Restoring Watersheds and Impacting Communities in the Dominican Republic

Impacting Communities and Planting Trees

With pristine beaches, evergreen forests, and fertile valleys, the Dominican Republic is home to the most diverse topography in the Caribbean. By planting trees in the Dominican Republic, this project will help to revitalize deforested land and empower communities to plant trees and care for their local environment. Our planting partner will empower volunteers with knowledge as they learn to plant trees in forested areas and on smallholder farms.

As part of the holistic Plant With Purpose approach, partnering farmers are nearly twice as likely to plant native species, have higher crop yields, and improved economic stability. As local subsistence pressures decrease, competition for resources will ease, and communities can better unite to improve and conserve the environment in their subwatershed.

With every tree planted through this project, watersheds will be restored and local communities will be impacted for the better!

Restoring Watersheds Through Ecological Impacts

Our planting partner, Plant With Purpose, seeks to impact and benefit watershed health and downstream actors. Specifically, in the border region, this project will benefit the Artibonite watershed, which impacts water supplies in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The Artibonite River flows through Caña and into Haiti’s only major reservoir, which provides water and irrigation for more than 3.5 million people.

Reforesting and regenerating this watershed is incredibly important for both the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as millions of people rely on it as their main source of water. As the trees are planted, soil and water tables will also stabilize, which will help to reduce the risk of flooding, and improve land downstream.

Every tree planted in this project will help revitalize the soil, promote biodiversity, and stabilize weather patterns. Trees will also be planted on hillsides to prevent erosion, decrease pollution, and increase the resilience of crops to weather events.

Empowering the Surrounding Communities

The trees will be planted on forested land as well as smallholder farms to help impact crop yield. Over time, the partner farmers will experience a number of community benefits from the newly planted trees. They will also be a part of agroforestry training, promoting the increase of flourishing crops with the new knowledge they gain from the training.

Better crop yields, along with improved sources of clean water, will lead to better family and community nutrition, health, and opportunities. Families will have access to a more diverse and plentiful diet, encouraging long-lasting health. Farmers will also be able to sell excess crops, fruit, and timber to generate income for their families and communities.

This project will also help to promote gender equality in the Dominican Republic. Of all the participants in the planting, over half of them are women, with many in positions of leadership.