DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

The Ministry of Environment announced that the country now has its first map of ecological conservation areas. The map is the result of the initiative “Mapping Nature for People and the Planet” implemented with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The mapping has produced three tools that will serve to strengthen territorial and sectoral planning:The map of Essential Life Support Areas (ELSA) developed in 2021The access and administration of the UN Biodiversity Lab platformThe capacity to develop other ELSA maps focused on different national or subnational priorities

During the presentation, Federico Franco, Deputy Minister for Protected Areas and Biodiversity, said the ELSA maps are very useful for conservation planning and sustainable use of biodiversity.

María Eugenia Morales, UNDP environment and sustainability program officer, explained: “The map of Essential Life Support Areas (ELSA) that we have presented has been developed by combining geospatial data...