In response to a complaint by a group of environmentalists expressing concern at the deforestation of the Bahoruco National Park, the Environmental Secretariat of DR-CAFTA says that it will request an answer from the Dominican Republic. In a letter dated 27 May 2016, signed by Jorge Guzman, the general coordinator of the Environmental Secretariat, states that the communication received from the SOS Ambiente RD fulfills the proper criteria. As part of their work as environmental defense activists, Carlina Duran and Chino Sing wrote to the Secretariat describing the Dominican Republic’s lack of compliance with the environmental legislation currently in effect for the Bahoruco National Park.
The Secretariat of Environmental Affairs is an international organization created within the framework of the Free Trade Treaty between the Dominican Republic, the Central America and the United States. It includes a chapter dedicated to the environment within the framework of free trade.
In the letter sent to the Secretariat, Duran and Sing revealed that at least 34 km? of the Bahoruco National Park have been stripped of their forest cover, mostly for illegal slash-and-burn agriculture. They point out that most of the destruction is centered on the broadleaf forests, which include the cloud forests.
The environmentalists express concern about the future sustainability of the National Park because of the thin layer of topsoil and the steep slopes of the terrain. Sing pointed out that these complaints about deforestation in this area date back more than 10 years and yet “the Ministry of the Environment has done nothing.”
