Categories: Ecology
      Date: Apr 27, 2008
     Title: Tropical Forest Reserve

“Are there any other places like this in the Dominican Republic?” asked one of my companions, a visitor from the United States, as we trudged through the reserve. I answered, listing a range of the natural wonders the Dominican Republic has to offer, from Los Tres Ojos (Three Eyes) in Santo Domingo to La Cueva de las Maravillas near San Pedro, with the Damajagua Falls in Puerto Plata province thrown in for good measure.

Only later did it occur to me that this visit, and the conversation it spurred, might have been just the first stage in a process of discovery – whetting tourists’ appetite for the Dominican Republic as a full-blown eco-tourism destination.

Going on a one-hour nature trek inside a resort might sound a little tame to more experienced travelers, but this controlled eco-tourism adventure might be a baby step in the evolution of a more intrepid tourist. Their next visit could well be beyond the resorts, to discover what the rest of the Dominican Republic has to offer.

This is one of the many benefits of the singular vision behind the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation, a not-for-profit organization established in 1994 by the Punta Cana Resort and Club to protect and preserve the natural resources of the region, while contributing to sustainable tourism on all levels; locally, regionally and nationally.

Although not an all-inclusive - unlike the other large hotels and resorts on the east coast - the Punta Cana Resort and Club is still a compound of sorts, and visitors don’t have to leave its lovely, relaxing and luxurious confines unless they actively choose to. In contrast, the owners’ perspective most certainly does not end at the resort’s boundaries. As well as their environmental programs, they are actively “putting back” into the community through the Punta Cana Foundation, fully aware that this is a symbiotic process that will also benefit them in the medium and long term.

Jake Kheel, director of the Punta Cana Ecological Foundation says it’s a simple case of good business sense. Kheel is firm in his belief that the private sector needs to take on initiatives like these, for the sake of the community and the local and global environment, as well as for the success of their businesses. He quotes his great uncle, Ted Kheel, one of the founding partners of the Punta Cana Group who says, “For tourism, the environment is the attraction. If the environment is damaged, the business is damaged”.

The Foundation runs a Center for Sustainability, located within the resort, the focus of a range of environmental activities. It hosts students, mainly from the United States, who are doing environmental research projects in the area.

The ecological park includes plant nurseries and fruit gardens that provide organically grown produce for the resort’s restaurants, a biodiversity centre featuring native plant species, and an iguana park inhabited by the prehistoric-looking rhinoceros iguana, a species unique to the Dominican Republic.

The Foundation’s Coastal Marine Project aims to protect the local marine environment, striking a balance between development and the fragility of the coral reef. Punta Cana is the fastest growing destination in the Caribbean and a site of important marine ecosystems, including one of the largest barrier reefs in the Dominican Republic and critical breeding ground for pelagic fish, and aims to become a model for sustainable coastal development. Together with national and international partners, the foundation works on water quality monitoring, implementation of rules and regulations, environmental permits and certifications, coral reef monitoring and restoration, beach stabilization, legal status and policy implementation and long-term research and monitoring.

Golf courses in particular have been the subject of criticism from environmentalists because of their impact on the landscape and their consumption of fresh water resources for irrigation. The Punta Cana Ecological Foundation monitors this process in their own golf courses, and uses a species of grass that requires much less irrigation.

A small town, Verón, has sprung up near the resort and the airport. Ten or fifteen years ago there were about twenty houses, now there are over ten times as many. The Punta Cana Foundation focuses on working with the local community – again, a pioneering approach in which the tourist sector recognizes that truly sustainable tourism is achieved by working for the benefit of the local community as well as preserving the environment.

This is an area that appears to be out of the reach of central government. Few state services are evident in the area – the tourist sector has had to develop it own infrastructure – the airport, the roads, security, waste management, water and electricity are all provided by private companies.

By building and funding the local “politecnico” where residents of high school age can obtain their academic as well as vocational skills, the Punta Cana Foundation is ensuring that the hotel sector in the area has a skilled local workforce, so that the community can benefit from employment at the resorts and hotels.

In the past the local community tended to supply the unskilled segment of the workforce, the gardeners and chambermaids, with tourism professionals from mid-management level and above coming from farther flung urban areas. The Foundation has also constructed sports facilities in Verón, aimed at keeping young people active and stimulated, and hopefully away from the drug scene that threatens so many poor communities.

This work goes well beyond a few token tidbits thrown at the community for PR and feel-good purposes. The Punta Cana Foundation was instrumental in getting the local public health clinic up and running in Verón, repairing and equipping it and setting up a program where medical students from Virginia Tech come and spend a stint working with the in-house doctor in providing a range of services to the sixty patients they see on average each day.

The Punta Cana Environmental Foundation’s vision is to influence and contribute to the rational use and respect for the natural resources of the Dominican Republic, serving as a model for the development of tourist destinations.

For more information, visit www.puntacana.org