http://repeatingislands.com/2009/05/31/haitian-protesters-against-dominican-environmentalists/ News and commentary on Caribbean culture, literature, and the arts Mon, 13 Feb 2012 19:12:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://repeatingislands.com/2009/05/31/haitian-protesters-against-dominican-environmentalists/#comment-774 Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:30:04 +0000 http://repeatingislands.com/?p=3298#comment-774 [...] The agreement will be implemented via the Quisqueya Verde reforestation program in Montecristi, Dajabón and Santiago Rodríguez provinces in the northwestern part of the country, as well as in the southwestern provinces of Elias Piña, Bahoruco, Independencia and Pedernales. Natural resources “are a national security” issue because “not just forests but also transborder waters” are at stake, Environment Minister Jaime David Fernández Mirabal said. “The production of charcoal is a threat to all of us, but when families join reforestation brigades you create green jobs, on the one hand, and reduce the pressure on resources, on the other,” Fernández Mirabal added. Trees have been cut in large numbers in the border to make the charcoal used for cooking by Haitians and Dominicans in the border region. Just a few weeks ago, Dominican forces moved to evict  Haitians who had cleared land on protected Dominican forest land because they lack arable land on the Haitian side of the border (see our post on Haitian Protesters against Dominican Environmentalists). [...]

]]>