During an interview with the Corripio media group, Environment Minister Miguel Ceara-Hatton described as unsustainable the present economic, social and institutional production model of the Dominican Republic. He called for an abrupt change to the way the country handles its present ecological footprint of production, consumption and final destination of wastes. “The challenge is how to learn to coexist with nature,” the Minister told the journalists. Ceara-Hatton has been on the job since mid-July 2022 when he was appointed after his predecessor was murdered, reportedly for not acquiescing to requested environmental permits.
Ceara-Hatton says the first step is to change the mindset of Dominicans so that sustainability becomes part of the Dominican culture. He mentioned how Dominicans changed their mindset in the past to adopt the use of seatbelts that are now generally accepted, despite much resistance at the start.
He said that generations of Dominicans have grown up with the perception that natural resources are infinite, and therefore do not have the vision of their rational use. He said the government now needs to enforce the protection of environment through legal means.
The Minister said that Environment Law 64-00 includes mechanisms for coercion that need to be applied while people here learn to live in a harmonious way with nature and learn to produce in a different way. He spoke of major changes such as in the way rice is produced by flooding to one by drip irrigation, for instance.
He spoke of finding solutions based on nature to take care for the coastline because the country depends on tourism. He spoke of caring for the river basins that now are drying up because businessmen do not understand the damages caused by removing the sand or cutting down trees. He says the country needs to manage its wastes and promote recycling.
He mentioned the high level of vulnerability of the island that is in the path of hurricanes and on important tectonic faults, and is among the first 15 most vulnerable countries. In addition, the DR shares the island with Haiti, one of the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the world.
He addressed climate change. “For climate change there is no single solution. Each country will have to adopt a different solution given its circumstances. We have to be creative and find our own way, have the capacity to analyze and respond, conserve protected areas, improve transparency and environmental permitting,” he said.
Regarding the “mafias” at the Ministry of Environment, he said he is leading a process to strengthen the legal aspects and 70 cases have already been filed with the Attorney General’s Office. He spoke of the new work table created with the Academy of Sciences.
He said the Ministry of Environment agency, the Environmental Protection Service (Senpa) has been strengthened.
Ceara-Hatton spoke at the Corripio Communications Group’s Weekly Luncheon when accompanied by deputy ministers René Mateo, of Soils and Water; José Elías González, of Forestry Resources; Federico Franco, of Protected Areas; José Ramón Reyes, of Coastal and Marine Resources, and Katia Gutiérrez, director of Communications.
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El Dia
29 September 2022