Environment Minister Orlando Jorge Mera returned to the Las Dunas de Las Calderas natural monument in Peravia province (Baní) for the third time and said that definitive actions have been taken to protect the natural monument. He announced guardhouses to control access to the sand extraction points detected in Operation Las Dunas.
“For years, mafias have commercialized illegal sand from the protected area Las Dunas de Las Calderas, in Baní. In this administration, we have decided to end this and bring to justice the criminals who affect the environment. There will be no environmental impunity,” said the official before several media. The minister said the efforts extend to the beach of Paya, in the east of the Peravia province, and the rivers of the province.
The official also visited the Luis Quinn National Park, in El Manaclar (north of Baní city), which was affected by a forest fire for almost a week. He committed to providing more resources to the park rangers to effectively protect the area. He pledged to create a forest fire department in the municipality of Baní.
After his visit to the national park, Jorge Mera went to the community of Los Yaguarizos, in the La Montería section, where he held a meeting with community members and agricultural producers of the area, as well as those of El Manaclar and El Recodo.
“I had a pending debt to come here not only because of the beauty of the Luis Quinn Park, but also because in the last few weeks we have taken action against situations that have been going on for many years without taking the corrective measures that correspond, which is to apply Law 64-00 in the province of Peravia,” he said.
On his side, Juan Tejeda, president of the Tourism and Production Cluster of Baní, took advantage of the moment to remind the minister of the Co-Management Plan of Las Dunas that the Cluster has proposed to the ministry and that is still in the study phase. Tejeda says the plan would help to avoid the incursion of the predators to this important natural resource.
Orlando Jorge Mera was accompanied on the tour by the Deputy Minister of Coastal Resources, José Ramón Reyes; the coordinator of the Provincial Directors, Luis Manuel Cuervo Desangles; the legal consultant, Edilio Florián; the person in charge of Communications, Katia Gutiérrez; the provincial director of Peravia, Patricia Báez Martínez; and the general director of Senpa, Colonel Ambioríx de Jesús Cepeda Hernández.
Read more in Spanish:
Ministry of Environment
Ministry of Environment
7 February 2022