Ecobreves – CUBA: Coastline Plagued by Erosion

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Jan 3 2005 (IPS) - Around 90 percent of Cuba's coastline suffers some degree of erosion as a result of rising sea level, pollution and extraction of sand, warns an official report. A study on science, technology and human development in Cuba, sponsored by the United Nations Development Program, and to which Tierramérica had access, adds that this impact also is related to the cutting of mangroves and the construction of buildings and dams near the shore.

More than 30 percent of Cuba's mangroves and three percent of coral reefs have been affected, says the study.

Around this Caribbean island, mangroves cover 5,325 square km, reefs cover 3,400 square km, and beaches extend some 600 km.