Dominican Republic Environment - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Environment - current issues

water shortages; soil eroding into the sea damages coral reefs; deforestation

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 12.95 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 25.26 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 8.1 megatons (2020 est.)

Climate

tropical maritime; little seasonal temperature variation; seasonal variation in rainfall

Land use

agricultural land: 51.5% (2018 est.)

arable land: 16.6% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 10.1% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 24.8% (2018 est.)

forest: 40.8% (2018 est.)

other: 7.7% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 84.4% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 1.64% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Revenue from forest resources

forest revenues: 0.03% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

coal revenues: 0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

degree of risk: high (2020)

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases: dengue fever

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 4,063,910 tons (2015 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 333,241 tons (2015 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 8.2% (2015 est.)

Major lakes (area sq km)

salt water lake(s): Lago de Enriquillo - 500 sq km

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 855 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

industrial: 659.9 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 7.563 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

Total renewable water resources

23.5 billion cubic meters (2017 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Dominican Republic on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Dominican Republic 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Dominican Republic 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.