International project favors coastal zone in Cuban central province

CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba, Feb 19 (ACN) The reforestation of mangroves in areas of Punta Alegre, in northern Ciego de Avila, is among the actions carried out by the territory as part of the international project Building Coastal Resilience in Cuba, through natural solutions for adaptation to climate change.

Maria del Carmen Olivera Isern, deputy delegate of Environment in the province, told the Cuban News Agency that later this month it will be a year since the official presentation in Cuba of the project, which also includes popular councils in Villa Clara, Sancti Spiritus and Camaguey.

The international proposal will boost an integrated vision of disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change as a key basis for the sustainability of development actions, through direct interventions in these four Cuban coastal settlements, Olivera Isern said.

Although the implementation of this project coincided with the outbreak of COVID-19, work was already underway on the reforestation of some 20 hectares of mangroves, coastal environments that help conserve biodiversity and constitute the first coastal protection barrier, the specialist emphasized.

Olivera Isern also explained that the project provides the opportunity to implement natural solutions to address climate change, based on Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) approaches to goods and services provided by these environments to the small population centers that live near them, as is the case of Punta Alegre, where a major source of employment is fishing.

At the same time, the Coastal Ecosystem Research Center (CIEC), based in the Jardines del Rey tourist destination, will be in charge of environmental monitoring for adaptation to climate change based on these responses, the expert continued.

The Building Coastal Resilience in Cuba project is financed by the European Union, under the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) program, and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Environment Agency (AMA), of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, as the national institution.