Evaluation of the USAID/Dominican Republic biodiversity portfolio : final report

Since 2007, USAID has assisted the Dominican Republic (DR) to reduce threats to its biodiversity through a biodiversity portfolio consisting of five projects: Living Museums of the Sea (LMS); Sustainable Fisheries in Miches (SFM); Dominican Sustainable Tourism Alliance (DSTA); Participating Agency Program Agreements (PAPA) with the US Forest Service (USFS); and the Environmental Protection Project (EPP). This report presents Social Impact’s (SI) findings, conclusions and recommendations and is intended to support future financial and strategic decisions of USAID/Dominican Republic (USAID/DR) regarding biodiversity conservation programs. The evaluation of each project aimed to answer five critical questions concerning the extent to which the biodiversity portfolio activities assisted the DR Mission in conserving its biodiversity. Evaluation questions investigated the extent to which the portfolio fostered positive synergies within and among each project; achieved targeted outcomes and results; used best practices and lessons learned; achieved sustainability and the adoption of conservation practices; and complied with USAID’s biodiversity criteria. To best analyze these areas of inquiry, the project evaluations relied on qualitative data collection and analysis methodologies

Creating a sustainable waste management model in Samaná province, Dominican Republic

In Samaná Province—a peninsula on the DR’s northeastern coast— USAID’s CCBO program is working to pilot solutions to stop the flow of plastic pollution into the region’s large, semi-enclosed Samaná Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. With the new SWM law in place, there is high political will to demonstrate progress on addressing the DR’s solid waste challenges. USAID is working closely with stakeholders in Samaná to test SWM approaches that show proof of concept and can be used across the rest of the country—a strategic approach that has received support from the country’s president and other key entities at the national level. CCBO’s role in transforming Samaná into a model province for SWM places USAID’s work at the center of a key moment in the DR’s fight against ocean plastic pollution

Biodiversity conservation and forestry programs : annual Report

This report summarizes biodiversity conservation and forestry programs supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in fiscal year 2009

Sustainable Financing for Caribbean Regional Conservation Program

The USAID’s Sustainable Financing for Caribbean Regional Conservation Project ensures that biodiversity and priority ecosystems in the Caribbean region are safeguarded through effective financing. The project will strengthen and enhance technical and institutional capacities to increase innovation and achieve sustainable financing for biodiversity conservation in the Caribbean

Building environmental resilience with green infrastructure planning in the Dominican Republic

[Project fact sheet] The Dominican Republic faces ongoing climate-related challenges, including flooding, mudslides, and increasing temperatures resulting in salinization, rising sea-levels, and coastal erosion. USAID’s Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program-funded lead researcher Dr. Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte from the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and her team have been working alongside Gerald Bauer and Dr. Wayne Arendt from the U.S. Forest Service and Dr. Elvia Meléndez-Ackerman from the University of Puerto Rico to help the Dominican Republic adapt to climate change. Using an urban forestry approach, the researchers are engaging local communities and collaborating with academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, and policy-makers to build resilience within urban environments and equip urban communities with tools to alleviate the effects of climate change

Parks in peril site consolidation : a framework for strengthening protected areas

To address the weaknesses of protected areas, the primary goal of the Parks in Peril program has been to strengthen local capacity to manage protected areas throughout Latin America and the Caribbean through a broad-scale partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), foreign governmental organizations, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local communities. Since 1990, the Parks in Peril program has supported 45 protected areas across 17 countries in the Americas

Atlas of physical, economic and social resources of the lower mekong basin

Prepared under the direction of The united states agency for international development, Bureau for East Asia by the Engineer Agency For Resources Inventories and the Tennessee Valley Authority for the Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin (Cambodia, Laos, Republic Of Viet-Nam And Thailand), United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East</p

Caribbean Marine Biodiversity Program : Dominican Republic

The Caribbean Marine Biodiversity Program is a five-year project (2014-2019), funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and The Nature Conservancy, that aims to achieve sustained biodiversity conservation, maintain and restore critical ecosystems and realize tangible improvements in human and community wellbeing. Operating in five target countries—Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica and St. Vincent & the Grenadines—the Program focuses on creating and effectively managing marine conserved areas and establishing and promoting sustainable fisheries

The analytical framework of water and armed conflict: a focus on the 2006 Summer War between Israel and Lebanon

This paper develops an analytical framework to investigate the relationship between water and armed conflict, and applies it to the ‘Summer War’ of 2006 between Israel and Lebanon (Hezbollah). The framework broadens and deepens existing classifications by assessing the impact of acts of war as indiscriminate or targeted, and evaluating them in terms of international norms and law, in particular International Humanitarian Law (IHL). In the case at hand, the relationship is characterised by extensive damage in Lebanon to drinking water infrastructure and resources. This is seen as a clear violation of the letter and the spirit of IHL, while the partial destruction of more than 50 public water towers compromises water rights and national development goals. The absence of pre-war environmental baselines makes it difficult to gauge the impact on water resources, suggesting a role for those with first-hand knowledge of the hostilities to develop a more effective response before, during, and after armed conflict