President Luis Abinader dedicated his first press conference of 2025 held on Monday, 13 January, to explain the giant steps taken by the Ministry of Environment to expedite permissions and enforce Environmental Law 64-00. The Ministry is now under Minister of Environment Paino Henriquez, appointed in August 2024.
The Monday, 13 January press conference is one that everyone living in the Dominican Republic should listen to in full. The presentation focused on new developments underway that will have an impact on everyone living in the country.
Among the announcements and statements is that the Ministry of Environment is working to ensure that the 60-meter beachfront in the Dominican Republic is respected and remains public space.
The press conference also covered the expansion of the co-management of protected areas to ensure sustainability of national parks. Henriquez announced that advances have been made for the co-management of leading Peravia province businesspeople for the Bani Dunes. “Sustainability will be achieved with the signing of the co-management agreement with the great leaders of Bani. The talks are well advanced. When the community is empowered, there is no turning back,” said President Abinader when addressing a journalist question on the Bani dunes that have been impacted by predators who fill trucks with sand to sell to commerce.
New environmental technological platforms were presented to the general public. These include the reduction to 10 days of the low-impact environmental permits that make up 70% of the permit requests made to the Ministry of Environment. This program is being tested and will be in effect as of 1 March 2025.
Environment Minister Paino Henriquez said that in 2019, 2,800 permits of this kind were issued. He explained that in 2024 the Ministry of Environment handled 5,700 permit requests and 7,000 renewal requests and issued 4,600 permits for projects with master plans that cover investments for RD$700 billion, including 10 solar power plants. The new technological platforms seek to respond to the doubling in the volume of permits given the boom in economic activity in the country.
The time-span for other permits is also being considerably reduced.
Other permits Will have standardized the started in November 2024 working with the InterAmerican Development Bank and will be a second phase with considerable reductions in the time to issue complex permits for larger projects.
The new platform will be a first in Latin America and uses robotics, data mining and artificial intelligence to automate the issuing of the permits, keeping to the rules and regulations.
The new System of Geographic Information (https://www.sigeord.ambiente.gob.do) is now available and people can consult the maps to ensure that the property they are about to purchase is not within a protected area. This seeks to avoid many fraudulent land sales that had been happening.
Also presented during the presentation and press conference were the efforts to reduce the impact of forest fires. This includes the setting up of two regional fire equipment centers in vulnerable areas to ensure fast transfers of needed equipment to the forest fire fighters.
The President also addressed the protection of mountain tops for water security. Henriquez spoke of the top priority for the country in preserving the capacity of mountains to conserve waters that are subsequently used for tourism, farming, industry. “Water is life,” said the Minister. He said the Ministry of Environment is working closely with the EgeHID, the government reservoirs agency. Traditional slash and burn practices and cattle ranching in mountain areas are a no no and are being combatted.
President Luis Abinader answered questions related to the predatory practices of construction aggregate companies. He equated many of these kingpins to drug capos. The President and Minister Henriquez explained that the solution is now to convince the aggregate companies to source aggregate from the sediment accumulated in the reservoirs. This is a win-win solution as the removal of the aggregate makes space for more water in the reservoirs, and is a low-cost environmentally-positive solution. The President also said the Senpa, the militarized environmental enforcement agency within the Ministry of Environment, is being reinforced to continue to crack down on irregular aggregate sourcing actions.
Also addressed is the recovery of the Ozama River as a touristic area for Greater Santo Domingo, with the activation of the Ozama cabinet.
Also addressed at the environmental presentation is the gradual shutdown of the Duquesa landfill in Santo Domingo that began after the site was intervened following the major fire in 2020 that filled Greater Santo Domingo with smoke. The landfill is now operating as a controlled dump, but it is subject to a gradual shutdown process expected to take another six or seven years. The dump handles around 5,000 tons of daily waste from Greater Santo Domingo.
30% of Dominican protected areas are located in the coastal waters and President Abinader and Minister Henriquez addressed the purchasing of new coast guard boats for patrols and equipping of coast guard service. The President said the coastal park areas are just as important as the land parks.
President Abinader said that the Pomier Caves in San Cristobal province, west of the capital city, will be protected, and Henriquez explained several studies have been carried out to define the protected areas and that there should not be aggregate mining in the area. “Pomier should be preserved as what it is a historic and cultural center of importance not only for the Dominican Republic, but for the entire region,” he said. He said the concluding results of the research into the management of this area should be available this January 2025.
Henriquez said that parallel with the talks with the aggregate companies, the Ministry of Environment has multiplied by four the number of environmental violation operations in the country, with 90 persons and companies taken to justice for violations, and 900 fines already issued with more than RD$100 million collected in fines in 2024. “The law needs to be complied with and we are working with the justice department,” he said. He called for “zero tolerance” in regard to past lenience in environmental crimes. Nevertheless, he admitted: “The challenge is enormous.”
President Abinader says that the sediments in the dams is equivalent to the demand for aggregates for five years.
The President and Minister of Environment spoke of environmental education programs that will be offered in afternoon classes at public schools together with the Ministry of Education as of the next school year. He said the focus is on creating awareness in the new generations.
During the press conference, the improvements in visitation facilities in national parks and the expansion of reforestation efforts with a 20-million plant program underway since 2023 were also explained to the general public.
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The press conference
14 January 2025