Deforestation and subsequent land degradation is caused by many concurrent factors in the Dominican Republic, but one among them prevails. That issue is the disorder with which things are handled within the official forestry sector. In there, multiple agencies have overlapping mandate over the management of the natural and forest resources, generating many contradictory decisions which prevent the application of timely management and conservation measures from being executed for the sake and protection of the environment. In reality, this sector has always been a low priority for the central government. With an ever increasing pressure from a growing population and the indifference from decision makers the future of natural resources in the island is all but promising.
Fortunately not all has been lost. Plan Sierra, an NGO working to try to restore ecosystem functioning in the north central portion of the Cordillera Central has proven that appropriate actions and adequate budget together with honest administration can prevent the loss of natural resources and enhance their management. They have been able to recover degraded lands with their reforestation efforts and also integrate the inhabitants of their region of influence in the wise management and preservation of the natural resources.
The country has lost most of its forest cover, in the process losing biological diversity and forestry potential. According to Karl Woodward, cited by Dobler, et. al. (1995), in 1909 the country had a forest cover of about 85%. In 1922 the construction of roads to connect the country provided access to forest resources which people began to exploit irrationally. With the occurrence of the World Wars I and II, the demand for wood grew internationally and the dictator Trujillo appropriated most of the forest resources to export wood for his own benefit. Many rustic sawmills were installed to exploit Pinus occidentalis and Swetenia mahogany natural forests. Harvesting operations were carried out without any concern for the soil, and forests were not replanted. Once logged, an area would be abandoned or used to plant agricultural crops and pasture, no matter if slopes were inappropriate.
Because loggers did not apply any conservation practices to counteract soil loss, the erosion processes left the land infertile in a short period of time. Most of the soils in the mountains became infertile and people abandoned them. Invasive and undesirable species which were good enough to barely keep some cattle grazing grew and occupied these sites. This situation lasted until 1967 when the government at that time passed a law prohibiting the cutting of wood and closed down all sawmills (Dobler, et. al., 1995). This law also transferred the responsibility of the Forestry Sector to the military. The consequences of these actions would prove not to be a solution but instead to intensify the problem of deforestation. This law fomented the illegal cutting of wood and the intentional occurrence of forest fires that damaged thousands and thousands of hectares of primary and secondary forest. At the beginning of the 1980´s we hit the lowest point in terms of forest cover, with only 10.6% remaining (FAO, 1987).
By 1980, deforestation levels began to worry Dominicans, especially those living in the cities and valleys which were dependent on the waters coming from the mountains to supply them with hydroelectricity and water for human consumption and irrigation. They were expecting that eventually there was not going to be enough water to supply aqueducts and feed the hydro electrical turbines in the dams. People living in the cities and valleys associated the occurrence of long periods of drought and the drying of river courses to the deforestation levels.
Development councils of the most prominent cities began to devise a way to stop deforestation as a mean of preserving rivers from drying out. Forest cover in river basins acts as a physical barrier and sponge. It prevents precipitation drops and running water from washing out soil particles which would eventually get to the dams and obstruct them with sediments. It also allows water from precipitation to easily percolate through the subsoil to later on be released to rivers and lakes in a controlled manner. Without its presence, dam infrastructures are condemned to lose speedily their capacity to generate hydroelectricity and substantially reduced their life span.
The government was pushed to invest in reforestation projects by making big loans of foreign currency to implement soil conservation measures and to plant trees. The government also needed to designate sensible areas in the mountains to be protected and conserved. But little was accomplished. Several NGO´s were established at that time, all trying to contribute to solve the deforestation problem. They spent money and little was gained because communities were not involved in decision making and there was not a guarantee that those who reforested were going to be able to harvest. Plus many still were practicing the so-called slash and burn agriculture. Today still more than 500,000 peasants practice this type of itinerant agriculture. Slash and burn agriculture is the process by which a forested area is cut and burned to be dedicated to the production of temporal crops. Most of the time, land preparation is done without taking into account the fragility of the soils and the steepness of the terrain and without using appropriate soil conservation measures. This results in the loss of soil fertility due to erosion caused by rainfall. This loss occurs usually within less than 3 years. The farmer will move, if land is available, to another forested area and will begin the process again.
In present days things have not improve to the extent needed, and deforestation in the D.R. is still caused by several factors which could be grouped by their social, economic, natural and institutional nature. Among the social forces, the lack of a culture to inhabit mountainous terrain and the inadequate land distribution is of relevance. Fragile soils with slopes exceeding 40% are used to plant beans, corn and other short rotation crops. Each field will last at most three years providing the farmer with the results he expects, but eventually it will be abandoned to a fallow period because it loses fertility due mainly to erosion. Rarely the field will be able to grow other crops but pine forest after being abandoned. In the 1960´s and the first part of the 1970´s there was enough land to allow slash and burn agriculture, but land became scarce and suddenly farmers found themselves without the means to produce the food they needed to live. They would be hired by big land owners, and probably would have to sell most of their land to them in order to provide for the needs of their families. Big landowners did not have a forest culture themselves. Since the beginning of the republic, they were used to raising cattle as their main commercial activity, and that is what they continue doing today.
