What the DR Can/Should Do Regarding Global Climate Change

[Keith R]

Originally Posted by Chip

All truth be told Keith, discussing ethanol is relavant to the DR and global warming, as it's resources may be used for ethanol production and it is therefore essential to have some basic facts straight.

Agreed, but what I don't want to see is several pages focused just on the nuts and bolts, pluses and minuses of biofuels. Biofuels are a fascinating subject and these days controversial too. As I said before, I am perfectly willing to discuss the future of biofuels in the DR in another thread, but don't want it to become this thread's new main direction.

[A.Hidalgo]

The Secretaría de Estado de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales of the Dominican Republic has many reports on their web site pertaining to global warming and what the government plans to do. In Spanish. Interesting reading and hopefully the government will implement these chances....I'm crossing my fingers

Medio Ambiente en línea - Cambio climático

[Keith R]

Thanks for posting the links (I should have thought to do so before), but most of those docs are the simply the DR's GHG emission inventories and First National Communication to the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The latter was produced & released in 2003 under the prior Administration, so I am not sure how much the Fernandez Administration is sticking to it. If I recall (it's been a year or two since I read it), it does a decent job of discussing possible vulnerabilities but is not very deep in discussing responses in either adaptation or mitigation. The document on adaptation to sequia I confess I have not yet read. Any goodies there?

Also, anyone have any word on when the DR is going to submit their Second Communication? That would provide more clues to the current government thinking. Yeah, I know, only Mexico and Uruguay have already released their Second, but Colombia supposedly is to do so shortly. I would hope that the Ministerio get moving on it rather than lag everyone else as the DR did with the first Communication...

[Chip]

It appears bio fuels may not be the answer, therefore, being somewhat of a pragmatist, what can we really expect from underdeveloped countries such as the DR expect to do to minimize the emission of greenehouse gases? What realistic alternatives can they employ as far as energy sources or methods of minimizing usage?

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Chip

It appears bio fuels may not be the answer, therefore, being somewhat of a pragmatist, what can we really expect from underdeveloped countries such as the DR expect to do to minimize the emission of greenehouse gases? What realistic alternatives can they employ as far as energy sources or methods of minimizing usage?

OMG Chip! you're asking the question that I asked originally before the whole thing went sour. I'm still wondering what? what to do?

[Chip]

Originally Posted by Chris

OMG Chip! you're asking the question that I asked originally before the whole thing went sour. I'm still wondering what? what to do?

Ok, now that we are back on track, what can one realistically expect?

IMOI, I don't think a whole lot can be expected from poor countries; however, outlawing 2 cycle motors for transportation and try to regulate the the emissions and number of available public transportation vehicles would be helpful at least. Getting rid of the 2 cycle engines and old vehicles will help with the air quality and minimizing the number of vehicles used for transportation will lower the amount of emissions(ie miminimize number of carro publicos and use more buses).

In the end it is all about using the least amount of carbon based fuels to get the same amount of work (in this case passenger miles) done.

As far as the electric system goes here, I think most would agree that it could be disasterous for a country like the DR to have nuclear power, as they seem so intent on mismanaging their other public projects. Maybe if a private company came in and had complete autonomy as far as control goes, that could be a possiblity. But how long could an agreement persist in a country where the politicians do what they can to rob the coffers and screw up whatever good thing that comes along?

[Keith R]

I split off the discussion about biofuels in the climate change science thread to its own thread, as it looked like it was going to take on a life of its own. If anyone wants to debate broadly the wisdom of pursuing biofuels, please take it there.

Since 3 posts by Chris & Chip over there seemed to wander back into the "what to do about climate change" discussion, I brought them here. Hope it's not too confusing!

[Chris]

These are the things that I think the DR should be busy doing:

- educate people regarding environment issues
- dispose waste responsibly
- study which beaches will be less affected by sea level rise and pay attention to those .. keep them clean and conserve them
- conserve fresh water, overhaul the dam system and ensure that the country has sufficient fresh water for its inhabitants and its agriculture for 6 months or so.
- encourage forestation and sustainable agriculture
- start protecting coral reefs .. do this with reducing tourist numbers where appropriate .. put a price on the snorkeling and diving experiece and create underwater parks like Biscayne and Pennecamp in the Floridia Keys
- actively regenerate sustainable fishing in its waters
- actively regenerate diverse farming and create a vibrant green agri-tourism offering
- create a diverse ecotourism offering, merchandise and sell this - educate Dominicans to run ecotourism enterprises
- for the bigger problems, like fuel, make good reliable friends in the world that can supply
- and here is the one that is going to ruffle feathers ... get some money from somewhere and help Haiti recover - plant massive numbers of trees to regenerate water resources and soil richness.

[Chip]

Originally Posted by Chris

These are the things that I think the DR should be busy doing:

- educate people regarding environment issues
- dispose waste responsibly
- study which beaches will be less affected by sea level rise and pay attention to those .. keep them clean and conserve them
- conserve fresh water, overhaul the dam system and ensure that the country has sufficient fresh water for its inhabitants and its agriculture for 6 months or so.
- encourage forestation and sustainable agriculture
- start protecting coral reefs .. do this with reducing tourist numbers where appropriate .. put a price on the snorkeling and diving experiece and create underwater parks like Biscayne and Pennecamp in the Floridia Keys
- actively regenerate sustainable fishing in its waters
- actively regenerate diverse farming and create a vibrant green agri-tourism offering
- create a diverse ecotourism offering, merchandise and sell this - educate Dominicans to run ecotourism enterprises
- for the bigger problems, like fuel, make good reliable friends in the world that can supply
- and here is the one that is going to ruffle feathers ... get some money from somewhere and help Haiti recover - plant massive numbers of trees to regenerate water resources and soil richness.

These are all very good ideas, but lets be practical, how much do you really think would ever get implemented?

Speaking of solutions about greenhouse gases, do you agree that for developed countries the solution is a combination of nuclear power, pure and hybrid vehicles?

Also, being that hybrid vehicles have a battery supply, would it really be realistic for third world countries to require them given their already dismal record at managing and protecting their natural resources? A good example would be the obvious environmental impact of poorly managing battery recycling plants. Could you imagine that in the DR? All hybrid cars with a battery recycling shop on every corner? Where would they dump all of the sulfuric acid? You guessed it, right in the gutter. Sure we might lower the earhts surfacr temparature, but at what cost, the water supply. This is why any solution anybody proposes needs to be realistic, not just unrealistic goals that are to be reached by whatever means possible. The whole picture must be kept in perspective imo. If not or other ramifications will rear their ugly head.

[Chris]

Point taken and fair enough Chip. I just wonder what the results will be if those things do not get prioritized.