ENVIRONMENT: Erosion Threatens Cuba’s Beaches

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Nov 5 1997 (IPS) - Sand erosion is threatening many of Cuba’s fabled beaches that stretch along the shoreline less than a 30 minutes drive from the centre of the capital.

The beaches at such resorts as El Megano, Santa Maria del Mar, Boca Ciega, Guanabo, and Veneciana – located between 20 and 30 kilometers east of Havana – are suffering the effects of both man- made and natural erosion. The loss of beach sand is in part the result of construction on nearby dunes which precipitate natural erosion, the extraction of sand too close to the sea shore or from the ocean floor, and the felling of trees.

A study conducted by the Coastal Processes Group of the Cuban Oceanographic Institute has revealed that 24,000 cubic meters of sand are being lost every year – with the shore line reatreating between 50 and 100 centimeters annually. Moreover, the felling of a particular species of coastal trees over the past several years and the absence of efforts to replace them with other species to protect the coastline, has provoked the displacement of massive quantities of sand from beaches, with the help of the wind.

This movement of sand has reached almost three meters per year, and has resulted in the widening of beaches, which could reach up to 30 meters over the next 10 years.

The problem is also visible in other countries in the region. A report put out in 1996 by the United Nation’s Environment Programme (UNEP), highlights the problems which face coastal and marine environments in the Caribbean region.

The document, produced for a meeting of the Environmental Committee of the Association of Caribbean States, maintains that actual environmental conditions are quite different from the visions of paradise had by foreigners when they arrive in the region.

“The intensive extraction of sand from the beaches along with inappropriate coastal constructions such as sea walls, are significantly changing the face and the characteristics of the coastline,” UNEP warned.

The report also pointed out that these actions are having a “serious ecological impact and the erosion of coasts in countries like Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago among others.”

This situation is of great importance in a region which has become economically dependent on the tourism attracted by its sun and its beaches. An estimated 35 million tourists visit the Caribbean region annually, and for some islands, like Antigua, Barbuda, Martinique, and Barbados, the numbers of annual visitors far supersede their own native population.

On one hand, many of these countries could simply not survive without tourism. Yet on the other, the massive development of this industry could have catastrophic consequences for the natural environment.

Cuba’s official newspaper Granma, declared that if this “widening” of the Havana’s beaches were to continue, “the future of the tourist industry,” would be in jeopardy.

Cuba accelerated development of its tourist industry in the late 1980s, and in 1996 attracted more than one million tourists who injected some 1.3 billion dollars into the economy.

Government officials plan to develop the beaches to the east of Havana as a supplement to those in the city itself which, along with the Varadero resort, draws the highest number of tourists.

Industry experts see a great advantage in Cuba, because it is able to offer the sun and beaches of the Caribbean along with the attractions of Old Havana, which has been declared part of the Historical Patrimony of Humanity by the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO).

At the same time, officials assure that they are implementing a sustainable development the tourist industry. This means that all proposals for investment must include an environmental impact report.

Santa Maria del Mar and Guanabo are the two beaches in the area most visited by the residents of Havana, a city with 2.2 million inhabitants which also travel to the beaches on the west side which are within the city limits but of inferior quality.

Santa Maria del Mar is a resort exclusively dedicated to the tourist trade, while Guanabo is a typical Cuban beach town with a local population of 177,000, and belongs to the municipality of eastern Havana.

Ernesto Trista, a geographer tied to the Institute of Oceanography, indicated that the areas most affected by erosion are those that are most heavily urbanized.

Trista warned that, while human activity accelerates the deterioration of coastlines, these are also “subject to natural erosion processes that are apparently tied to the rising levels of the oceans on a global scale and to stronger wave patterns.”

Some studies have pointed out that there is a significant deficit in the production of sand in tropical areas which is attributed to the rising of ocean waters and to the contamination of marine ecosystems. Grains of sand are produced by calcareous marine organisms, such as mollusks and coral, at anywhere between 8 and 10 meters below the surface.

Another study of the Coastal Processes Groups of the Cuban Oceanographic Institute released in August, revealed that a more advanced process of sand erosion is taking place in Varadero – 140 kilometers from Havana.

Varadero, Cuba’s most famous beach, loses 50,000 cubic meters of sand and its coast recedes approximate 1.2 meters each year. According to Opciones, a financial, commercial, and tourism weekly, the “deterioration is apparent.” The causes are natural phenomena, the extraction of over 1 million cubic meters of sand in the 70s and 80s, and the construction of diverse kinds of facilities on the coastal dunes.

In an attempt to resolve the problems facing Varadero and the beaches east of Havana, the experts elaborated projects of recuperation and maintenance and there is legislation for the protection of coastlines in the works.

In the case of Havana’s beaches, there are projects for clean- up and reforestation, efforts to make urbanism more compatible to the environment, and initiatives to demolish the structures built closest to the shoreline.

In Varadero, similar efforts have been underway for over a decade, and by 1995, they had only demolished 20 percent of the 175 structures that needed to be eliminated, and 688,000 cubic meters of sand were brought to the area.

Yet in spite of the efforts of scientists to combat the deterioration of the beaches, Pelaez believes that any attempts to reverse these trends must be accompanied by a “slow process of environmental education,” to convince people that it is necessary to take care of the coastlines. (FIN-IPS-da-dam-ff-en-mg-mk-97)