Dominican mountain city to be Caribbean’s first pollution-free town

Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.- A meeting whereprofessionals and residents of the highland town join forces to make Jarabacoa apollution-free community will be hosted by the Fernando Arturo de Meriño Agroforestryat Pinar Dorado Hotel University next Thursday.

In the heels of the agreement reached at the recent summitin France, 195 countries aim to fight global warming to keep it "wellbelow 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels."

This initiative is being adopted throughout Latin Americaand the Caribbean now begins in Jarabacoa, where meeting aims to issue adocument to join "wills" andidentify the sources of environmental pollution, deforestation, soil degradationand loss of water resources and greenhouse gas emissions.

In an emailed document, the UAFAM said the documentsignatories will pledge to work to analyze the needs to mitigate and adapt toclimate change to protect the municipality’s productive activities.

"Faced with the challenge of climate change we need tomake a commitment to cooperative action according to our abilities, skills andagree to carry out activities to make Jarabacoa the Caribbean’s first pollutionfree, sustainable, resilient and adapted to climate change," said UAFAM ClimateChange Dept. director Jose Antonio Nuñez.

The environmentalist added that ecosystem degradation andaltered weather patterns "pose a clear risk" to the planet’s population.