The Ozama River Basin spans over 1,000 miles alongside humid, broadleaf forests in the Dominican Republic, stretching through mountain ranges and Santo Domingo before reaching the Caribbean Sea. The basin is an important water source for the country’s capital. But over the years, certain practices — like cutting down trees for cattle grazing and slash-and-burn crop rotation — have led to soil erosion, flooding and a decreased water supply.
One solution to bolster the area’s watershed and help farmers cultivate nutrient-rich soil for their land comes in the form of trees — more than 160,000 trees to be exact. PepsiCo is partnering with the Arbor Day Foundation on a project to plant trees and improve local farmers’ livelihoods. The trees help reduce erosion, flooding risks and improve the groundwater conditions, and over time the initiative aims to help replenish the water supply within and around the upper Ozama and Yamasa watersheds.
In 2024, the trees that had been planted as part of the project replenished 110 million liters of water in the Ozama River Basin. The initiative is one of 16 new watershed health projects PepsiCo helped launch across nine countries last year, which combined replenished more than 1.7 billion liters of water back into local watersheds — part of our ongoing efforts to preserve and restore water in the areas where the company operates.
"We are proud to continue investing in water conservation to generate a positive impact on the planet through reforestation and conservation efforts in the Dominican Republic, thanks to our work with the Arbor Day Foundation,” says María Paula Méndez, General Manager of PepsiCo Foods for the Dominican Republic and Caribbean. “We are aiming to leave a positive footprint in the country and look forward to significant achievements with this project.”
Over the coming years, PepsiCo and the Arbor Day Foundation will be monitoring and maintaining the trees and their impacts.