This is first installment of a two-part series on environmental activism in the Dominican Republic. The second will explore actions taken by communities, businesses and government for climate adaptation.

ALGARROBOS, Dominican Republic — “This is no longer a local fight, but a fight for the life of this country as a whole,” said Tony Sánchez, referring to Loma Miranda, a mountain in central Dominican Republic that activists say is threatened by mining.

Sánchez, a trade union member, sits in a camp at the base of Loma Miranda with about a dozen other activists, including scientists, professors, clergymen and youths. Together, they are organizing a movement to oppose the mountain’s nickel excavation, a government plan the group says would result in irreparable environmental harm.

Loma Miranda, covering about 16 square miles, is home to a unique environment that contains much of the Dominican Republic's biodiversity, as well as dozens of springs, creeks and rivers that provide fresh water to the region.

“It is one of the most important mountain systems in the Dominican Republic,” said Victor Medrano of the Ecological Society of Cibao. “It produces enough water to provide to the surrounding communities irrigation for the entire region and hydroelectric power.”

Escalín Gutiérrez of Agua y Vida, an NGO focused on water rights, called Loma Miranda a "water mine," underscoring activists' contention that the water supply is too valuable to the country to risk polluting.