32 institutions receive clearance from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources

32 institutions receive clearance from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 12, 2012

The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, the agency heading the national environmental policy, presented 32 certificates of clearance to an equal number of organizations that receivestate funds or funds from international cooperation, and which it endorses under the current laws and regulations.

This certification is mandatory for all organizations receiving or wishing to receive State funds or funds from any of its agencies, or cooperation funds, and which require the endorsement of the State to access them.

The event took place at the Ministry of the Environmentheadquarters, an agency whose mandate is to ensure the participation of the communities and the country’s inhabitants in the conservation, management and the sustainable use of the country’s Natural Resources and the Environment.

The certificationhas its origins in Law 122-05, which provides for the establishment of joint clearance committees to oversee the development and implementation of the minimum technical and administrative standards required to issue an authorization for each sector’sassociations. These will be developed and regularly updated by the Ministries of State or by other state agencies.

This certification is mandatory for all organizations receiving or wishing to receive State funds or funds from any of its agencies, or cooperation funds, and which require the endorsement of the State to access them.

During the ceremony, Engineer David Arias urgedguests to register and to become regulated so that they could receive the License or Clearance Certification to develop projects in the environmental sector, after having complied with the requirements that have been established by the Ministry and by the Directorate of Social Participation.

In addition, the Ecological Society of Barahona, the Sustainable Development Board of the Rio Yaque Upper Basin, the Council for the Development of Fondo Grande, the United Farm Workers Federation, the Lawyers Institute for Environmental Protection, the Clemente Melo Association, the Angel Miolán Foundation, the Dominican Foundation for Human Development and Environmental Protection, the Ozama Verde Foundation and the Alltos de Matiguero Association for the Preservation of the Environment.

Other organizations that have also received the certification are: the Environmental Advocates Foundation, the Community Action Program for the Environment, the NGO Alliance, the Community Partnership for the Development of the Colinas del Manzano, the Viva Caribe Alliance, the Borbón el Pomier Caves Ecological Society, the Centers for Environmental Studies Association, the Monción Ecological Society, the Environmental and Development Foundation, the Foundation for Social and Ecological Development, the Social Welfare, Ecological and Cultural Association, the Federation of Peasants for Progress, and the Foundation for the Development and Preservation of the Environment and Natural Resources.