation in Haiti and restore
within 30 years the extent of tropical forest cover in existence in
Haiti in 1990, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 18, 2011
Mr. Durbin (for himself, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Kerry) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the President to provide assistance to the Government of
Haiti to end within 5 years the deforestation in Haiti and restore
within 30 years the extent of tropical forest cover in existence in
Haiti in 1990, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Haiti Reforestation Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) the established policy of the Federal Government is to
support and seek protection of tropical forests around the
world;
(2) tropical forests provide a wide range of benefits by--
(A) harboring a major portion of the biological and
terrestrial resources of Earth and providing habitats
for an estimated 10,000,000 to 30,000,000 plant and
animal species, including species essential to medical
research and agricultural productivity;
(B) playing a critical role as carbon sinks that
reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, as 1 hectare
of tropical forest can absorb up to approximately 3
tons of carbon dioxide per year, thus moderating
potential global climate change; and
(C) regulating hydrological cycles upon which
agricultural and coastal resources depend;
(3) tropical forests are also a key factor in reducing
rates of soil loss, particularly on hilly terrain;
(4) while international efforts to stem the tide of
tropical deforestation have accelerated during the past 2
decades, the rapid rate of tropical deforestation continues
unabated;
(5) in 1923, over 60 percent of the land of Haiti was
forested but, by 2006, that percentage had decreased to less
than 2 percent;
(6) during the period beginning in 2000 and ending in 2005,
the deforestation rate in Haiti accelerated by more than 20
percent over the deforestation rate in Haiti during the period
beginning in 1990 and ending in 1999;
(7) as a result, during the period described in paragraph
(6), Haiti lost--
(A) nearly 10 percent (approximately 11,000
hectares) of the forest cover of Haiti; and
(B) approximately 22 percent of the total forest
and woodland habitat of Haiti;
(8) poverty and economic pressures are--
(A) two factors that underlie the tropical
deforestation of Haiti; and
(B) manifested particularly through the clearing of
vast areas of forest for conversion to agricultural
uses;
(9) 80 percent of the population of Haiti lives below the
poverty line;
(10) two-thirds of the population of Haiti depend on the
agricultural sector, which consists mainly of small-scale
subsistence farming;
(11) 60 percent of the population of Haiti relies on
charcoal produced from cutting down trees for cooking fuel;
(12) soil erosion represents the most direct effect of the
deforestation of Haiti, as the erosion has--
(A) lowered the productivity of the land due to the
poor soils underlying the tropical forests;
(B) worsened the severity of droughts and flooding
events;
(C) led to further deforestation;
(D) significantly decreased the quality and, as a
result, quantity of freshwater and clean drinking water
available to the population of Haiti; and
(E) increased the pressure on the remaining land
and trees in Haiti;
(13) tropical forests provide forest cover to soften the
effect of heavy rains and reduce erosion by anchoring the soil
with their roots;
(14) when trees are cleared, rainfall runs off the soil
more quickly and contributes to floods and further erosion;
(15) in 2004, Hurricane Jeanne struck Haiti, killing
approximately 3,000, and affecting over 200,000, people, partly
because deforestation had resulted in the clearing of large
hillsides, which enabled rainwater to run off directly to
settlements located at the bottom of the slopes;
(16) research conducted by the United Nations Environmental
Programme has revealed a direct (89 percent) correlation
between the extent of the deforestation of a country and the
incidence of victims per weather event in the country;
(17) the consequences of the January 2010 earthquake in
Haiti, which destroyed much of the infrastructure of Port au
Prince, were greater because of deforestation which reduced
hillside stability and increased the likelihood of mudslides,
soil erosion, and flooding--factors that also negatively
impacted the water supply and heightened concerns for the
spread of waterborne diseases;
(18) finding economic benefits for local communities from
sustainable uses of tropical forests is critical for the long-
term protection of the tropical forests in Haiti;
(19) on July 29, 2010, the Supplemental Appropriations Act
of 2010 (Public Law 111-212) was enacted into law, which
included $25,000,000 for ``the reforestation and other
restoration of Haiti's key watersheds''; and
(20) tropical reforestation efforts would provide new
sources of jobs, income, and investments in Haiti by--
(A) providing employment opportunities in tree
seedling programs, contract tree planting and
management, sustainable agricultural initiatives,
sustainable and managed timber harvesting, and wood
products milling and finishing services; and
(B) enhancing community enterprises that generate
income through the trading of sustainable forest
resources, many of which exist on small scales in Haiti
and in the rest of the region.
