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CierreDiplomadoSargazo-26ddd4f7 Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo - Graduados del diplomado en Gestión Integral del Manejo de las Afluencias del Sargazo en el Sector Turístico abogan por colaboración intersectorial

Publication date:

01 November 2024

Graduates of the diploma in Comprehensive Management of Sargassum Inflows in the Tourism Sector advocate for intersectoral collaboration


The diploma was taught by the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo as part of the project “Franco-Dominican cooperation in the management of agricultural waste and sargassum”, developed jointly with the French Embassy in the Dominican Republic, and also sponsored by Asonahores.

SANTO DOMINGO. - Graduates of the diploma in Comprehensive Management of Sargassum Inflows in the Tourism Sector advocated for intersectoral collaboration to find solutions to the problem posed by the massive arrival of this macroalgae to the coasts and beaches of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean.

The training was provided by the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) as part of the project “Franco-Dominican cooperation in the management of agricultural waste and sargassum”, developed jointly with the French Embassy in the Dominican Republic, and also sponsored by the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores).

The aim of the course was to train tourism professionals and technicians in comprehensive management strategies to deal with the massive influx of sargassum affecting the Caribbean coasts and its impact on sustainable tourism.

During the closing activity of the diploma course, four of the works carried out by the participants were presented: “Plan for the management of massive influxes of sargassum in the electrical sector”; two on the “Comprehensive management of the management of sargassum influxes in the tourism sector” and “Production of liquid biofertilizer from sargassum”, which showed evidence of how sargassum affects the production of electricity in some areas, but also the possibilities that the timely collection of the seaweed represents for agriculture and other sectors.

“The most important aspect of the diploma course is our students, from the tourism and energy sectors, because the issue of massive influxes of sargassum has repercussions not only on the tourism and fishing sectors, but also on the energy sector, since the power generating plants in our country are located in coastal areas and feed their cooling systems with seawater, and sargassum has caused problems in their operation, resulting in losses of 1200 megawatts in generation,” said Ulises Jauregui-Haza, coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Sargassum Research Group at INTEC and of the diploma course, as well as leader of the research project. 

Jauregui Haza highlighted that the European Union, and France in particular, has been providing important support, through collaborative actions, to mitigate the problem of sargassum throughout the Caribbean, as well as to its use as raw material, since it is a biomass of exceptional value for use as fertilizer.

In closing remarks, Brigitte Veyne, Counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Action at the French Embassy in the Dominican Republic, and Sandra Piña, from Asonahores, thanked INTEC for organizing the diploma course and highlighted its importance for the training of human resources in the tourism sector and other areas of economic interest in the country. 

Brigitte%20Veyne2 Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo - Graduates of the diploma in Comprehensive Management of Sargassum Inflows in the Tourism Sector advocate for intersectoral collaboration

For his part, Carlos Reyes, Director of Continuing Education at INTEC, said that INTEC, as a higher education institution that leads the lines of research on this phenomenon (sargassum), will continue to diversify its training offer on the subject in the immediate future, extending it to other sectors and industries that are also impacted, and that are called to take action.

Representatives from the National Institute of Public Administration and the National Institute of Technical and Professional Training were present at the closing meeting.

About the Diploma

The training lasted 64 hours and was delivered virtually and synchronously, with a final in-person session, in which 16 professionals participated and made the commitment to become replicators of the knowledge acquired.

The diploma course's teachers include Ligia Collado, from Florida International University; Rafael Méndez Tejeda, from the University of Puerto Rico-Carolina; Edwin Sánchez, from INTEC; Jake Kheel, from the Punta Cana Foundation; and Antonio Torres, from the University of Havana.

Also among the facilitators were Rolando Liranzo and Jaime Lockward from LPL Consulting; Rosa Rodríguez from the National Autonomous University of Mexico; Yesica Castro from the Federico Henríquez y Carvajal University; and Carmen Matos and Yvette Smith from INTEC.

The program was designed to help participants understand the causes of massive influxes of sargassum into the Caribbean, their impacts on the tourism sector and coastal ecosystems, and to be trained in the creation of integrated management systems for the management of these invasions in the tourism sector. It included lectures and workshops, covering everything from the impacts of sargassum on tourism to communication strategies, legal and economic aspects, and management experiences in the region.