Ministry of Environment Meets with International Cooperation Agencies

Ministry of Environment Meets with International Cooperation Agencies
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 9/21/2011

Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Ernesto Reyna Alcántara, held a meeting with International Cooperation Agencies to whom he explained the seven priority guidelines he has set out for the Environment Ministry.

These priorities are stated in the National Strategy for Development elaborated by the government.

The working meeting was organized with the goal of reviewing cooperation programs and discussing the National Strategy for Development which includes an environmental element as one of its basic points.

The Minister thanked those present for the technical and financial cooperation they have contributed to the Environment Ministry which intends to invest 202.13 million pesos in the protection and conservation of natural resources in the Dominican Republic. These funds are already included in the Ministry’s assigned budget.

The Environment Ministry’s seven priorities are: the comprehensive management of watersheds, to increase forest covering of the National Quisqueya Verde Plan, increase environmental authorizations, strengthen environmental control and monitoring systems, promote institutional and structural strengthening, raise environmental awareness through educational programs and to increase communication with international cooperation organizations.

These priorities are stated in the National Strategy for Development elaborated by the government.

Minister Ernesto Reyna Alcántara pointed out that the first of these priorities has to do with channeling the rivers to save lives and working with peasants to carry out sustainable agriculture to guarantee the conservation of the soil and water.

The Environment Minister told representatives at the meeting that he will maintain permanent and open dialogue with them as well with others who contribute resources to help the DR development environmentally sustainable systems.

Currently, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is undertaking more than 30 projects with the help of funding from various cooperation agencies which are part to the effort to strengthen the National System of Protected Areas and other thematic areas.

The Environment Minister was accompanied at the meeting by several deputy ministers including Daneris Santana, Víctor García, Ydalia Acevedo, Bernabé Mañón Rossi, Amarilis Polonia, Manuel Serrano, Fermín Tineo, Mayo Rodríguez, José Rafael Almonte and José Féliz Marrero.