**1. Introduction**

The origins of sustainable development as a concept go back to the birth of environmental movements in the second half of the XIX century, which began with a romantic emphasis on nature and the importance for human beings to understand it. Its genesis dates back to the Industrial Revolution in England, as an attempt to awaken awareness about air pollution produced by the industries that had had rapid and sudden growth, in the context of a weak legal framework [1–3].

The discussion about the need of preserving the quality of natural resources joined previous debates on the durability of several raw materials, as well as on the degradation of the environment because of its use. That was the case when there was shortage of certain products and materials or the occurrence of local environmental problems associated with uncontrolled exploitation [4]. Some examples date back as far as Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman civilizations, several thousand years before Christ, when evidence was collected of deforestation, salinization as well as soil loss linked to overexploitation of land resources in specific areas [4]. In more recent times, we can cite the shortage of wood caused by its excessive use in boat building, which severely threatened Europe in the XVIII century [4].

As a consequence of these episodes, the term "sustainable use" began to appear in forestry, as a way to guarantee the durability of wood exploitation, balancing the cutting of old trees with seedling planting [5].

Additionally, concerns over the excessive use of certain natural resources acquired other nuances in XVII and XVIII centuries, when different authors warned about the consequences of the overconsumption of natural resources, being The Tragedy of the Commons by Lloyd [6] and the Essay on the Principle of Population by Malthus [7] two of the most iconic.

In fact, this new perspective introduced a global vision into the debate, pointing out the existing contrast between a model based on unlimited growth of natural resources consumption and their inherent natural limitation in terms of volumes and times of recovery, not only at a local but also at a planetary scale. In this context, the XX century took place, with an exponential growth of studies that revealed the global climate crisis [8–13].

Currently, despite the progress made defining a world framework around sustainable development and the assessment of environmental and social impacts, which includes the introduction of new goals [14] and standards (e.g. International Finance Corporation (IFC), performance standards), its implementation remains something difficult to achieve, simply because it is not compatible with the current economic model based on infinite growth and nature's exploitation. The discussion remains focused on profit and return of investment.

To propose an alternate vision, we must reshape the current economic decisions through a wider lens of social, economic, environmental, and political sustainability. This includes a multi-stakeholder approach, where cooperation and synergy at different levels are two cornerstones. Private sector is a key stakeholder, since smart and forward-thinking entrepreneurs are an essential component for the change. They have a key role in identifying feasible ways to reduce environmental impacts and improve life conditions for local people, while working to generate economic and financial benefits [15]. This is possible when companies introduce the environment and local communities into the decision-making process [15].

The Dominican Republic hosts a series of characteristics that have fostered the development of alternatives and new narratives in local climate action, sustainable development, and social investment. The weakness of the Dominican national electric system, which does not guarantee neither universal access to electricity nor continuity of the service, promotes the emergence of alternative solutions which turn into innovative models for local sustainable development financed through social investment and sustained through a multi-stakeholder approach [16].

One of these solutions are community microhydropower systems, which, under the coordination of Guakía Ambiente and the Small Grants Programme *Sustainability and Social Investment: Community Microhydropower Systems in the Dominican… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105995*

(SGP/GEF/UNDP), transform local opportunities and social investment into integral development, based on the empowerment of women and men and the synergy among diverse stakeholders.

This essay discusses the increasing presence of social investment practices by the private sector in these initiatives [16]. By examining the main experiences and lessons learned obtained in more than 20 years of implementation, the document is intended to introduce the case study of microhydropower systems installed in the Dominican Republic and border region of Haiti, specifically focusing on the central role of social investment inside a multi-stakeholder scheme of intervention, as a catalyst of a sustainable model.

The results and conclusions are based on the analysis of technical documents and previous essays, which was complemented with the interview of members from Guakía Ambiente and the Small Grants Programme.
