INTEC celebrates the first anniversary of its UNESCO Chair promoting coastal and marine resilience in the Caribbean
The event brought together diplomats, international organizations, and experts from the Dominican Republic and Cuba to develop scientific solutions to the climate emergency.
SANTO DOMINGO – With a call to translate scientific rigor into public policy, the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) celebrated the first anniversary of its UNESCO Chair in Climate Change, Resilience and Complex Systems, during an international workshop focused on the impact and protection of coastal and marine systems.
The meeting brought together academic authorities, diplomatic representatives and marine science experts to address the challenges facing Caribbean island nations.
In his welcoming remarks, the Rector of INTEC, Engineer Arturo del Villar, emphasized the inescapable duty of academia to lead with science. "Analyzing the resilience of these systems is no longer a debate that can be postponed to the future; it is a present-day urgency. At INTEC, we are committed to translating climate complexity into tangible adaptation strategies," he stated.
Through a virtual address, the Dominican Republic's ambassador to UNESCO in Paris, Larissa Veloz Santana, highlighted the strategic importance of this initiative for the country.
“UNESCO Chairs are not an honorary recognition; they are nodes in a global knowledge network,” the ambassador emphasized, noting that this space gives the Dominican Republic its own voice and credentials to participate in the design of international methodologies and policies. Veloz Santana stressed that phenomena such as the proliferation of sargassum can no longer be seen as a simple coastal problem, but rather as an indicator of “systemic disturbance” in the marine basin that demands interdisciplinary research.
Along the same lines, the Secretary General of the Dominican National Commission for UNESCO, Juan Hernández, acknowledged INTEC's persevering work in this first year and recalled that climate change not only threatens biodiversity, but also fundamental rights and the nation's cultural heritage.
The event served as the stage for a milestone in the region: Juan Criado, a specialist in Natural Sciences from the UNESCO Regional Office, presented for the first time in Spanish for the Caribbean the findings of the global report "Living with nature in UNESCO designated sites".
Criado illustrated the vital role of these global ecosystems, which store 240 gigatons of carbon and support more than 900 million people. However, he warned that without urgent action, a quarter of these sites could reach critical tipping points of no return by 2050.
The local perspective on this crisis was presented by Andrea Valcárcel Abud, head of the ANAMAR Ocean Laboratory. The specialist presented data on the degradation of the Dominican coast, revealing the near-total disappearance of healthy Pilar Coral colonies in Boca Chica due to thermal stress, as well as the severe acidification of the water caused by the extended sargassum season.
Regional and scientific cooperation
To delve deeper into the solutions, the workshop featured a panel of international experts moderated by INTEC. This panel integrated the extensive experience of the Cuban delegation, represented by Dr. Maritza García (CITMA) and Dr. Roberto Núñez (Institute of Marine Sciences), with the local perspective of Dr. María Villalpando, research manager at FUNDEMAR, and Lolymar Romero, a chemical oceanographer at INTEC. They discussed conservation strategies applicable throughout the Caribbean.
As a summary of the first year of management, Dr. Ulises Jáuregui, coordinator of the UNESCO Chair at INTEC, highlighted that the initiative has functioned as a great integrating entity, achieving the publication of five indexed scientific articles and the realization of three thematic workshops, reaffirming the university's commitment to continue linking research with education at all levels.