(b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide assistance to
the Government of Haiti to develop and implement, or improve,
nationally appropriate policies and actions--
(1) to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in
Haiti;
(2) to increase annual rates of afforestation and
reforestation in a measurable, reportable, and verifiable
manner--
(A) to restore social and economic conditions for
environmental recovery of 35 percent of Haiti's land
surface area within 5 years after the date of enactment
of this Act;
(B) to restore within 30 years after the date of
enactment of this Act the forest cover of Haiti to at
least 10 percent of the land in Haiti; and
(C) to establish within 10 years after the date of
enactment of this Act agroforestry cover of land in
Haiti to more than 25 percent; and
(3) to improve sustainable resource management at the
watershed scale.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Afforestation.--
(A) In general.--The term ``afforestation'' means
the establishment of a new forest through the seeding
of, or planting of trees on, a parcel of nonforested
land.
(B) Inclusion.--The term ``afforestation''
includes--
(i) the introduction of a tree species to a
parcel of nonforested land of which the species
is not a native species; and
(ii) the increase of tree cover through
plantations.
(2) Agroforestry.--
(A) In general.--The term ``agroforestry'' refers
to systems in which perennial trees or shrubs are
integrated with crops or livestock, and where
perennials constitute a minimum 10 percent of ground
cover.
(B) Inclusion.--Actual forest cover resulting from
agroforestry programs can be counted toward the total
forest cover goal set forth in section (2)(b).
(3) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the
Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the
Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
(4) Deforestation.--The term ``deforestation'' refers to
the conversion of forest to another land use or the long term
reduction of the tree canopy.
(5) Forest.--
(A) In general.--The term ``forest'' means a
terrestrial ecosystem containing native tree species
generated and maintained primarily through natural
ecological and evolutionary processes.
(B) Exclusion.--The term ``forest'' does not
include plantations, such as crops of trees planted
primarily by humans for the purposes of harvesting.
(6) Reforestation.--
(A) In general.--The term ``reforestation'' refers
to the establishment of forest on lands that were
previously considered as forest, but which have been
deforested.
(B) Inclusion.--The term ``reforestation'' includes
the increase of tree cover through plantations.
TITLE I--FORESTATION AND WATERSHED MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE TO GOVERNMENT
OF HAITI
SEC. 101. FORESTATION ASSISTANCE.
(a) Authority.--
(1) In general.--In accordance with section 117 of the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151p) and consistent
with the provisions of paragraph (2), the President is
authorized to provide assistance to the Government of Haiti in
the form of financial assistance, technology transfers, or
capacity building assistance for the conduct of activities to
develop and implement 1 or more forestation proposals under
paragraph (2)--
(A) to reduce the deforestation of Haiti; and
(B) to increase the rates of afforestation and
reforestation in Haiti.
(2) Proposals.--
(A) In general.--Assistance under this title may be
provided to the Government of Haiti to implement one or
more proposals that contain--
(i) a description of each policy and
initiative to be carried out using the
assistance;
(ii) adequate documentation to ensure, as
determined by the President, that--
(I) each policy and initiative will
be--
(aa) carried out and
managed in accordance with
widely accepted environmentally
sustainable forestry and
agricultural practices; and
(bb) designed and
implemented in a manner by
which to improve the governance
of forests by building
governmental capacity to be
more transparent, inclusive,
accountable, and coordinated in
decisionmaking processes and
the implementation of the
policy or initiative; and
(II) the proposals will further
establish and enforce legal regimes,
standards, and safeguards designed to
ensure that members of local
communities in affected areas, as
partners and primary stakeholders, will
be engaged in the design, planning,
implementation, monitoring, and
evaluation of the policies and
initiatives; and
(iii) a description of how the proposal or
proposals support and aid forest restoration
efforts consistent with the purpose set forth
in section 2(b).
