Centro Ecológico Cibao
About Us
The Centro Ecológico Cibao is an ecological park at the heart of the BioTropic headquarters in the Dominican Republic. It’s a public-private partnership (PPP), whereby the funding is sourced equally from the public authority and a private company. In the case of "Centro Ecológico", the public authority is the DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) and the private company is BioTropic SRL.
The idea of creating the park came to BioTropic employees Volker Schmidt and Aquilino Cruz when they discovered that the company's new territory was home to several endemic and endangered plants. Rather than clearing the area, it was decided to expand the existing base and make even greater efforts to protect these rare species and many others. Several other ideas and plans came together to form the "Centro Ecológico Cibao", which was built between September 2012 and December 2014. Since then, it has been open to different groups such as students, farmers and tourists.
The park is intended to be an active part of the lives of the Dominican people. It will be used for research, education and training, and will help to raise the level of environmental awareness among the population. It is also intended to demonstrate the possibilities of organic farming and to help local farmers to use them. Another aim of the park is to demonstrate the use of renewable energy sources and their benefits. Through these efforts, the Centro Ecológico aims to help improve living conditions in rural areas of the country and counteract increasing urbanisation.
Today, the once unused and desolate area has been transformed into a green park full of life. It is home not only to many plants and trees, but also to various species of birds, insects and many others. The greenhouse has been planted and the banana museum has fruit of many different colours and shapes growing. It is also now possible to generate some of the energy used in the office through environmentally friendly solar energy systems. In addition, the highly polluted sewage water from the neighbouring prison is now cleaned and used by the constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment.
About BioTropic and its Role for the Park
BioTropic is a German company that specialises in the production, import and pan-European sales of organic fruit and vegetables from five different continents with cultivation sites all over the globe. The company's distinctive offerings include a team of agricultural engineers, who are actively engaged in various locations worldwide, as well as our proprietary banana- and mango-ripening chambers in Duisburg, where the corporate headquarters is also situated.
Both the holding company, BioTropic GmbH, and the Dominican Republic subsidiary, BioTropic SRL, play an important role in the park. BioTropic SRL has facilitated the part of the funding raised by a member of the private sector. In addition, BioTropic GmbH is responsible for a large part of the public relations work, presenting the project to various audiences. The company is also involved in other aspects of the project, such as holding two of the five seats on the board of the foundation set up to ensure the funding and therefore the continuity of the park.
Where to find us
Coming from Santiago de los Caballeros
Follow the street leading into Mao until the first traffic light. Then turn right and follow the street until you reach its end, where you find the Fortaleza, a big green building. Turn right again. Stay on that street for a while until you get to the prison, a huge white complex with watchtowers. Just after it there is the entrance of Biotropic on the right-hand side. It is marked by a big escutcheon. Pass the sentry and keep going straight until you get to the parking lot.
Coming from Santiago de Rodriguez
Follow the street leading to Mao until you come to a crotch with a filling station with a huge Dominican flag. There head towards Mao but immediately after the crotch there is the entrance of Biotropic on the left.
Our Dedication
Erosion, soil degradation and water contamination are destroying the livelihoods of a large part of the Dominican population. The Centro Ecológico is trying to help the population facing these changes by providing knowledge about cheap and environmentally friendly alternatives for energy generation, waste water treatment, and the cultivation and processing of agricultural products. The Centro Ecológico has declared that it aims to provide knowledge by appealing to many different target groups.
Training, research and development activities will be carried out through several pilot and demonstration projects in the field of green technologies. The aim is to continuously improve conditions in the fields of "organic farming", "food processing", "production of alternative energy" and "elimination of organic waste". In this way, the income of people living in rural areas is secured, the quality of life is improved and negative environmental conditions are minimised.
The development of the rural area is one of the most important requirements to ensure the food supply of the population and for the protection of the environment and the climate. Thus it is our concern to contribute to this development!
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