DUVERGÉ, Dominican Republic. - Environment minister Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal urged the creation of a law to punish ecocide, with severe penalties for arsons that torch forests, but defended Law 64-00, which in his view is harsh enough against violators.

The official noted however that he isn’t seeking a law to establish ecocide, and instead include it in the Penal Code as a legal figure, as other countries do. "I’ve never seen an exemplary sentence against the authors of criminal fired, but I have seen it against invaders that cut down trees and depredate without a conscious, for which the creation of ecocide is necessary, as homicide exists for those who take a person’s life, it must exist also against those who kill nature."

As to fires caused in the hills at Polo, in Barahona, Fernandez said charges were filed against the people behind them, but reiterated that to convict the arsonists of a major crime; ecocide must be introduced into the Penal Code.

The official spoke in the mountain community Puerto Escondido, during the ribbon cutting for a Protection and Vigilance Center, as well as two towers, one for bird watching and another to monitor forests. "We are building these works to protect the forests and protected areas, so that the burning of forests like those at Polo aren’t repeated.”