SANTO DOMINGO. - The Minister of the Environment affirmed Wednesday that Dominican Republic’s forest cover has increased 5.4 percent in just seven years and has now reached between 33 and 35 percent.

Jaime David Fernandez said research to measure the country’s woods found that forests covered 27.5 percent of the territory in 1996. The latest research established that the coverage climbed from 32.9% in 2003 to reach as high as 35 percent in seven years.

He said the figure results from diverse efforts and projects carried out through the Plan Quisqueya Verde, which planted 11.4 million trees of different varieties such as mahogany, Caribbean pine, cedar, oak and tamarind during 2010

The official presented his agency’s activities for the first half of 2011, including the United Nations world program, to which Environment will send the document to be included in the global program, with the actions planed around the world to help the forests.

Fernandez listed the activities associated with environmental dates to be conducted during the first six months next year, such as the Day of the Journalist, in April, to establish the forest of the journalist, activity whose print version uses forests as the raw material.