Santo Domingo.- Professionals from several disciplines announced a new national organization of volunteers to promote and defend the environment and the natural resources, the second such movement after the creation of the Pro Cordillera Voluntary Society last week, which pledged  to recover and protect the Central Mountain Range.

In a statement, the Citizens Environment Defense Alliance (ALAM) said it aims to educate, inform and promote a commitment by men and women of all ages and social condition to defend the main patrimony: ecological balance and biodiversity.

“This idea is part of the conviction to defend the environment which isn’t  an exclusive attribute of the public and private institutions dedicated to the tasks  preserving it, because until the country’s inhabitants don’t empower themselves regarding their duties, nothing will be sustainable,” said the journalist and member Ramon E. Colombo.

ALAM’s first public activity, the “Open Assembly in Defense of Life” will be held 4 p.m. Wednesday in Santa Ana Cave, located in the park of the National Music Conservatory.

Colombo said Environment minister Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal enthusiastically supports project. “Jaime David has been insistent on that ALAM must preserve its quality as an independent organism of citizens, so it becomes a true incentive for the agencies to enforce Environment Law 64-00.”

ALAM’s members include the singer-songwriters Victor Victor and Jose Antonio Rodriguez; the architect Emilio Jose Brea; the theater producer Mónica Despradel, and the ecologists David Arias, Ramon Narpier, Noris Pimentel, Nelson Cabrera, Carolina Lerebours, the agronomist Angel Ripol; doctor Angel Pichardo; the business leaders Nicolas Hernandez and Jose Manuel Vargas; the student and writer Saima Chahín and Jose Enrique Trinidad.