Managing a Forest Reserve Severely Affected by Illegal Logging and Farming. Based on Research in Haiti.

Forest reserves in developing countries can have severe problems with illegal logging and farming, and addressing these problems is complex. I worked in Haiti in 1997 as a forestry consultant for the Forest and Parks Protection Technical Assistance Project, financed by the World Bank. I offered recommendations for the management of a forest reserve (Foret des Pins) that was experiencing the problems mentioned above. I prepared a detailed report that included recommendations and a draft management plan for the reserve (Buffum 1997). Since the reserve was in a state of crisis, I recommended that the project initially focus on issues that could be handled without increasing the already severe conflict with local villagers, and move on to other issues after a few years. In 2006, I produced this modified report about the Haitian reserve, which focusses on issues that are relevant for other countries, and is much shorter than my original 1997 report.