Poverty-Environment mainstreaming context

Dominican Republic, as a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) has suffered the impacts of climatic events, particularly storms and hurricanes, followed by periods of drought, with increased frequency and intensity over the last years. Poor rural households that depend largely on natural resources and ecosystem services for their health, income, livelihoods and basic needs, are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change impacts. In 2007, for example, the storms Olga and Noel hit Dominican Republic affecting over 70% of the country’s population directly or indirectly. 90% of direct victims (loss of housing, livelihoods, etc.) were under the poverty line in the provinces with the lowest Human Development Index (HDI). The Global Climate Risk Index (CRI) 2010 classified Dominican Republic in the 8th position of the 10 countries most affected by extreme climatic events.

From a socioeconomic point of view, Dominican Republic is an upper-middle income country, which has managed to maintain an average economic growth of 5.9% in the last 5 years. Nevertheless, high levels of poverty and inequality persist. Specifically, 33.8% of the population of the country lives in poverty and 10.1% in extreme poverty. These levels are higher in rural areas, where 50.9% and 19.8% of the total population live in poverty and extreme poverty, respectively.

Poverty and marginalization are among the factors that increase vulnerability due to climate variability and climate change in the country. Therefore, linking poverty and environment through sustainable management is crucial for a healthy and productive environment that may significantly contribute to social wellbeing and to pro-poor economic development.Poor rural groups are generally composed of small-scale farmers, landless farmers, micro-entrepreneurs, small retailers, agricultural workers and employees of rural services operators. 57% of extremely poor households are run by women, as well as 65% of those living in moderate poverty.Inequality levels are also elevated. The poorest 20% of the population receives barely over 5% of the national income, whereas the richest 20% enjoys more than 50%.In this context, the joint PEI-REGATTA intervention proposes to integrate the links between poverty, environment and adaptation to climate change into planning and development processes, such as land management, and into social protection strategies, in order to reduce the vulnerability of poor rural households. The project proposes improved coordination mechanisms and the integration of these links within social protection policies aiming to reduce poverty, fostering the institutional strengthening of all relevant stakeholders involved.

The PEI-REGATTA joint intervention is aligned with the Dominican Republic National Development Strategy 2010-2030 (END, Estrategia Nacional de Desarrollo) elaborated on a consensual basis under the coordination of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPYD), among which the absence of spatial and environmental planning is emphasized as a major national development obstacle. 

 Main activities

• Undertaking studies that help identify the linkages between adaptation to Climate Change, Poverty and Environment in order to develop and promote arguments to influence spatial policy-making processes (including the estimation of costs to the Government for not implementing public policies oriented to mitigating the negative impact of such events on poor households).
• Presentation and dissemination of these results concerning the poverty and environment nexus and climate change links within key actors from the Government and the civil society
• Undertaking advocacy and sensitization tasks for key governmental actors in the design of public policies related to poverty and environment and climate change.
• Incorporating the linkages between poverty and environment and climate change adaptation into land use planning processes carried out by the General Directorate of Land Use Planning (DGODT, Dirección General de Ordenamiento Territorial).
• Mainstreaming of poverty and environment linkages and climate change into planning tools for territorial and land use development planning.
• Formulation and implementation of the pilot project at a first stage, in order to identify policies and good practices aimed at reducing poverty and the level of climate vulnerability of the most impacted households in the Lago Enriquillo region.
• Influence national social protection policies to integrate environmental pro poor indicators and variables.