The long drought that has hit Cuba is blocking reforestation efforts, which in the past decade were able to increase the island's forest index to more than 23 percent. In 1959, that index had fallen to 13.7 percent. Experts with the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture told Tierramérica that it was not possible to plant trees over 10,000 of the 20,600 hectares of mountainous zones that were scheduled for reforestation in the first half of 2004.

It was precisely to protect Cuba's watersheds that reforestation plans targeted areas around more than 1,000 dams.