The anti-migrant wall that the Dominican Republic is building on its border with Haiti crisscrosses a thick mangrove and endangers the ecosystem by depriving it of water, worry about environmental protection NGOs.
Santo Domingo wants to build a 160 km concrete fence on its border with Haiti, 380 km long in total, to prevent illegal migrants from entering and "protect" the country from Haitian gangs with growing influence.
Each year, between 100.000 and 200.000 Haitian immigrants are expelled (171.000 in 2022) in a context of xenophobia and tension between the two neighbors of the island of Hispaniola.
But the Dominican Academy of Sciences believes that the damage to the wetland in Monte Cristi National Park in the northwest of the country is "irreparable".
The Ministry of Defence, responsible for the work, defends itself by asserting that "only 6 km2 have been affected", or 0,04% of the wetland.
From the top of a hill, Roque Taveras, an official of the Ministry of the Environment, points to a section of wall 250 meters long which crosses the wetland. The watercourse of "the gorge which feeds the mangrove has been interrupted", he pointed out to AFP.
Work has been temporarily interrupted on this section by order of the environmental authorities, who are demanding the construction of 16 culverts that would allow water to flow.
On both sides of the trench in the middle of the mangrove, which can reach more than 20 meters high, lie the trunks of felled trees of terracotta color. “This mangrove, the red mangrove, was hundreds of years old. How long does it take for a new mangrove to reach this size?” asks Mr. Taveras in the face of promises of reforestation.
The national park's ecosystem is rich with "four types of mangroves" that grow in the Dominican Republic, he explains.
"The red (rhizophora mangle), the white (laguncularia racemosa), the black (Avicennia germinans) and the button (Conocarpus erectus)", lists the 52-year-old man.
The mangroves are home to the blue crab (Cardisoma guanhumi), nicknamed "Paloma de Cueva" (cave pigeon) by the Dominicans.
This crustacean, whose claws can reach 15 centimeters in length, is one of the species classified as "vulnerable" by the authorities due to the reduction of its habitat but also to excessive fishing for human consumption.
There are also small fiddler crabs (Leptuca pugilator), gray pigeons (Patagioenas inornata), several species of herons and some rare caimans according to witnesses.
The wall also has "a very negative impact" on local tourism, judge Hiciar Blanco, 49, president of Manzanillo EcoAventura, an agency which organizes visits and promotes the preservation of the region.
“It has already started to affect us because it was an area where we came to show the mangroves to tourists,” he says. When the border fence is complete, "we won't have easy access," he points out, because much of the mangrove forest is on the Haitian side.
He also regrets that an ecological watchtower project from the University of Pennsylvania (United States) was ignored by the authorities.
Local fishermen who “feed their families through responsible fishing” will also have “problems”, predicts this conservationist who sports a sailfish tattoo on his forearm. According to him, the upheavals generated will upset the fish balance.
