Dominican Republic Environment - 2024

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

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.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.03% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 7.59 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 25.26 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 8.1 megatons (2020 est.)

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: 860 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 660 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 7.56 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

23.5 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)