(B) Determination of compatibility with certain
programs.--In evaluating each proposal under
subparagraph (A), the President shall ensure that each
policy and initiative described in the proposal
submitted by the Government of Haiti under that
subparagraph is compatible with--
(i) broader development, poverty
alleviation, sustainable energy usage, and
natural resource conservation objectives and
initiatives in Haiti;
(ii) the development, poverty alleviation,
disaster risk management, and climate
resilience programs of the United States Agency
for International Development, including those
involving technical support from the United
States Forest Service; and
(iii) activities of international
organizations and multilateral development
banks.
(b) Eligible Activities.--Any assistance received by the Government
of Haiti under subsection (a)(1) shall be conditional upon development
and implementation of a proposal under subsection (a)(2), which may
include--
(1) the provision of technologies and associated support
for activities to reduce deforestation or increase
afforestation and reforestation rates, including--
(A) fire reduction initiatives;
(B) forest law enforcement initiatives;
(C) the development of timber tracking systems;
(D) the development of cooking fuel substitutes;
(E) initiatives to increase agricultural
productivity;
(F) tree-planting initiatives; and
(G) programs that are designed to focus on market-
based solutions, including programs that leverage the
international carbon-offset market;
(2) the enhancement and expansion of governmental and
nongovernmental institutional capacity to effectively design
and implement a proposal developed under subsection (a)(2)
through initiatives, including--
(A) the establishment of transparent, accountable,
and inclusive decisionmaking processes relating to all
stakeholders (including affected local communities);
(B) the promotion of enhanced coordination among
ministries and agencies responsible for agroecological
zoning, mapping, land planning and permitting,
sustainable agriculture, forestry, and law enforcement;
and
(C) the clarification of land tenure and resource
rights of affected communities, including local
communities;
(3) the development and support of institutional capacity
to measure, verify, and report the activities carried out by
the Government of Haiti to reduce deforestation and increase
afforestation and reforestation rates through the use of
appropriate methods, including--
(A) the use of best practices and technologies to
monitor land use change in Haiti, including changes in
the extent of natural forest cover, protected areas,
mangroves, agroforestry, and agriculture;
(B) the monitoring of the impacts of policies and
initiatives on--
(i) affected communities;
(ii) the biodiversity of the environment of
Haiti; and
(iii) the health of the tropical forests of
Haiti; and
(C) independent and participatory forest
monitoring; and
(4) the development of and coordination with watershed
restoration programs in Haiti, including--
(A) agreements with the Government of Haiti,
nongovernmental organizations, or private sector
partners to provide technical assistance, capacity
building, or technology transfers which support the
environmental recovery of Haiti's watersheds through
forest restoration activities, provided that the
assistance will help strengthen economic drivers of
sustainable resource management, reduce environmental
vulnerability, and improve governance, planning, and
community action of watersheds in Haiti;
(B) actions to support economic incentives for
sustainable resource management, including enhanced
incentives for the replacement of annual hillside
cropping with perennial and non-erosive production
systems;
(C) enhanced extension services supporting the
sustainable intensification of agriculture to increase
farmer incomes and reduce pressure on degraded land;
and
(D) investments in watershed infrastructure to
reduce environmental vulnerability, including the
establishment of appropriate erosion control measures
through reforestation activities in targeted watersheds
or sub-watersheds.
