Experts from Cuba and other countries will gather this month in Baracoa, more than 1,000 km east of Havana, to evaluate the status of and outlook for the biosphere reserves of this Caribbean country. The participants will also study programs and projects for research and community environmental education, and will visit the Humboldt National Park, say organizers.

Humboldt Park, declared a Natural Heritage of Humanity Site by UNESCO, covers more than half of the 127,000 hectares of the Cuchillas del Toa biosphere reserve in Cuba's extreme east.

It is one of the leading areas in terms of biodiversity and native species in the entire Antilles region. UNESCO has also declared the Sierra del Rosario, in the western Cuban province of Pinar del Río, a biosphere reserve