The economic forces influencing deforestation include the existence of a high demand for forest products (US$192.7 millions imported in 2000)(Banco Central, 2005); a high unemployment rate, especially in rural areas, high cost of conventional energy, and the lack of incentives for investment in the forestry sector. Most of the homes in rural areas are constructed from wood. In the cities most of the construction is based on cement but a lot of wood is still required for framing purposes. Agricultural industries like tobacco and sugar require a lot of wood as well; first to build curing infrastructure, and second to provide for energy. Rural unemployment affects deforestation because most of the illegal cuttings and forest fires are caused by the unemployed. Rural inhabitants use wood as fuel for cooking purposes because many of them can not have access to conventional energy due to its high cost.
Because soils are fragile and the terrain is hilly in more than 60 percent, it makes it ideal to grow and silviculturally manage trees instead of annual crops. The fact that rotation age of Pinus occidentalis is short (from 40 to 60 years) makes it attractive for people to invest in reforestation projects. Besides, this is the only species that will naturally occupy and prosper on the degraded areas by slash and burn agriculture. But the lack of financial incentives prevents it from happening. A compromise from the government assuring investors appropriate regulations on the forestry sector is urgently needed.
What most contributes to prevent the process of deforestation from being halted is the disarray of matters within the forestry sector. The main issues related to the forestry sector and deforestation are: the presence of more than one official agency with overlapping mandate and responsibility in managing forest resources; poor inter-agency coordination and cooperation; and inadequate legislation. A further difficulty is the fact that the forestry sector is traditionally low priority for the central government and is always assigned an inadequate budget. Other factors influencing the level of deforestation include legal aspects, such as many laws and regulations concerning the forestry sector.
Tangential and measurable consequences of deforestation are the increased price of forest products; loss of biodiversity; unstable river courses; increased sedimentation of dams; decreased hydroelectricity generation capacity; loss of soil fertility; and decreased food production capacity. Moreover, the demand for foreign currency to cover imports of forest products is high, the amount of water available for irrigation and human consumption decreases continuously, and flooding has already caused the loss of human lives and economic setbacks.
Possible Solutions to the deforestation problem of the Dominican Republic embrace reevaluating and redesigning the forestry sector and the legal and institutional mandates. The government has to make this problem a national priority and has to look beyond the four years of every term of office period. It must provide appropriate incentives to make the forestry sector attractive to investors. It must create the bases for educating human resources to lead the way towards implementing appropriate research based on priority.
Among the possible solutions for reclamation of the degraded lands in the D.R., the investment in replicating the works of institutions such as Plan Sierra in other critical regions of the nation is the most appealing. This approach constitutes a very viable alternative as proven by the achievements reached by this NGO in the past 20 years. It has been capable of implementing a rural development program which has integrated women, children and men in the ecological development of the surrounding environment, at the same time improving their quality of life. In addition this project has worked in the protection of natural resources. Inhabitants have been taught ways for appropriate management of soil, water and forest. Forest cover has recuperated from 22% of the area to current levels of 38%. Aim is to reach 60% in the next 20 years (Dobler, et. al. 1995).
The ideal is that institutions with similar philosophy and working methodology, be created and spread out in all areas of the country where the development of actions to counteract deforestation is necessary. General goals are to conduct ecological and social reordering of the regions under the influence of these institutions. Specific goals in the ecological reordering are to increase forest cover using appropriate species for the production of wood and perennial fruits like coffee plantations; to establish silvopastoral systems to accommodate those inhabitants that depend on cattle raising as part of their culture; and to train inhabitants in the production of food in fragile and mountainous soils. To reorder the social system it is going to be necessary to educate individuals and communities so that they become knowledgeable of their problems and the possibilities for solving them. Democratic schemes as well as the communal institutions will have to be strengthened to increase the possibility of negotiating with governmental, financial and other agencies interacting in the individual regions.
In conclusion, the sake of the natural resources in the D.R will require a strong commitment from the central government to stop deforestation and prevent that the east part of the Hispaniola becomes a desert. The forestry sector has to be provided with an adequate budget and populated with professionals with clear understanding of the importance of the natural resources and aware of the ways they should be managed. Laws and regulations have to be made in concordance with the reality of the sector. Agencies need a clear definition and boundaries of their mandates. Institutions such as Plan Sierra need to be created and allocated in all critical watersheds all over the country so that they can start the process to reorder the social and ecological system for the well being of future generations of Dominicans.
Reordering the social and ecological systems so that deforestation is halted, would require an investment of around 14 million dollars for every 3,000 square kilometers in a twelve year period (Casasnovas and Adames, 1999). This investment would generate earnings for more than 200 million dollars in the same period and area without taking into consideration the social benefits linked to employment generation and reduction of the trade balance by reducing the imports of oil and forest products. The required investment includes resources that can be obtained in soft loans with approval from the government, and through international donations.
