With the participation of representatives of civil society organizations and the private sector, the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Miguel Ceara Hatton, led the signing of three new co-management agreements for the protection and sustainable management of protected areas.
The co-management will be for the Loma Novillero Forest Reserve, in San Cristóbal province; the Loma Los Sietes Picos National Park, which includes Santo Domingo, Monte Plata, San Cristóbal and Monseñor Nouel, and the Miguel Domingo Fuerte Natural Monument, in Barahona.
Ceara Hatton emphasized that the signing of the agreements represents an advance in the institution’s commitment to the protection of natural resources. “For me it is a moment of great satisfaction to know that we are moving in this direction; one of the priority issues of management,” said the minister, who recalled the environmental challenges facing the country and the world with issues such as climate change.
The signing of the agreement, which took place in the Multipurpose Hall of the Environment, was attended by the Vice Minister of Protected Areas and Biodiversity, Federico Franco; José Pastor Ramírez, of the Foundation for the Development of Villa Altagracia (Fudeva); Eladio Antonio Capellán Mejía, of the Federation of Neighborhood Councils of Villa Altagracia (Fejudeva), and the representative Sergio Augusto González Rodríguez.
In addition, Andrés Napoleón Romero Cárdenas, of the Fundación de Apoyo al Suroeste (Fundasur), and Marco Antonio Pérez, of the Fundación Universitaria Católica Tecnológica de Barahona (Fucateba); Maltiano Moreta Matos, of the Sociedad Ornitológica Sociedad Ecológica de Paraíso (Soepa), and Jaime Alfonso Moreno Portalatín, of the Sociedad Ornitológica de la Hispaniola (SOH Conservación) also signed.
The Loma Novillero Forest Reserve and the Loma Los Sietes Picos National Park will be co-managed by the Salesian Don Bosco Foundation, Fudeva and Fejudeva; while for the Miguel Domingo Fuerte Natural Monument, Fundasur, Fucateba, Soepa and SOH Conservación will be involved.
The co-management agreements are based on fundamental contracts that establish a strategic collaboration between the Dominican government and private entities, defining shared roles and responsibilities for the conservation of vital ecosystems. This management model strengthens biodiversity protection and promotes the sustainable development of local communities.
About the protected areas
Loma Novillero Forest Reserve
The Loma Novillero Forest Reserve is located near the north of the city of Villa Altagracia. It belongs to the Yamasá mountain range and occupies a portion of its southwestern end. Until the 1970s, Loma Novillero had a pasture cover and was used mostly for pastures belonging to the Central Catarey sugar mill. In the early 1980s, soil use was changed and reforested with Pinus Caribaea. There are three trails in this forest reserve: Arroyón, Cachón, and Sendero Novillero, at altitudes up to 700 meters above sea level.
Loma Los Siete Picos National Park
The Loma Los Siete Picos National Park is located in the Yamasá mountain range in the provinces of Santo Domingo, Monte Plata, San Cristóbal and Monseñor Nouel. The objective is to protect its ecosystem, the water sources that guarantee the water supply for 48% of the Dominican population, as well as the biological and scenic diversity of the environment.
Miguel Domingo Fuerte Natural Monument
It is made up of a group of T-shaped mountains that belong to the eastern foothills of the Bahoruco mountain range and covers an area of 33.5 km². It is a special and particular ecosystem of the Dominican geography, with the presence of several types of forests: manaclas forests, primary forest of the summit, established secondary forest and late secondary forest.
The protected area possesses a great floristic richness, in which the presence of two species of green ebony, a precious wood tree endemic to the island, among others, stand out.
Source:presidencia.gob.do
