Embattled National Park in Dominican Republic gets a strong ally

Santo Domingo.- The Environmental Commission of the State University of Santo Domingo on Tue. stressed the need to guarantee the integrity and heritage of the Guaraguao-Punta Catuano National Recreation Area and recommends its reinstatement to the Cotubanamá National Park, because “the change of category for adapting the law to particular interests constitutes a technical aberration and lacks scientific foundations.”

For the Environment Ministry it has been impracticable, for absurd and meaningless, to separate the management plans of both protected areas, which are part of the National System of Protected Areas because “more than connected, they constitute a unique system whose fractionation clashes with all the principles of environmental management of ecosystems.”

The environmental permit issued to build a hotel within that area violates the General Environment Law 64-200 and the Protected Areas Law 202-2004, at least 11 international agreements signed by the Dominican Republic, and the Constitution.