19–010 

Calendar No. 399 

112TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 112–165 

HAITI REFORESTATION ACT OF 2011 

MAY 15, 2012.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. KERRY, from the Committee on Foreign Relations, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 1023] 

The Committee on Foreign Relations, having had under consideration the bill 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, reports favorably thereon and recommends that the bill do pass. 

CONTENTS 

Page 

I. Purpose ........................................................................................................... 1 

II. Committee Action .......................................................................................... 1 

III. Discussion ....................................................................................................... 1 

IV. Cost Estimate ................................................................................................. 3 

V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact .................................................................. 6 

VI. Changes in Existing Law .............................................................................. 6 

I. PURPOSE

The purpose of S. 1023 is to provide assistance to the Government of Haiti to develop and implement, or improve, nationally appropriate policies and actions to reduce deforestation and forest 

degradation and to increase afforestation and reforestation in a 

measurable, reportable and verifiable manner. 

II. COMMITTEE ACTION

S. 1023 was introduced by Senators Durbin, Kerry, and Collins 

on May 18, 2011. On February 14, 2012, the committee ordered S. 

1023 reported favorably by voice vote. Senator Risch asked to be 

recorded as voting against the legislation. 

III. DISCUSSION

Haiti was once a significantly forested area with tropical forests 

covering 60 percent of the country in 1923. After years of deforestation and forest degradation, less than 2 percent of these forests 

remain. During the period beginning in 2000 and ending in 2005, 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS
2 

the deforestation rate accelerated by more than 20 percent over the 

deforestation rate in Haiti between 1990 and 1999. 

The impact of Haiti’s deforestation includes widespread soil erosion, destruction of the natural barriers from hurricanes, and continuing poverty. Consequently, this soil erosion makes the island 

more vulnerable to floods and mudslides. For example, in 2004, 

Hurricane Jeanne hit Haiti, killing approximately 3,000 people and 

displacing over 200,000 more, as mud covered Gonaives, Haiti’s 

sixth-largest city, turning it into a swamp of debris. 

S. 1023, the Haiti Reforestation Act of 2011 (the ‘‘Act’’), authorizes assistance to the Government of Haiti to implement proposals 

that support governmental and nongovernmental institutional capacity to reduce deforestation and increase afforestation and reforestation rates in measurable, verifiable and reportable ways. This 

Act does not authorize any new spending but is intended to help 

provide guidance for existing funds for Haiti and its reconstruction. 

The Act would provide a framework with which the United 

States may work with the Haitian Government to develop Haitiappropriate forest-management plans that can be implemented in 

incremental ways. Eligible activities include fire reduction, forest 

monitoring, market-based reforestation, and watershed restoration. 

The need for such activities in Haiti has become even more acute 

given the spate of natural disasters that have struck the island in 

the last decade. Where trees once provided cover from torrential 

rains and gave root structure to the soil, mudslides have destroyed 

houses and schools. The United Nations Environmental Program 

has found that the number of victims per extreme weather event 

is directly correlated to the extent of deforestation in a country. If 

Haiti’s tropical forests are protected and in some cases regrown, 

these efforts would help address the destructive effects of soil erosion and mitigate the effects from severe natural disasters that are 

exacerbated by the severely deforested land. 

The committee intends that the Haiti Reforestation Act will help 

strengthen U.S. assistance to Haiti by promoting activities and 

directing funding toward efforts that support long-term sustainability. The committee notes that in past years, efforts by USAID 

and other agencies to implement development assistance in Haiti 

have not always been integrated between environmental and development programs. It is important that all U.S. government efforts 

related to the rebuilding of Haiti are integrated within a broader 

country development framework and reflect needs and priorities 

identified by the country in question. 

The committee also recognizes that promoting reforestation in 

Haiti is a necessary step toward achieving related development 

goals in the country, such as agricultural development, improvements in public health, infrastructure, and education, and building 

a stronger economy. Similarly, reforesting and protecting Haiti’s 

tropical forests can also benefit Haiti’s freshwater sources and irrigable land. 

