CUBA: Forests Face Deadly Combination of Drought and Fires

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

GUANTANAMO, Cuba, Sep 8 2005 (IPS) - All it takes is a still smouldering cigarette butt or a tiny spark from a car for the flames to kill thousands of trees in this eastern drought-stricken province of Cuba.

“In this region, we decided to plant species that do not have a high economic value, but will help improve the soil,” Yosvani Acosta, a forestry expert with the Agriculture Ministry’s forestry service, told IPS.

The specialist said the drought and forest fires are conspiring against the government’s reforestation plans in Guantánamo, the province that has the country’s rainiest as well as driest zones.

Annual rainfall in the province averages 1,500 millimetres. But in the mountainous areas and the northern part of the province, precipitation is around 2,000 millimetres, while it gradually drops until reaching less than 500 millimetres along the province’s southern coast, where temperatures are high and the evaporation rate stands above 2,000 millimetres.

In the coastal areas, the rainfall deficit has aggravated the problem of erosion and desertification of the soil, which is also fuelled by salinisation.

A forestry programme launched in 2000 has expanded the forested area by more than 6,000 hectares in the past three years.

“We now have around 250,000 hectares of woodland,” 86 percent of which is natural forest, said Acosta. The province boasts the biggest reserves of precious hardwood trees in the country.

Although to a lesser extent than last year, the fires have acted as a serious hurdle to the growth and protection of the forests this year.

“The combination of drought and high temperatures creates favourable conditions for fires in the first half of each year, but the direct causes cannot always be determined,” said Acosta.

Not even Baracoa, a Guantánamo town located in the rainiest part of the country, escaped the impact. Four fires destroyed 51 hectares of pine trees around the city.

The main causes are intentional slash-and-burn fires to clear grassland, the burning of agricultural waste products after the harvest, cars without spark suppressors, and the negligence of poachers who set fires without taking the necessary precautions.

Small farmers in the area continue to use fire to clear their land, usually without authorisation, which is available under the decree on the protection, use and conservation of the soil.

Acosta believes the planting of trees in the province has already had positive effects in terms of reducing the number of fires, which dropped from 27 in 2004 to 12 so far this year.

“We now have around 40 small plantation forests of between five and 30 hectares, but we hope to increase that number to 175 by 2010,” said the specialist.

The tree plantations are under the care of rural families who are supplied with land and housing by the state, while the state forestry agency provides them with training and working implements.

According to statistics from Cuba’s forest ranger corps, 367 fires destroyed 12,037 hectares this year, 54 percent of which were covered by natural growth forests.

The forest ranger corps warned that the fires are a threat to Cuba’s rich biological diversity and a source of air pollution.

A study carried out by the forest ranger corps in conjunction with scientific institutions reported that the 367 fires generated 238,288 tons of carbon dioxide and 10,404 tons of methane, as well as other gases that accumulate in the atmosphere and aggravate the greenhouse effect and global warming.

Acosta and Martín Ramírez López, another specialist with the forestry service, said the most vulnerable time of year is the period from February to May, although this year it extended through June.

A total of 2,572,000 hectares are covered with forest in Cuba, including 2,223,000 hectares of natural forests and 348,700 hectares of plantation forests.

A Sep. 5 government communiqué on the country’s fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) states that the country’s total forested area has grown 10 percent since the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro.

In 2004, around 24 percent of Cuba’s surface was covered with forests, the statement added.

But the country’s forestry programme has emphasised the need to increase reforestation efforts in certain provinces, while warning that fires are the worst enemy of the forests.

Guaranteeing environmental sustainability is one of the MDGs adopted by the international community in 2000.