The torrential rains that battered Haiti have left behind a trail of death, missing persons, and devastation. The provisional death toll stands at 42. Léogâne, in the West of the country, is one of the cities most affected by these severe weather conditions, for which the Risk Management and Disaster System had not issued any graded alerts to the population. Haitians were taken by surprise by flash floods, rising waters, and the accompanying misfortunes. As we mourn our dead, we must, even if it is not our forte, understand the failures and learn the lessons from this tragedy. The warning should have been issued. The usual barrage of information about these threats could have made a small difference here, where, despite everything, daring individuals were swept away while crossing swollen rivers. It is also a fact that elsewhere, this level of precipitation would have caused damage, floods, and landslides. But Haiti, let it be known, generally pays a heavier price for severe weather. The causes are known. The advanced degradation of our watersheds has been known for several decades. There is no scientific management of our wooded resources. We lack energy forests to meet a significant portion of our cooking energy needs. We burn millions of metric tons of trees.

The State and civil society witness the systematic plundering of parks and forests, designated as "protected areas" such as Macaya, La Visite, and Forêt des Pins. Ecosystems are being destroyed, leading to the disappearance of species that are natural regenerators of wildlife habitats. Populations whose long-term suicidal practices contribute to rising temperatures complain about episodes of drought. And the arable land, this "yellow blood" that we pretend to ignore along the coast, chronicles the decline of our agricultural productivity. On mountainsides, in valleys, in gorges, agriculture continues in the name of survival, just like the uncontrolled urbanization of our once agricultural plains, outside any land-use planning. In recent years, we no longer even talk about riverbank profiling or the rehabilitation of our hydrographic basins. The Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, and Public Works seem to have other priority projects. Along the coastline of the bay of Port-au-Prince, from Terre-Noire to Martissant 23, the number of canals obstructed by sediment and debris is countless. With the effects of climate change, weather events like those of this weekend are becoming increasingly regular occurrences. For the affected areas, Haitians will largely have to rely on themselves. Depots where civil protection and the World Food Programme had stored food and equipment were looted during last year's demonstrations.