S. 1023 vests authority in the President to provide necessary 

resources to the Government of Haiti to carry out critical policies, 

reforms, and investments in areas that promote reforestation and 

afforestation. 

A summary of certain sections of S. 1023 is below: 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS
3 

Better Governance for Haiti. Section 101 authorizes assistance for 

the Government of Haiti provided that the Haitian Government’s 

proposals for assistance include specific transparency and governance criteria, including the availability of legal regimes, standards 

and safeguards for local communities and primary stakeholders, 

and transparent documentation to ensure that policies being proposed are or can be implemented. Assistance under the Act is to 

be harmonized with the United States broader development and 

environmental objectives and initiatives in Haiti. The list of eligible 

activities is meant to highlight activities that promote forest restoration, rehabilitation and sustainable growth. The committee also 

notes that activities promoting the environmental recovery of 

watersheds through forest restoration and sustainable resource 

management can yield significant benefits to local communities by 

reducing the environmental vulnerability of these areas to debilitating impacts such as mudslides. 

Reporting. Section 101 also requires an initial report to the appropriate congressional committees on the actions the President 

has taken, or plans to take, to engage key stakeholders in Haiti, 

including the Government of Haiti and Haitian civil society. The 

Act also requires biennial reports to Congress on the progress that 

the Government of Haiti is making on implementing the policies 

and initiatives contained in the proposals submitted for assistance 

under this Act. 

Grants for Reforestation Program. Section 201 provides that the 

President may establish a grant program to reverse deforestation 

and improve reforestation and afforestation. The purpose of this 

program is to create additional opportunities for the United States 

government to support programs and policies that promote activities that result in increased forest coverage or reduced deforestation. A preference is given toward projects that develop sustainable market-based solutions partnering with local communities and 

cooperatives. These types of solutions have been successful in other 

parts of the world, and it is the expectation that they can also be 

successful in Haiti. The Act also provides for the establishment of 

forest protection grants that may be given to nongovernmental 

organizations for the purchase of discounted commercial debt of 

Haiti in exchange for commitments by the Government of Haiti to 

restore forests or develop sustainability plans for those forests. 

This authority is intended to build upon and incorporate the successes of debt-for-nature programs in other regions. 

IV. COST ESTIMATE

In accordance with Rule XXVI, paragraph 11(l) of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the committee provides this estimate of the 

costs of this legislation prepared by the Congressional Budget 

Office. 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS
4 

UNITED STATES CONGRESS, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, Washington, DC, March 28, 2012. 

Hon. JOHN F. KERRY, 

Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations, 

U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1023, the Haiti Reforestation Act of 2011. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Sunita D’Monte. 

Sincerely, 

DOUGLAS W. ELMENDORF. 

Enclosure. 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

S. 1023—Haiti Reforestation Act of 2011 

AS ORDERED REPORTED BY THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN

RELATIONS ON FEBRUARY 14, 2012

SUMMARY 

S. 1023 would authorize assistance to Haiti to reduce deforestation, increase efforts to restore forest cover, and improve management of natural resources. The bill would set specific targets for 

those efforts: promote the environmental recovery of 35 percent of 

Haiti’s land area within 5 years, restore forest cover to at least 10 

percent of Haiti within 30 years, and increase agroforestry (the simultaneous production of trees with crops or livestock) cover to 

more than 25 percent of Haiti within 10 years. CBO estimates that 

implementing S. 1023 would require appropriations of about $780 

million and have a discretionary cost of about $460 million over the 

2013–2017 period. (The remainder would be spent after 2017.) 

Pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply to this legislation because 

it would not affect direct spending or revenues. 

S. 1023 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) 

and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

ESTIMATED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

The estimated budgetary impact of S. 1023 is shown in the following table. The costs of this legislation fall within budget function 150 (international affairs). 