(c) Development of Performance Metrics.--
(1) In general.--If the President provides assistance under
subsection (a)(1), the President, in cooperation with the
Government of Haiti, shall develop appropriate performance
metrics to measure, verify, and report--
(A) the conduct of each policy and initiative to be
carried out by the Government of Haiti;
(B) the results of each policy and initiative with
respect to the tropical forests of Haiti; and
(C) each impact of each policy and initiative on
the local communities of Haiti.
(2) Requirements.--Performance metrics developed under
paragraph (1) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, include
short-term and long-term metrics to evaluate the implementation
of each policy and initiative contained in each proposal
developed under subsection (a)(2).
(d) Reports.--
(1) Initial report.--Not later than 18 months after the
date of enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to
the appropriate committees of Congress a report that describes
the actions that the President has taken, and plans to take--
(A) to engage with the Government of Haiti,
nongovernmental stakeholders, and public and private
nonprofit organizations to implement this section; and
(B) to enter into agreements with the Government of
Haiti under subsection (a)(1).
(2) Biennial reports.--Not later than 2 years after the
date on which the President first provides assistance to the
Government of Haiti under subsection (a)(1) and biennially
thereafter, the President shall submit to Congress a report
that describes the progress of the Government of Haiti in
implementing each policy and initiative contained in the
proposal submitted under subsection (a)(2).
(e) Additional Assistance.--The President is authorized to provide
financial and other assistance to the Government of Haiti, local
government bodies, or nongovernmental organizations for the purpose
of--
(1) providing local communities information relating to
each policy and initiative to be carried out by the Government
of Haiti through funds made available under subsection (a)(1);
(2) promoting effective participation by local communities
in the design, implementation, and independent monitoring of
each policy and initiative; and
(3) promoting, consistent with supporting the
sustainability of forestation activities, enhanced watershed
governance, national planning, and community action programs
that lead to increased--
(A) development of a national watershed management
policy for Haiti with the Inter-Ministerial Committee
for Land Management, the Ministry of Environment,
Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Planning
and External Cooperation;
(B) establishment of an effective forum for donor
coordination related to management and reforestation in
Haiti;
(C) support for the National Center for Geospatial
Information (CNIGS) to provide technology, data, and
monitoring support for improved watershed and forest
resource management at a national scale in Haiti; and
(D) development of effective governance structures
in Haiti for stakeholder engagement, coordination of
approaches, and land use planning and disaster
mitigation at the watershed scale.
TITLE II--GRANTS FOR REFORESTATION
SEC. 201. REFORESTATION GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--The President is authorized to establish a
grant program to carry out the purposes of this Act, including
reversing deforestation and improving reforestation and afforestation
in Haiti.
(b) Grants Authorized.--
(1) In general.--The President is authorized to award
grants and contracts to carry out projects that, in the
aggregate, reverse deforestation and improve reforestation and
afforestation.
(2) Maximum amount.--
(A) In general.--Except as provided in subparagraph
(B), the President may not award a grant under this
section in an amount greater than $500,000 per year.
(B) Exception.--The President may award a grant
under this section in an amount greater than $500,000
per year if the President determines that the recipient
of the grant has demonstrated success with respect to a
project that was the subject of a grant under this
section.
(3) Duration.--The President shall award grants under this
section for a period not to exceed 3 years.
(c) Use of Funds.--
(1) In general.--Grants awarded pursuant to subsection (b)
may be used for activities such as--
(A) providing a financial incentive to protect
trees;
(B) providing hands-on management and oversight of
replanting efforts;
(C) focusing on sustainable income-generating
growth;
(D) providing seed money to start cooperative
reforestation and afforestation efforts and providing
subsequent conditional funding for such efforts
contingent upon required tree care and maintenance
activities;
(E) promoting widespread use of improved cooking
stove technologies, to the extent that this does not
result in the harvesting of tropical forest growth and
other renewable fuel technologies that reduce
deforestation and improve human health; and
(F) securing the involvement and commitment of
local communities--
(i) to protect tropical forests in
existence as of the date of enactment of this
Act; and
(ii) to carry out afforestation and
reforestation activities.
