In a coordinated, cross-government effort to address escalating threats to the country’s ecologically critical protected landscapes, the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources have officially launched Operation Environmental Commitment 2026, a nationwide crackdown on destructive environmental crime. The multi-month initiative brings together a diverse coalition of state institutions to counter activities that have eroded fragile ecosystems across the nation’s most protected natural spaces.
Operational leadership for the campaign falls to the National Environmental Protection Service (known locally as SENPA), with the Dominican Armed Forces providing tactical and logistical support alongside more than half a dozen additional government agencies. Enforcement and recovery activities are being deployed simultaneously across six of the country’s highest-priority protected areas: Los Haitises National Park, Valle Nuevo National Park, Sierra de Bahoruco National Park, José del Carmen Ramírez National Park, Armando Bermúdez National Park, and La Humeadora National Park. All six sites are home to unique biodiversity and endangered species that have faced growing pressure from unregulated human activity in recent years.
The operation’s primary enforcement targets include five of the most widespread damaging activities plaguing Dominican protected areas: illegal land encroachment, unlicensed commercial logging, intentional vegetation burning, slash-and-burn subsistence farming that clears old-growth forest, and illegal unregulated fishing in protected aquatic habitats. Deployed inter-agency teams are conducting stepped-up aerial and ground surveillance across remote areas, carrying out enforcement actions against violators, and leading on-the-ground restoration work to reverse damage to already impacted ecosystems.
Beyond environmental authorities and SENPA, the coalition includes the Dominican Army, Navy, and Air Force, the General Directorate of Migration, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for the Defense of the Environment and Natural Resources. This whole-of-government approach is designed to break down coordination barriers that have historically hampered efforts to counter organized environmental crime in remote protected regions.
In a statement following the launch, the Ministry of Defense emphasized that safeguarding the country’s natural resources is not merely an environmental priority, but a core pillar of national security. The institution reaffirmed its long-term commitment to advancing conservation goals by leveraging the extensive operational capabilities and geographic reach of the Armed Forces to protect ecosystems that are vital to the Dominican Republic’s biodiversity, tourism industry, and long-term climate resilience.