Above: Los Haitises National Park in the Dominican Republic

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Dominican Republic has adopted a new plan to rescue and preserve the ecosystem of the country’s Los Haitises National Park.

The plan was approved following a meeting between Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina and the Special Commission for the park.

The plan involves an investment of around $55.7 million USD over a period of three years.

The programme in large part looks to eliminate the “human activities that degrade the area,”
according to Bautista Rojas Gomez, the Dominican Republic’s Environment Minister and president of the special commission.

Henceforth, he said, the park will “only be used for the delight and enjoyment of domestic and foreign tourists.”

Part of the plan, according to a statement released by the Dominican Republic’s government on Thursday, is to strengthen the country’s National System of Protected Areas and to ensure that local communities near those areas can “receive benefits that allow them to improve their material conditions of life.”

Los Haitises National Park was officially created in June of 1976, after the creation of a forest reserve in 1968.

It has a total area of 3,600 square kilometres.