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A first look at our upcoming national mangrove conservation campaign in the Dominican Republic

August 4, 2020

The Dominican Republic is home to some 64,000 acres of mangrove forests, which protect coastal communities from violent storms and ensure healthy fisheries. Legally, most of these wetlands are protected, but the reality is very different. Inadequate enforcement, unsustainable development, and overfishing have caused a devastating decline in mangrove cover. Our project will work from the ground up to reverse this trend.

In partnership with Dominican NGO Grupo Jaragua, Seacology is funding a nationwide campaign to spread the word about how important mangroves are to people’s lives and livelihoods, and to support mangrove-based ecotourism and other sustainable activities. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Dominican Republic’s tourism sector hard, so local resource-based tourism initiatives offer a lifeline to communities. We’ve already completed several small mangrove-tourism projects in the DR. We look forward to expanding our scope, building on our success in Sri Lanka, where our nationwide project protected mangroves across the country.