Ecobreves – CUBA: Cultivating Sponges

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Feb 4 2008 (IPS) - With the creation of its first farm, CESAM, an environmental research center, began a project for the sustainable production of sponges on the north coast of Cuba's Villa Clara province. According to CESAM expert Edelkis Rodríguez, they are in the phase of gathering the seeds and cultivating the stands. This experience could be expanded to other areas of the Cuban coastline. It is providing jobs for the women of the fishing village of Carahatas, where a processing plant is being built, he said.

The initiative, part of a project for the protection and sustainable use of biodiversity in the Sabana-Camagüey ecosystem, has the financial backing of the Small Grants Program of the Global Environment Facility (SGP/GEF).