March 01, 2022, New York

The Dominican Republic (DR) successfully submitted an update of its forest conservation targets to United Nations’ REDD+ Mechanism last month. The new forest conservation targets, called Forest Reference Emissions Level (FREL), were for the period 2016-2018.

“Congratulations to the Dominican Republic for the submission of its FREL. DR’s technical team showed great leadership and should be applauded.” Milena Nino, Greenhouse Gas Inventory Expert, Coalition for Rainforest Nations

Over 13% of DR is protected through national parks or other wilderness designations. This is a commitment made by the country to protect the amazing rainforest across the island. The government oversees 18 national parks, nine natural monuments, and six scientific reserves. The first UNESCO Biosphere Reserve was established in 2009, combining three of the country’s most biodiverse national parks—Jaragua, Bahoruco, and Enriquillo—in the southwest region.

DR had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.18/10, ranking it 134th globally out of 172 countries, and is home to about 5,600 plant species and 300 bird species.

The new forest conservation targets were the result of a coordinated effort by the department of Metrics and Transparency of Climate Change, Department of Climate Change Mitigation and Clean Development Mechanism, Directorate of Environmental Information and Natural Resources, Forest Monitoring, the Forest Research Department, among others. The UNFCCC experts will now review the Forest conservation targets under the Technical Assessment process. CfRN worked with national teams on the Forest and Other Land Use (FOLU) sector of the country’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGi).

“We help countries achieve complete consistency in their reporting and information in accordance with the UNFCCC guidelines, and build in-house know-how and capacity for countries to submit under UNFCCC REDD+ Mechanism.” Milena Nino, Greenhouse Gas Inventory Expert, Coalition for Rainforest Nations

In November 2021, the GHG emission estimates were completed, and sessions were conducted to review them. The FREL will now reviewed by UN experts.