Environment Minister Proposes Law Beneficial to Water Basins

Dominican Environment and Natural Resources Minister Jaime David Fernández Mirabal, proposed a law that states that at least 20% of the money made by energy production from the water resources that produce electricity, aqueducts or is used in irrigation should be earmarked for the benefit of the communities living along the water basins.

“The communities will manage these funds through a council made up of churches, development organizations and neighborhood associations…”

Mr. Fernández Mirabal made the suggestion at the inauguration of 16 tourism infrastructures installed in the Armando Bermúdez National Park. He also took the opportunity to remind people that the Dominican Map of Poverty establishes that the poorest people in the country live along these water basins, areas which generate most of the environmental benefits that help the country’s development.

“The communities will manage these funds through a council made up of churches, development organizations and neighborhood associations. They should be destined for reforestation and to improve the living conditions of the people who live along the water basins,” he said.

He used the miners´ fund as an example. He explained that the fund was established to benefit the provinces where the mining is done such as La Vega, Monseñor Novel and Sánchez Ramírez.

PROCARYN

The 16 buildings inaugurated in Mata Grande, in the Armando Bermúdez National Park were built as part of Component II of the Yaque River Basin Conservation Program (PROCARYN) under the auspices of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GTZ), which the Environment and Natural Resources Minister referred to as “an exercise in solidarity from the people.”

The goal of the installations is to provide the Armando Bermúdez National Park with the necessary security infrastructure in the protected areas of the Central Cordillera.

Pedro Arias, head of the Protected Areas Planning Department and in charge of this project, indicated that this construction will provide high level facilities for tourists who periodically visit this mountain area and that the nearby communities will also directly benefit as they provide services to the tourists.

The tourism complex has a visitors´ center with an administrative personnel department and other areas for the exhibition of resources found here at the Armando Bermúdez Park and which include an exhibition hall, a system of maps and demonstrations about water, flora, fauna as well as a series of informational panels.

The rest of the infrastructures are spread out in strategic areas where tourists can camp out. There are also large centers for people to spend the night that include cooking facilities and bathrooms.

In the area known as Compartición, there is an even larger structure with lodging accommodations, a kitchen with 24 campfire rings for cooking, a series of bathrooms and a little shack where guards are on duty to keep an eye on the whole place.

Arias noted that the installations were designed with tourism and visitors in mind which allowed him to establish the projections.