Community-based adaptation in coastal areas of Hato Mayor province, Dominican Republic

Improved management and/or rehabilitation of mangrove, seagrass meadows and forestry ecosystems in selected marine and coastal zone habitats of Hato Mayor province to strengthen the resilience of people to hurricanes and storms, while contributing to biodiversity protection. Sabana de la Mar, in Hato Mayor province is a coastal town where people derive their livelihoods from agriculture, fishery and an incipient tourism industry. Climate Change extreme events -mostly increased impact of storms- have been severely affecting people’s livelihoods and houses causing floods, landslides, erosion of beaches, sea level rise, and saline intrusion of wells and soil. This is exacerbated by unsustainable fishing practices, deforestation, and contamination of streams -such as Yabón River. To increase the resilience of people to hurricanes and storms, while contributing biodiversity protection, this project will improve management and/or rehabilitation of mangrove, seagrass meadows and forestry ecosystems in selected areas. EbA interventions will build upon best practices from previous Ecosystem based risk reduction in coastal areas of Samaná and La Altagracia provinces of Dominican Republic, (EbA1 #77 Project). Which put emphasis on community-led ecosystem-based adaptation to engage local stakeholders in implementing risk reduction measures, ecosystem restoration and management activities, and environmentally sustainable livelihood diversification initiatives to cope with hurricanes and storms. A total of 1,800 community dwellers are expected to directly benefit from EbA interventions targeting 1,200 hectares of mangrove, forest and seagrass meadows with emphasis in Yabón River watershed and coastal areas.