Minister of Economy dialogues with the Grupo Punta Cana Foundation and INTEC to coordinate efforts in the face of the sargassum challenge
Punta Cana, La Altagracia. El Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, Pavel Isa Contreras, met with directors of the Punta Cana Group Foundationtogether with representatives of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), and discussed the importance of articulating efforts to sustainably meet the challenge of sargasso that affects the coasts of the country.
The meeting was held on the eve of the celebration of the International Beach Cleaning Day this Saturday, September 17, which finds the Caribbean coasts, including those of the Dominican Republic, with the challenge of sargassum.
In the meeting with the Minister of Economy, the Vice President of the Punta Cana Group Foundation, Jake Khel; The Financial director of the Punta Cana Group, Francesca Rainieri; the Beach and Marina coordinator, Daniel García; the rector of INTEC, Julio Sanchez Marinez and coordinator of the Doctorate in Environmental Sciences of INTEC, Ulises Jáuregui-Haza.
After the meeting, Isa Contreras took a tour and observed the system of barriers, and collection in the water, the collection of sargassum and the marine innovation center.
The economist and researcher highlighted the importance of facing the challenge of sargassum for sustainability. Likewise, he stated that sargassum is a phenomenon that is affecting all the coasts of the Caribbean and other places in the world.
He expressed that it is not a problem that has been created by the affected Caribbean economies, but by the form of production in other countries. "We are paying costs for these production processes that damage the environment," the official said.
The university professor said that the Ministry of Economy is in the process of articulating efforts from the environmental, economic, community and private sector perspectives to face the problem and contain the effect of sargassum.
"Hopefully we don't have to clean the coasts, but rather that we don't dirty them, let's take care of the coasts continuously, in such a way that we don't have to carry out massive operations to solve a problem that we ourselves are creating," advised the minister, when giving a message on the occasion of International Beach Cleanup Day.
The minister said that "let's face our behavior, our way of consuming and producing, so that we have cleaner coasts, so that we can enjoy them, so that the world can enjoy them, and we can maintain tourism as a means of worthy life”.
An environmental model
On the subject, the vice president of the Punta Cana Group Foundation, Jake Kheel, explained that the model of the Punta Cana Group has been to care for and preserve coastal resources to contribute to the well-being of Dominican tourism.
"We celebrate International Coastal Cleanup Day every day, protecting reefs, restoring reefs, and finding ways to protect coastal resources every day," Kheel said.
Role of the academy
The rector of INTEC, Julio Sánchez Maríñez, highlighted the role of INTEC to investigate and seek solutions to the sargassum phenomenon that affects the country's coasts.
He highlighted the significance of the meeting on the eve of International Beach Cleanup Day and this is a symbol "of what we should do with our beaches, our waters, our forests and our environment."
Similarly, the coordinator of INTEC's Doctorate in Environmental Sciences and coordinator of the academy's Interinstitutional Sargassum Research Group, Ulises Jáuregui-Haza, said that the Dominican coasts have been receiving massive influxes of these algae for 11 years.
He reported that the country has a project in the tourism sector, in collaboration with private companies, the State and other academies that are looking for solutions, through the installation of barriers and the collection of sargassum, to reduce the damage to beaches caused by the massive influx of these algae.
He described as very important that efforts are being joined so that the few existing resources are better used.
He also highlighted the importance of uniting the knowledge that each of the sectors has in a common objective, which is to reduce the impacts and have short and long-term results in terms of the possibility of using sargassum algae in a biomass with a high value and that may have economic benefits for the country in the immediate future.
"One, we have to face an enemy that is of a natural order, but the second is the courage of man in caring for and protecting what we have and in being aware of the proper use of all the resources we have," said Jáuregui-Haza. , referring to the challenges that the country faces on International Beach Cleanup Day