Reporter Carlos M. Batista of Diario Libre reveals just how much damage is being done to the very unique Los Haitises National Park. The park is protected under laws 202-04 and 64-00 as well as by Articles 14 and 16 of the Dominican Constitution. None of this really matters, reports Batista.
He highlighted in the feature that because of its location besides the Samana Bay and its dense forests, the area attracts clouds that deliver rains that are stored in the underground caverns of that national park. The Los Haitises National Park is a limestone karst plateau with conical hills, sinkholes and caverns and is regarded as an important reservoir for drinking water. The area has an annual precipitation estimated at around 2,000 mm (79 in).
The importance of the park area is that the clouds it attracts also move on to other forest areas that are equally protected by laws and located in the center of the island: Valle Nuevo, Ebano Verde, Las Neblinas, J. Armando Bermudez, Montaña La Humeadora and many others.
The reporter details how he flew over the area, noting that from afar, he and his team could see the smoke from the fires of the “slash and burn” farmers and much human activity in the entire region. During the flight, the reporter took over 100 photographs of the fires, huts, and of cattle and pigs in the park where all human activity is banned.
Environmentalists have been critical of the new Environment Minister Angel Estévez, saying he is the first minister to foster agriculture over environment protection.
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Diario Libre
Diario Libre
4 March 2019