The Ministry of Environment ordered 32 provincial environment offices to take advantage of the rains to intensify tree-planting efforts nationwide. Minister of Environment Bautista Rojas Gomez said that brigades working in the Quisqueya Verde program should accelerate their efforts given the favorable conditions created by the rains for planting. Trees are being planted at riversides to prevent erosion.
At the same time, the Committee of Communities United for the Defense of Loma Miranda denounced that the Ministry of Environment granted permission to businessman Frank Valdez to cut 3,600 trees as part of a new “ground management plan”, as reported in Diario Libre.
Escarlin Gutierrez, spokesman for the community group, said the landowner has been buying plots precisely where many of the important water sources are located. Gutierrez said they met with the director of Environment for the area and presented their complaint regarding the damages to be caused to the environment by the cutting of the trees. He was told that the Ministry had carried out a public hearing before granting the permit. Gutierrez, nevertheless, said that members of the Loma Miranda community were not invited. He called for Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez to suspend the permission for the cutting of trees. He also called for Congress to declare Loma Miranda a National Park to ensure its protection.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=392442&l=1
http://www.7dias.com.do/index.php/noticias/144101/Medio_Ambiente_llama_a_aprovechar_humedad_para_intensificar_reforestacion#.Ud9FG6WRPzI