The protection of 30% of the seas of the Dominican Republic, the dream of the assassinated minister comes true

The Minister of the Environment of the Dominican Republic, Orlando Jorge Mera, on March 21, 2022. MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

The last year of his life, Orlando Jorge Mera was obsessed with carrying out a project that he would never see realized.

The Environment Minister planned to more than double the size of the Dominican Republic's marine reserves, aware that Caribbean countries like his own are more vulnerable than the rest to climate change.

His goal was to make the announcement at the UN Oceans Summit taking place these days in Lisbon, but he was shot to death in his office on June 6 before he could do so.

To honor his memory, the Dominican Republic and Colombia unveiled this Tuesday the creation of a binational marine conservation area that will bear his name and that will fulfill his desire to protect 30% of Dominican waters.

In an interview with EL PAÍS a few days before his death, Mera reflected on the importance of advancing in the conservation of the seas of the Dominican Republic.

"Caribbean countries are not among the largest producers of greenhouse gases, but we are among those most in danger," she said from Sweden, where she was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration.

With the hubbub of such meetings in the background, her voice was clear, determined.

“We suffer from sargassum, the erosion of our coasts, the deterioration of our corals and we are victims of illegal fishing.

All this forces us to redouble our efforts to guarantee that future generations of Dominicans can enjoy an ocean with more strength and marine biodiversity.”

Although he will no longer be able to see it, the Dominican Republic is now closer to achieving it thanks to the announcement of the protection of the Beata marine mountain range, an ecosystem shared with Colombia that has formations that exceed 4,000 meters in depth.

Unique species of corals, molluscs and migratory birds are found in it, so it is crucial to preserve it, says Milagros De Camps, Vice Minister of International Cooperation.

“I was very excited about this project, I followed up on it daily.

He had a very close relationship with the Colombian Minister [of the Environment] and he was extremely excited about it, ”says the official, who still has a hard time talking about Mera in the past tense.

"This announcement is in honor of his memory, of her important legacy."

Different species of coral in the seas of the Dominican Republic.MAX BELLO

The news of the minister's assassination was like an unexpected slap in the face for De Camps and all those around him.

He had received no threats.

Nothing seemed to announce that one hot morning in early June an old childhood friend would shoot him point-blank in his office in Santo Domingo.

Miguel Cruz raged like this after having had to stop the extraction of materials for his cement plant for not complying with environmental regulations.

The minister had applied the same law to his friend as to everyone else: in one year of management, he processed more than 2,000 sanctions for environmental violations, well above the 500 that had been imposed in the last 20 years.

“He was not afraid.

He always said that with dialogue everything is resolved and that he acted in accordance with the law, ”said the deputy minister at the time.

Mera's commitment was reflected in the innumerable meetings and calls with the Chilean environmentalist Maximiliano Bello, from the organization Mission Blue, with whom he was working hand in hand to carry out the protection announcement.

The minister wanted the Dominican Republic "to become the trigger for a movement with repercussions in all the Caribbean countries to create marine areas that exceed 30% protection," says Bello, already in Lisbon to participate in the Summit, to the that Mera was also planned to come.

The politician thus sought to follow in the footsteps of Panama, which last year took an important step in the conservation of its seas by creating a marine reserve in the Coiba mountain range almost as large as its entire land area.

Mera was convinced that preserving the marine biodiversity of the Dominican Republic also meant ensuring the livelihood of its inhabitants.

“There is tourism that seeks to get to know our oceans, our corals, and we have to strengthen our tourist offer to this public that is increasing every day.

And on the other hand we also have to improve our fishing capacity, in order to maintain the marine wealth that we have and that we can live from the ocean”, he affirmed.

His work made it clear that he was going to do everything possible to achieve that goal: in addition to the Beata reserve, Mera was designing with the Chilean environmentalist the creation of another protection area in the Banco de la Plata, an important area for the aggregation of humpback whales and sperm whales.

Following the announcement at the Summit of the Oceans, Maximiliano Bello acknowledges that the great challenge now is to ensure that the new marine reserves are respected.

And, without the Dominican Republic's environmental watchdog to make sure of it, the task will be more difficult.

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