Santo Domingo.- The Academy of Sciences, through its Commission on Natural Sciences and Environment, expressed this Monday its deep concern about the proposal presented by the senator of Peravia, Julio Fulcar, by which he requests the president of the Republic to reduce the limits of the Las Calderas Dunes Natural Monument in order to regularize occupations within the protected area.
The institution recalled that the area was created in 1996 and is protected by the Constitution of the Republic (article 15), Law 202-04 on Protected Areas (article 5) and Law 64-00 on Environment and Natural Resources, so reducing its limits would constitute a violation of current regulations.
The Academy highlighted that the Dunas de Las Calderas Natural Monument has a Management Plan, prepared in conjunction with technicians from the Ministry of Environment and delivered in 2024. This document establishes clear actions against illegal occupations, including the total removal of the plots built within the protected area and its buffer zone, as well as the search for alternative housing solutions in the community of Las Calderas, after purification to prevent mafias linked to the sale of plots from benefiting from these measures.
The scientific body emphasized that the Constitution prohibits the reduction of the limits of protected areas, except through the approval of two-thirds of the enrollment of the National Congress, a provision designed precisely to safeguard the stability of the National System of Protected Areas.
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He also recalled that Law 202-04 establishes that protected areas are inalienable, unseizable, imprescriptible and cannot be transferred in favor of individuals, which makes the Natural Monument a collective asset of the Nation.
Illegal occupations after 1996
The Academy specified that the irregular occupations occurred after the declaration of the area in 1996, so Senator Fulcar’s proposal is equivalent to legalizing a violation of the law, setting a dangerous precedent for environmental protection in the country.
In the event that there were prior occupations to the declaration –which is not the case– the legal route would be the presentation of property titles so that the State could evaluate compensation or exchange mechanisms, never the reduction of the protected area.
The institution stated that the invasions within the Monument constitute a legal infringement and that the corresponding action is the recovery of the land by the State, except in exceptional situations where humanitarian compensation could be evaluated, without implying the legalization of the occupation.
Finally, the Academy of Sciences underscored the importance of the Las Calderas Dunes as an invaluable natural and cultural heritage, whose ecosystem services are essential for the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the Dominican Republic.
“We reiterate our call to respect the current legal framework and guarantee the integrity of the Dunas de Las Calderas Natural Monument, an irreplaceable heritage of the Nation,” the entity pointed out.
