Santo Domingo—The Dominican Republic will receive the first results of the international carbon credit market with a payment of US$6.0 million from the World Bank (WB) in 2024.
According to Yvonne Arias, executive director of the Jaragua Group and technical secretary of the Dominican Committee of Man and the Biosphere (MAB); Federico Franco, Vice Minister of Protected Areas and Biodiversity; Solhanlle Bonilla, Director of Sustainability; and Lemuel Familia, head of the Ecosystems Division of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, this payment would mark a before and after. To meet the goal of reducing carbon dioxide (Co2), the country is forced to continue trading in this market.
By participating as guests at the TODAY Economic Meeting, the officials and the biologist recalled that in May 2021, the Ministries of Finance and the Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic signed a historic agreement with the Carbon Cooperative Fund of the Forests (FCPF) of the World Bank. This agreement will allow the country to receive payments of up to 25 million dollars for verifiable reductions of greenhouse gases from forest carbon from that date until 2025, through the Dominican Republic emissions reduction program.
They highlighted the importance that this fact has for the country to achieve the transition from activities that are harmful to water production to other activities that are beneficial to the conservation of this resource.
They explained that of the US$6.0 million that the country will receive, 30% will be invested in protected areas. The rest will go to agricultural associations that are part of the project because they have changed the intensive form of production.
On the subject, they added that a carbon dioxide market is being created, which must be balanced. There are already countries in the decontamination process, which will take longer for some. On the other hand, for others that do not produce as many gases, it will be faster. So forests, especially in tropical areas of the world, are compensated for being the most efficient at reducing greenhouse gases.
They indicated that it is being collected in the country through a network that recognizes not only carbon but also the ecosystem services of forests.