The Wildlife Without Borders Foundation has filed a complaint in the Dominican Republic in response to illegal cutting of trees in Dominican territory to produce charcoal for the Haitian market, as reported in Haiti Libre. The practice is causing considerable damage to the environment.
Foundation president Manuel Cruz Estevez said that the species cut include the Cambron (Prosopis juliflora), Campeche (Haemtoxilum Campechae), star apples, mango and pine in high demand in Haiti.
He said that the worst affected areas were the mouth of the Masacre River and in communities including Coco, Montecristi-Dajabon, Los Pinos, Loma de Cabrera, Santiago de la Cruz, El Cambronal, Capotillo and Tamarindo.
Cruz Estevez said that groups of Haitians crossed into Dominican territory, from the communities of Fort-Liberte, Ferrie, Limonade and Perches to cut wood, regardless of the species, and were building hidden furnaces and carrying a portion of the charcoal production on donkeys to Haiti.
As reported in Haiti Libre, Cruz Estevez called on the environmental protection authorities and Cesfront (Border Security Corps) to take action to protect forests in the region and to prevent the illegal charcoal trade from causing losses to the local ecosystems.
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-13115-haiti-environment-haitians-deforest-illegally-the-dominican-border-area.html