FoProBiM

Haiti’s Caracol Bay area is home to a large coastal population and one of the most productive coastal and marine ecosystems in the country. With sizable sea grass beds and coral reefs providing nutrition and protection for people and wildlife, for generations, residents have earned their livelihoods from fishing, salt production, charcoal production and smallholder farming. However, unsustainable use of resources and declining biodiversity poses serious threats to livelihoods and the environment.

FoProBiM, founded in 1992, is one of Haiti’s oldest environmental organizations. Its work is rooted in a simple philosophy: “never to impose, but to propose”; to search for solutions together, and to work together to achieve them. FoProBiM seeks to create ways people can learn how marine and coastal environments are negatively impacted by human activities, at the same time as they develop and implement solutions to those challenges. One area of focus is Haiti’s mangrove forests.

Mangrove forests are an important part of the ecosystem, protecting local marine life and acting as an erosion and flooding barrier between the land and sea. Due to rampant cutting of mangrove forests to make charcoal or sell firewood, fisheries have suffered and communities have been left increasingly vulnerable to floods. By working with local associations, FoProBiM is helping residents restore and protect the mangrove forests, while also developing new sources of income, such as beekeeping.

The Barr Foundation provided FoProBiM with two grants totaling $800,000 to support efforts in northern Haiti that advance sustainable alternative sources of income to coastal community stakeholders of Caracol Bay, while building beneficiaries’ knowledge and capacity to protect and manage open access resources, including mangrove forests.