Ministry of Environment is giving farmers in Los Haitises a deadline to harvest their crops. Farming is banned in the protected area. The Ministry issued the deadline on Thursday, 6 April 2017.
Given the lack of enforcement of the ban, farmers who had settled in the communities of El Coco, Caño Dulce, Higuerito, California Arroyón and Trepada Alta are now being given 120 days to harvest their last crops. Farmers in the communities of Los Limones, Pilancón and Laguna Cristal are being given 10 months to harvest their crops.
Environment Minister Domínguez Brito made the announcement during a press conference in which he launched the campaign “Plan de Rescate de Los Haitises.”
He spoke of the biodiversity and potential for ecotourism that the conservation of the Los Haitises National Park can bring. He highlighted the importance of conservation given the abundant amount of ground water in the aquifers within the Park.
In addition, Dominguez Brito highlighted the Park’s importance as the source of fresh water for the eastern provinces of the Santo Domingo, San Pedro de Macorís, Monte Plata and Hato Mayor. The Park’s water resources also supply the farm areas of Bajo Yuna between the provinces of María Trinidad Sánchez and Duarte.
The Ministry of Environment said that patrols would be reinforced and 21 control posts installed in coordination with the Ministry of Defense and the National Environmental Protection Service (Senpa) to regulate access to the protected area. He said 45 brigades will be entrusted with the ecological restoration of the areas that have been critically degraded by farming. He said that the residents in the area would be integrated in the conservation areas.
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Ministry of Environment
7 April 2017
