Santo Domingo. - Environment minister Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal said Wednesday it’s necessary to reform the natural resources Law, because powerful Dominicans never pay the consequences of their crimes.

He said the only guarantee to protect the natural resources and the environment is for society to organize and get involved.

Fernandez, interviewed by Clave Digital, said the laws in this country are too weak to contain such a fast avalanche of depredation. “We must give the law more force because here it’s done so that none of the powerful pay the consequences. The laws need to be modified so that they’re more drastic.”

Complaining of  “a weak legislation that seems a declaration of principles,” the official said environmental protection laws force “catching the culprit with his hand in the till” for depredation or spilling toxins.

As to industrial pollution, Fernandez cited cellphone batteries. “There’s a fever to communicate through the cells, but nobody knows where those batteries will end up, which are highly polluting. There’s no recycling industry. Another problem is the environmental contamination through noise; noises damage mental health.”

He said the agency’s priority is to reforest the river basins because people see only the effects downstream, though in his view deforestation and soil erosion are their main problems. “We are making a map with the most vulnerable places to focus on them and see in what river basins we need to act quickly.”