Environment boosts military surveillance at Baní Dunes

Santo Domingo.- The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MMARN), with the assistance of members of the State military corps, has mandated increased surveillance at the Las Dunas de las Calderas Natural Monument.

According to the Vice Ministry of Protected Areas and Biodiversity, Minister Miguel Ceara Hatton has ordered the reinforcement and augmentation of patrols and surveillance in the area. Alongside park rangers, the National Environmental Protection Service (Senpa) and a dedicated military unit assigned to MMARN are participating in safeguarding the protected area.

Additionally, a naval force from the Dominican Republic Navy is on patrol, fully equipped with necessary mobility resources. This force, comprising adequate personnel and resources, is tasked with ensuring security, patrols, and surveillance within the natural monument.

The Vice Ministry of Protected Areas expressed confidence that the formation of the Co-Management of the Dunas de las Calderas Natural Monument will be finalized next week. This co-management structure aims to integrate representatives from public and private institutions interested in participating in the shared management agreement for this significant protected area.

Recently, the Legal Directorate of MMARN filed a complaint with the Public Ministry, seeking a three-year prison sentence for two individuals accused of slashing and burning in the Las Dunas buffer zone. In the complaint filed with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for the Defense of the Environment and Natural Resources (Proedemaren), the ministry acts as a civil plaintiff against Estervino Vizcaino Guerrero and Fausto Vizcaino Rodríguez. These individuals are held responsible for the felling and burning of trees in the buffer area of the Natural Monument.

The ministry is seeking the maximum penalty of three years of correctional prison, as stipulated by numeral 1 of article 183 of Law 64-00 on Environment and Natural Resources. Additionally, the institution requests that the defendants be ordered to pay a fine of 500,000 pesos.

The defendants are accused of violating various provisions established in articles 66, 67, 138, 174, 175, and 183 of the Constitution of the Republic and Law 64-00.