Results of the Migration and Environment Project: Positioning the Issue on the Binational and International Agenda

June 1, 2014--The month of April 2014 marked the close of the project "Studies and pilot initiatives to promote Environmental Sustainability in the Dominican Republic and Haiti," financed by the European Commission. It provides an opportunity to discuss the results, evaluate the actions, identify the issues that will continue to be studied in the future, and the initiatives that should receive greater resources or follow-up.

This project was carried out jointly by teams of researchers and development-planning specialists from the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The geographic intervention area comprised Nalga de Maco National Park in the Dominican Republic and Pic Macaya National Park in Haiti, both protected areas where the interactions between the environment, natural resource management, migration, and the economic activities of local populations can be studied in a privileged way.

Among the main validation and dissemination activities marking the close of the project, the following deserve special mention:

* The binational workshop "Environmental Knowledge and Action in the Republic of Haiti and the Dominican Republic," held in Santo Domingo on April 1. During this workshop, the teams from the Dominican Republic and Haiti presented their findings, conclusions, and recommendations derived from fieldwork in the communities surrounding the national parks in question. The workshop also featured the participation of geographer Dr. Marion Werner of the State University of New York at Buffalo, who situated international cooperation within the recent history of insular development.

* The international conference "Climate Change will change also our life?", held in Milan on April 17. This conference, organized by AVSI in Milan, included the participation of Geronimo Chotin, who presented the experiences and findings of IDDI and OBMICA, together with AVSI researchers and other international guests.

* OBMICA's participation in the "International Symposium on Climate Change and Migration" organized by the Environmental Change and Migration Thematic Working Group of the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD) and the Development Prospects Group (DECPG) in Washington, D.C., on May 28 and 29. At this event, OBMICA presented a paper based on the essay "Mobilities: Migration, Spaces, and Environmental Conditions around Nalga de Maco National Park," which considered the findings, methodologies, research interests, and public policy lines to be derived regarding the relationships between environmental change and migration, in light of the experience in the communities surrounding Nalga de Maco National Park.

* The presentation of the books Migration and Environmental Sustainability in Hispaniola, and the Migration Policy Brief Migration and Environmental Sustainability: A Relevant Reflection, available in Spanish, French, and English.

* A digital atlas bringing together the cartography produced within the framework of the project.

The project "Studies and pilot initiatives to promote Environmental Sustainability in the Dominican Republic and Haiti," code DCI-ENV/2010/254-095, has been fruitful in initiating discussions on how the environment and migration can be studied together, bringing into contact fields that usually have been separated in their study in the Dominican Republic, or viewed exclusively from the standpoint of conserving natural resources. The project's results make it possible to develop new reflections and starting points for deepening these themes, and invite us to think about how migration and the environment will be key to understanding the environmental conflicts to come as natural resources deteriorate on the planet.

To read more about OBMICA's work on migration and environment, click here.