[By fiscal year, in millions of dollars] 

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2013- 

2017 

Environmental Recovery 

Estimated Authorization Level .... 136 138 140 142 145 701 

Estimated Outlays ....................... 10 57 100 117 127 411 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS
5 

[By fiscal year, in millions of dollars] 

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2013- 

2017 

Grant Programs 

Estimated Authorization Level .... 15 15 15 16 16 77 

Estimated Outlays ....................... 1 6 11 13 14 45 

Total Changes 

Estimated Authorization Level 151 153 155 158 161 778 

Estimated Outlays .................. 11 63 111 130 141 456 

BASIS OF ESTIMATE 

For this estimate, CBO assumes that S. 1023 will be enacted by 

the end of 2012, that the necessary amounts will be appropriated 

each year, and that outlays will follow historical spending patterns 

for existing programs. 

Environmental Recovery 

Title I would authorize assistance for the environmental recovery 

of Haiti. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) 

has ongoing programs aimed at environmental recovery and restoration of tree cover in Haiti: the Watershed Initiative for 

National Natural Environmental Resources project (WINNER) and 

the Economic Development for a Sustainable Environment project 

(DEED; the acronym is based on its French title). WINNER is a 

five-year project while DEED is a three-year project. Both projects 

use market-based approaches to improve agricultural production 

and the management of natural resources. They have a combined 

budget of about $145 million and cover about 9 percent of Haiti’s 

land area, with an average cost of about $580 per hectare of land. 

(A hectare is roughly 2.47 acres.) 

Based on information about the WINNER and DEED projects, 

CBO expects that USAID would build upon existing efforts by 

using those projects as templates to meet the bill’s goals; in particular, to achieve the goal of recovering 35 percent of Haiti’s land 

area—about 970,000 hectares—within five years. CBO assumes 

that each year over the 2013–2017 period, the Congress would 

appropriate the amounts necessary for USAID to initiate projects 

to achieve one-fifth of that goal (194,000 hectares). After increasing 

the average cost for the WINNER and DEED projects to account 

for the shorter time-frame envisioned under the bill, CBO estimates that implementing title I would cost an average of $700 per 

hectare in 2013, and require appropriations of $136 million that 

year. On that basis, and adjusting for expected inflation, CBO 

estimates that implementing title I would cost $411 million over 

the 2013–2017 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary 

amounts. 

Grant Programs 

Title II would authorize two grant programs to reverse deforestation and promote reforestation (establishing a forest on land that 

was previously forested) and afforestation (establishing a new forest on unforested land). CBO expects that those programs would be 

aimed at preserving existing natural forests, reforesting land, and 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS
6 

developing sustainable economic activities in areas surrounding 

forests. Based on information from USAID, CBO estimates that implementing title II would require annual appropriations of about 

$15 million a year and cost $45 million over the 2013–2017 period, 

assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. 

PAY-AS-YOU-GO CONSIDERATIONS 

None. 

INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND PRIVATE-SECTOR IMPACT 

S. 1023 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA and would impose no costs on state, 

local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate for Federal Costs is 

Sunita D’Monte, for Impact on State, Local, and Tribal Governments is J’nell L. Blanco, and for Impact on the Private Sector is 

Marin Randall. The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis 

V. EVALUATION OF REGULATORY IMPACT

Pursuant to Rule XXVI, paragraph 11(b) of the Standing Rules 

of the Senate, the committee has determined that there is no regulatory impact as a result of this legislation. 

VI. CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with Rule XXVI, paragraph 12 of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill, as 

reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted 

is enclosed in black brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman). 

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1961 

* * * * * * * 

PART I

* * * * * * * 

CHAPTER 7. DEBT-FOR-NATURE EXCHANGES

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 466. PILOT PROGRAM FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 

* * * * * * * 

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.— 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS
7 

(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 debtfor-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. 

Æ 


tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with REPORTS