Spanish Hoteliers Damage Dominican Environment

Ecological organization Greenpeace charged a group of Spanish hoteliers with undoing a mesh of national parks in the Dominican Republic for building new hotels in protected areas.

In a press release issued over the weekend, Greenpeace environmentalists state the Dominican Republic could see the total surface of protected areas slashed by half if new environmental regulations finally win passage in the national Parliament.

“This reduction of protected areas is being done solely to favor the interests of a Spanish corporation that has bought land on the premises to build hotels in those protected areas,” the communiqué notes.

Greenpeace denounces that the Spain-based company is planning to construct a hotel compound right in the heart of the East National Park´s reception area, built in 1992 with funds granted by the Spanish Cooperation Agency.

The press release also indicates that the Spanish government has been put on notice through a letter sent to the State Department of International Cooperation (SDIC). Greenpeace is asking SDIC chief Leire Pajin to “do everything he can in order to prevent the country´s legislation from being changed and stop tourism and mining activities in a previously well-protected area.”