CUBA: Stone Tourist Bridge Threatens Coastal Ecosystems

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Oct 7 1995 (IPS) - Construction of a stone bridge as part of a tourism development project linking the mainland with the island’s northern cays, threatens to harm the coastal ecosystem of the Cuban archipelago, environmentalists say.

The problem was first observed by ecologists in the 1980s, when they began studying the effects of a bridge project joining Cayo Sabinal with the mainland of Nuevitas, a township 646 kms east of Havana.

A study by the Cuban Institute of Maps and Earth Science at that time found that a lack of infrastructure allowing the circulation of water had caused the disappearance of mangroves, the death of numerous fish and the decrease or migration of other species.

Although their findings were taken into account for future planning, years later the construction of the Cayo Coco bridge showed that noise from construction activity had also frightened away birds and fish.

The project, strongly defended by the government at the end of the last decade, foresaw the linking of some of the most important barrier cays to facilitate tourist access and to allow traffic for the necessary inputs in tourist areas.

“It’s not only the immediate impact” on the environment that concerns us, said a meteorologist during a meeting of environmental groups which took place in Havana, Sep. 18-21. “We are throwing stones into the sea and we don’t know what might happen to them during a hurricane of large magnitude.”

According to specialists in the field, in the area of Cayo Coco, sea water could be trapped in a type of lagoon, without the possibility of circulation. That could set off a chain of other environmental problems.

Cayo Coco, one of the principal tourist centers of the Ciego de Avila province, 448 kilometers from the capital, is part of a U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) project aimed at protecting biodiversity in the Sabana-Camaguey archipeligo, in northern Cuba.

Formed by the islands of Cuba, Youth and another 1,600 small islands and cays, the Cuban archipelago features some 1,200 kilometers of white sand beaches and is rich in corral reefs and other natural resources that have become important tourist attractions.

“Cuba is betting on, and in fact is developing, sustainable tourism,” said Osmani Cienfuegos, minister of tourism, last June, and he gave assurances that this industry subscribed to the principals of protection of the environment.