UNESCO Takes Closer Look at Protected Area in the Dominican Republic

Edward Muller, a member of the consulting council of the UNESCO´s Man and the Biosphere Program, is in the Dominican Republic to participate in an evaluation of Bahia de las Aguilas to determine whether it is feasible to develop tourism projects in that protected area.

Mr. Muller, who is also vice president of the World Commission for Protected Areas for the World Conservation Union, is an advocate of the operation of small businesses in protected areas.

“In stead of having 500 ladies cleaning bathrooms, making beds and caring for gardens, it is better to have 50 or 60 managers of small businesses that generate enough to maintain their families and there is a trickle down benefit for different sectors in the community,” he said, as reported in Hoy, a local newspaper.

Mr. Muller said one of the challenges of the moment is that the Dominican Republic needs to assess what mass tourism means in economic terms. He said that if the authorities do so, they will realize that the benefits of ecotourism are greater.

“Ecological and sustainable tourism generates many times more income that stays in the country than the great international hotel corporations,” he stressed.

He mentioned the case of Monteverde, Costa Rica, where 83 percent of all that a tourist spends stays in the country. He says that when the large chains operate, an estimated 14 percent remains in the country.

The evaluation event will take place at the Universidad Technologica de Barahona, with the support of the Ministry of Environment, the government of Spain, Grupo Jaragua, and several other organizations.