Ministries of Environment and Tourism Lead Meetings and Undertake Work to Prevent, Mitigate, and Adapt

The Minister of Environment and Natural Resources (MMARN), Miguel Ceara Hatton, and the Minister of Tourism, David Collado, took on the fight against sargassum with a comprehensive approach after considering that it is a complex challenge that merits prevention, mitigation, and adaptation measures.

The MMARN convened the first meeting of the Sargassum Fight Cabinet to coordinate the implementation of public policies to mitigate and control this macroalgae on the coasts of the Dominican Republic.

The meeting comes after Minister Cera Hatton pointed out in an interview for this newspaper that sargassum is one of the effects of global warming and warned that the arrival of sargassum in the Caribbean Sea is becoming more frequent.

Ministers Collado and Ceara Hatton led the working session with the cabinet members created by Decree 379-23. The general guidelines for coordinating actions and the methodology that will characterize its institutional performance were established at the meeting. They also stressed the importance of the cabinet supporting all sectors, including the public, private, and civil society.

In addition to the Ministers of Tourism and the Environment, the Sargassum Cabinet is made up of the Ministers of Agriculture, Economy, Planning, and Development, the Executive Vice President of the National Council for Climate Change and Clean Development Mechanism (CNCCMDL), the Commander General of the Navy of the Dominican Republic, a representative of the Ministry of the Presidency, another from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one from the Association of Hotels and Tourism (Asonahores) and a representative from the National Authority for Maritime Affairs.

When announcing the results of the meeting, the Deputy Minister of Coastal and Marine Affairs of the MMARN, José Ramón Reyes López, reported that in the coming days, they will be contacting educational institutions from the public and private sectors, including universities and institutes of higher education, which for some time have been studying the phenomenon and its environmental and socioeconomic impact.

The first cabinet meeting was held at the MMARN with the presence of David Llibre, president of Asonahores; Jimmy García Saviñón, president of the National Authority of Maritime Affairs; and Segundo Ventura García, Deputy Commander General of the Navy. Deputy Ministers Domingo García of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development; Patricia Mejía and Carlos Peguero from Tourism and Milagros Decamps from MMARN.