Showing posts with label Dominican Republic Forests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dominican Republic Forests. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Dominican Republic Forests

By Liliana Usvat    
Blog 358-365


According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the Dominican Republic now has a near zero deforestation rate, reflecting a significant recovery from the high rates of deforestation and degradation that the country experienced in the 1980s (FAO, 2010). 

HIiIt has however been noted that the abovementioned deforestation rate does not identify which type of forest has been lost or gained and that much reforestation has been achieved by the creation of plantations where natural forests previously stood (USAID, 2012, p.19). The major drivers of deforestation in the Dominican Republic have been slash and burn agricultural practices, clearing forest for cattle-grazing, the extraction of charcoal, rubber and firewood, forest fires and urban expansion.











The wet forests of Hispaniola maintain exceptionally distinct insular flora and fauna, with many unique species, genera and families that have maintained various relict taxons. Many of the relictual species that survive in these forests are extinct on the nearby continents . 

The status of conservation of this ecoregion is endangered in that it has gone from representing more than half of the island’s original vegetation to less than 15% at present. The major threats include illegal forestry operations, migratory agricultural expansion, gathering of firewood, grazing and illegal hunting

The Hispaniolan pine forests are a tropical coniferous forest ecoregion found on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The ecoregion covers 11,600 km2 (4,500 sq mi), or about 15% of the island.

These wet forests originally occupied more than half (~60%) of the original vegetation on the island of Hispaniola, from the lowlands particularly on the eastern coast of the island to the valleys, plateaus, slopes and foothills of the many mountain ranges, up to an altitude of about 2,100 meters. 

In the Dominican Republic, moist forest frequently occur covering most of the eastern half of the country all along these shores till ending at the higher elevations of the mountains. Between the slopes of the eastern range and along the northern range in Haiti, the moist forests continue across the entire island of Hispaniola only lacking distinct presence in the southern extension of the island. They also exist on most of the Tiburón peninsula, in southern Haiti (Tasaico 1967; Dominican Republic 1998; WWF-US 2000).

In this ecoregion, ecological conditions are the result of a complicated climate system, influenced primarily by the presence of subtropical anticyclones, the direction of the trade winds that predominate for most of the year, as well as altitudinal conditions. The period of most frequent rainfall is from April to December, varying in intensity depending on the orographic effects to which the areas of these forests are subject. 

Average annual precipitation varies between 1,000 to 2,000 mm for the wet zones, to more than 4,000 mm per year in the rainforest zones. In open areas near the coast, average annual temperature is from 23° to 24°C. In higher areas or areas closer to the mountain ranges, average annual temperature is about 20ºC and in the highest zones there are frosts (temperatures below 0º C) at certain times of the year.

More than half of the ecoregion's area has been lost to clearing for agriculture, pasture, or plantations of exotic trees. The Haitian portion of the ecoregion is more deforested than the Dominican portion

The Dominican Republic is the second largest economy in Central America and the Caribbean with in 2011, a GDP of 93 million US dollars and a GDP per capita of US$ 9,600. The country is also one of the fastest growing economies in the Caribbean region. Over the past 20 years, there has been an annual average increase in GDP of 4 per cent, compared to a 1.8 per cent average for Central America and the Caribbean region.

This high growth has yet to translate into decreased income disparities with the poorest half of population receiving less than a fifth of GDP, while the richest 10 per cent receive nearly 40 per cent of GDP (CIA Factbook, 2013). Unemployment is 14.7 % according to national statistics, but the Dominican definition of unemployment differs from the international classification and when adjusted for it, is only about 5 % (IMF, 2013, p.7).