Ecobreves – CARIBBEAN: Community Education to Save Birds

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Jan 29 2005 (IPS) - Residents of coastal ecosystems in two Cuban provinces, like their counterparts in Haiti, Dominican Republic and Jamaica, are learning in conference and workshops about protecting the 'yaguasa criolla' (Dendrocygna arobrea), a Caribbean bird that faces extinction. This endemic species lives in mangroves, marshes, lakes and swamps, in salt or fresh water, and was quite abundant in the Caribbean region until the early 20th century.

Today it is considered rare, endangered or even extinct, because humans are illegally hunting them, stealing eggs from their nests and destroying the yaguasa's crucial wetlands habitat.

The community education program is under way in Los Palacios and La Sierpe, in the provinces of Pinar del Río (west) and Sancti Spíritus (central), respectively, with the backing of the University of Havana and two British non-governmental organizations.