Dominican Republic
In the Dominican Republic, Swedish Match is conducting an important environmental program for earth preservation on land owned by the company.
Trees have been harvested by farmers for the valuable timber and to create arable land. When the heavy tropical rains come, the dry topsoil is washed away, and land erosion can occur incredibly fast.
In the neighboring country of Haiti, there are few trees left and the land consists largely of a rocky desert. To prevent this from happening in the Dominican Republic, Swedish Match has planted 40,000 mahogany plants that will restore the natural flora. The roots will bind the soil together and the crowns will soften the impact of the heavy rains.