Coastal zone management and tourism in the Dominican Republic

Abstract

This working paper highlights environmental management challenges at three different levels: (1) environmental and natural resources degradation problems; (2) lack of institutional monitoring and enforcement capacity; (3) limited use of policy instruments other than command and control. A recent workshop on ‘priority setting for environmental management in DR’ highlighted the public opinion’s sensitivity for water pollution and water management as two of the top environmental priorities. While an effort has been made for the establishment of norms for water quality and for municipal Coastal Zone Management and Tourism in the Dominican Republic waste collection and disposal, very little progress has been recorded on implementation, monitoring and enforcement. In the following table, main environmental problems in coastal and marine areas are identified. We identify possible actions and WB’s potential involvement.