Train on tool for urban forest management

SANTO DOMINGO. The Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), the Environmental Network of Dominican Universities (QUICK), The United States Forest Service and University of Puerto Rico they taught the course, "Use of the I-Tree Tool for urban forest management: advantages and limitations".

The activity, which took place on the campus of the Universidad Iberoamericana, is the first performance of the research project "Development and use of the I-Tree tool to explore the potential for urban green infrastructure as an adaptation strategy to climate change resilience in the City of Santo Domingo", which coordinates INTEC with financing of the National Science Foundation U.S..

The teacher INTEC researcher, Solhanlle Bonilla, principal investigator of the project, reported that they were trained 30 people, 16 women and 14 men, of which 10, were professors and students of the Universities Open for Adults (UAPA), Iberoamericana (UNIBE), Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU), Autonomous of Santo Domingo (UASD), Central del Este (UCE) and INTEC, members of the RAUDO.

The other 20 participants belong to government institutions and civil society interested in the issue of urban trees and their ecosystem services, among them: Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Pastoral Ecology and Environment of the Catholic Church, Ecological Action Group, Enda Dominicana, Sustainable Youth Group, City Council of the National District, National Museum of Natural History, Sociedad Ecológica Armonía, Dominican Federation of Municipalities (FEDOMU) Y Quisqueya Foundation.

The instructors for the course given on February 3 and 4 were Dr. Elvia Meléndez-Ackerman, from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus, with the assistance of Sofía Olivero, Ana Trujillo and Mervin Pérez, doctoral candidates from their university. Also the local teachers Ana Pou, Claudia Caballero and Leonardo Cortés.