Environmental Protection, with a Side of Small Business

By Brian Owens.

Conservation takes cash, and philanthropic funding is notoriously fickle. To secure the future of its environmental efforts, this Dominican nonprofit is trying something new: making booze.

When Hurricane Maria swept through the Caribbean in 2017, tiny Dominica was hit particularly hard—howling winds and torrential rain damaged or destroyed 95 percent of the country’s housing stock. Similarly, Oceans Forward, a Dominica-based conservation organization focused on community-centered projects, lost most of its buildings and equipment. “Everything we had was destroyed,” says Jake Levenson, the founder of Oceans Forward.

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, Levenson says his first move was to help organize a relief mission—chartering a cargo plane to bring supplies into the battered country. Then he started thinking about how to rebuild Oceans Forward’s conservation projects.

At the best of times, financing for conservation projects is hard to come by in Dominica, Levenson says. Few people have heard of the country—or they confuse it with the better-known Dominican Republic. And while tourism has never been big business in Dominica, the COVID-19 pandemic—and the sudden end of so much international travel—demonstrated how unreliable ecotourism can be as a source of income. User fees from visiting scuba divers and other tourists has traditionally funded the costs of patrolling and maintaining Dominica’s two marine reserves.

In the wake of so much destruction and financial turmoil, Levenson turned his attention to devising a more sustainable way to keep the money flowing in. He considered selling handicrafts like driftwood art made by locals but decided the economics didn’t work. Then Levenson hit on what even he admits is a crazy idea: starting a rum distillery.

“We have all the ingredients,” he says. “We have the fertile Caribbean island; sugar cane grows everywhere.”

Image Credits: rawpixel.com.