(2) Consistency with proposals.--To the maximum extent
practicable, a project carried out using grant funds shall
support and be consistent with the proposal developed under
section 101(a)(2) that is the subject of the project.
(d) Application.--
(1) In general.--To be eligible for a grant under this
section, an entity shall prepare and submit an application at
such time, in such manner, and containing such information as
the President may reasonably require.
(2) Content.--Each application submitted under paragraph
(1) should be consistent with the findings of the 2007 United
States Agency for International Development report entitled,
``Environmental Vulnerability in Haiti: Findings and
Recommendations'', and shall include--
(A) a description of the objectives to be attained;
(B) a description of the manner in which the grant
funds will be used;
(C) a plan for evaluating the success of the
project based on verifiable evidence; and
(D) to the extent that the applicant intends to use
nonnative species in afforestation efforts, an
explanation of the benefit of the use of nonnative
species over native species and verification that the
species to be used are not invasive.
(3) Preference for certain projects.--In awarding grants
under this section, preference shall be given to applicants
that propose--
(A) to develop market-based solutions to the
difficulty of reforestation in Haiti, including the use
of conditional cash transfers and similar financial
incentives to protect reforestation efforts;
(B) to partner with local communities and
cooperatives; and
(C) to focus on efforts that build local capacity
to sustain growth after the completion of the
underlying grant project.
(e) Dissemination of Information.--The President shall collect and
widely disseminate information about the effectiveness of the
demonstration projects assisted under this section.
SEC. 202. FOREST PROTECTION GRANTS.
Chapter 7 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22
U.S.C. 2281 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 466 the
following new section:
``SEC. 467. PILOT PROGRAM FOR HAITI.
``(a) Submission of List of Areas of Severely Degraded Natural
Resources.--The President, in cooperation with nongovernmental
conservation organizations, shall invite the Government of Haiti to
submit a list of areas within the territory of Haiti in which tropical
forests are seriously degraded or threatened.
``(b) Review of List.--The President shall assess the list
submitted by the Government of Haiti under subsection (a) and shall
seek to reach agreement with the Government of Haiti for the
restoration and future sustainable use of those areas.
``(c) Grant Program.--
``(1) Grants authorized.--The President is authorized to
make grants on such terms and conditions as may be necessary to
nongovernmental organizations for the purchase on the open
market of discounted debt of the Government of Haiti, if a
market is determined to be viable, in exchange for commitments
by the Government of Haiti to restore tropical forests
identified by the Government under subsection (a) or for
commitments to develop plans for sustainable use of such
tropical forests.
``(2) Management of protected areas.--Each recipient of a
grant under this subsection shall participate in the ongoing
management of the area or areas protected pursuant to such
grant.
``(3) Retention of proceeds.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, a grantee (or any subgrantee) of the grants
referred to in section (a) may retain, without deposit in the
Treasury of the United States and without further appropriation
by Congress, interest earned on the proceeds of any resulting
debt-for-nature exchange pending the disbursements of such
proceeds and interest for approved program purposes, which may
include the establishment of an endowment, the income of which
is used for such purposes.
``(4) Termination of program.--The authority to make grants
under the pilot program shall terminate five years after the
date of the enactment of this Act. The authority may be renewed
for one additional five-year period during the 30-year
reforestation period targeted by this Act if the President
determines and certifies to Congress that the pilot program is
effective in meeting the goals of the Act and the commitment of
the Government of Haiti to returning land in Haiti to long-term
sustainable forests. The cumulative duration of the pilot
program may not exceed ten total years.''.
TITLE III--ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISION
SEC. 301. DELEGATION.
The President (or the Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development or the Secretary of State as the President's
delegee) may draw, as appropriate, on the expertise of the United
States Forest Service in designing and implementing programs pursuant
to this Act relating to reforestation, watershed restoration, and
monitoring of land use change.
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