The Dominican Republic is one of the greatest contributors to biodiversity in the Caribbean region. The country has a high number of endemic species and is characterized by ecosystems including mountain ecosystems, forest ecosystems, freshwater habitats, arid and semi-arid zones, and coastal and marine ecosystems. Its biodiversity faces major threats from overexploitation of species to conversion of land for expansion of agriculture, development of tourism, mining, introduction of invasive alien species, pollution and climate change, which are worsened by the increase in human population.

• The Dominican Republic, through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, hosted the Caribbean Regional Trialogue in 2018 to raise awareness of the key messages of the IPBES Thematic Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production and promote policy/science/practice uptake of the report’s relevant recommendations in the Caribbean region.
• The country is in the initial stages of its assessment process under BES-Net II, with support from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and UNEP-WCMC.
• The Dominican Republic is also a priority country for future catalytic support under BES-Net II’s BES Solution Fund to promote the uptake of national ecosystem assessment recommendations once the process is finalized.