ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Island Now Home to 6 UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Jan 20 2000 (IPS) - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) declared two more Cuban national parks as Biosphere Reserves, expanding to six the island’s total ecosystems with this designation.

The two new reserves are Caguanes Park in Sancti Spiritus province, 386 km east of Havana, which is made up of the Caguanes- Santa Maria-Guillermo Keys, and the Zapata Marsh in Matanzas province, 101 km east of the capital.

Sierra del Rosario, in the western province of Pinar del Rio, was Cuba’s first site to receive the UNESCO Biosphere designation in 1984, and was followed by Guanahacabibes, also in the west, and Cuchillas del Toa and Baconao, in the east.

Worldwide, there are some 300 Biosphere Reserves, a title granted under the UNESCO programme, “Man and the Biosphere.”

The UNESCO programme requires nations to preserve these natural or semi-natural ecosystems and their genetic wealth, conduct ecological and environmental research, and provide education services and facilities.

The Zapata Marsh is among the most important wetland ecosystems in the Caribbean and is home to native species like the Santo Tomas hen, cienaga sparrow, catey parrot, the flamingo and crocodile.

Located in a 600 square km area along Cuba’s southern coast, home to the largest population of “American” crocodiles, is a Latin American biology research station for studying these and other species that are in danger of extinction.

On the other side of the island, in a vast area of coastal lagoons, Zapata Marsh hosts some 100 migratory bird species as they flee North America during the cold winter months.

There are more than 300 protected areas in Cuba, covering approximately 22 percent of the island’s territory. These are sites that have been legally recognised as holding ecological, social and cultural-historical relevance for the nation.

Cuba’s National System of Protected Areas involves eight natural, 22 ecological and 11 forest reserves, as well as 14 parks, 11 animal refuges, four geological sites and two protected landscapes.

Cuban plant-life includes some 6,000 species, with more than 50 percent being native to the island. There are approximately 900 types of fish, 300 bird species, and 4,000 kinds of shellfish.

The National Programme for the Environment, approved by the Cuban government in 1995, seeks to link the country’s economic and social development plans with ecological protection.

The programme sets action guidelines for combatting the island’s desertification, drought and deforestation, as well as implementing sustainable development of mountainous areas, and protecting human settlements and the nation’s natural heritage.